Facts and Fancie s

L ink ed with Fo lk -L o re ab o u t Kilmaveo naig

h i M . A C r sto he r I K . Bo wst d p . ea ,

- - - Priest ia charge. A. D . 1899 1912.

’

Canon o f St. Ninlan s Cathedral .

- f 9 . Rector o Holy Trinity, Pitlochrie, A. D . 18 1 98

Pub lishet s : N R . GRANT SO ED BURGH . . IN mu my jellnm-Qi bri z ti ans

S a s the Ga the and in the tr th of rry, Tummel ,

Ta and all who are seekin the o f y, to g Vision

Holy Grail and the Bles s ing of Unity that

w even L I FE FOR E E RMORE . follo , V C O NT E NT S

K I L- -VEON-AI G MA ,

OL B S . C UM A ,

BE ED I CTI E O STE R E S AD . 1 1 00 TO 1 300 N N M NA I , ,

' TH E R SH OF K I LMAVE ONAI G 1 275 PA I , ,

K ILMAVE ONAI G ESTORED AD . 1 591 R , ,

K I L VE N I E R H E E L MA O A G D T S A. D UN P NA LAW , . - 1 689 1 792,

K ILMAVE ONAI G EB LT R UI , LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW R A 1 9 1 2 O D . THE ERED S , E CCE H OMO ARCH

’ I O C ST OR C P NA ATHEDRAL AND . AN S HA EL, ONE OF S U C O THE ANCT ARY R SSES , K AD 1 893 K O OF L U I T . IR T N DE , AS WAS BU I D H E AN THE , BELL FROM D UN K ELD S UPPO PO OF R E V D U S A SED RTRAIT . NCAN TEW RT , B P M OM G O OF S O V A TIS FR THE A L T NEHA EN ,

’ PHOT O OF MAS ON S PLAN OF A R EST O RED CH U RCH M 1 4 1 794 ARCH , , SOU THE TH VIEW , D K G CU P U BY OB RIN IN SED THE JAC ITES , M MO L R G OF R OB L O E RIA IN ERT Y N , A 1 893 C U D . THE H RCH , , R E V H S O H O L L D THE . ENRY . J HN WARD , . . , I BOWS AD C OP K TE M. A HRIST HER . . , NO OF C U THE RTH VIEW THE H RCH ,

THE ALTAR , E T G OF L U G E AN CHIN THE DE ALLERY ( AST) , FO A 1 900 W G A 1 794 D . D . THE NT , , AND EST ALLERY . , D OF NE W P 1 899 OO O AD . THE R THE RCH , , O O I N D -ANT-SAGAI RT THE RAT RY AIL , A 1 899 C U C D . THE H RCH AND HURCHYARD , , AD 1 794 AN D 1 898 THE ALTAR VESSELS , . , SO -W F C A 99 U O U D . 1 8 TH EST VIEW THE H RCH , F A 1 900 O D . THE NT , , E E ND A 9 1 2 D . 1 THE AST , OF C L G AD 1 902 VIEW THE HURCH AND ICH ATE , . , D - -SAGAI RT A 1 906 D . AIL ANT , , P R E FAC E

K I LMAVEONAI G stands about 400 yards off the public

-a- road near the Tilt Hotel , and about half mile from the

- Blair Atholl Station . The church has not a commanding

ver exterior, but has a y interesting ancient history, and , moreover , as was said to me by a friendly Presbyterian , a unique one in that at the Re volution the Dis established Church retained possession . This brought to birth my purpose which had stirred

within me since I became Rector of Holy Trinity, Pit lo chr e 1 891 ab le i A. D . , , and was to do something to carry on the work of restoration begun by my prede 1 866 cessor, the Rev . H . S . J . Howard , in . The Rev .

Mr . Robertson obtained a Register containing the Minutes of Meetings of The Episcopal Church in Perth (with the signature of. Robert Lyon , who was executed at

Penrith for following Prince Charlie) . This Book A D . 1 81 2 has entries of Baptisms and Confirmations . 1 83 0 , and many interesting details copied from the

K ilmaveo nai Lude papers , and when I found that g was D 1 2 A. . 75 and a Parish of some importance as early as ,

Adamnan— that folklore connected the name of St . c ” — K ilmaveo nai Abbot of Iona with the name g , I felt I had certain FACTS to record which would form a sort of

- C E S al seed plot of FAN I , attractive to the reader, if not ways accepted by the critical historian and further the desire has grown within me , not only to offer to the reader CTS C E S - FA and FAN I , but also to lead my fellow Christians to study with me that Foundation Fact which will help viii .

w the aspirations , stirring ithin us to pray and work till we come to Oneness of the Faith and of the full Knowledge of the Son of God , with regard to which we require

A.D . Divine Inspiration ; and may the one Bell , dated 1 627 , which calls us to Service from its little turret ,

ever sound in our ears a Call to UNITY . I desire gratefully to acknowledge the kindness of those who from time to time supplied me with much information which has added to the interest of my book . Amongst many (I cannot remember all) I will mention

Miss Morehead , Mr . Dixon , The Rev . M . Donald , Miss

‘ M I nro y, Miss Keir, and last , but not least , Mr . Hugh i M tchell , who was ever ready to impart to me things new w and old connected ith the neighbourhood , which he for many years stored in his mind for the benefit of a gatherer of Facts and Fancies like myself. My indebtedness to

r various w iters I acknowledge in the course of the book . ” Old I send forth my wee bookie , to borrow an

Title , asking for the kindly criticism of those versed in

TS all FAC , and the forbearance of my readers with my

C E S c FAN I , when deemed too fan iful to be at all worthy

of acceptance .

Any prof its f rom the sal e of thi s book may be appli ed

ll i dow o h h to the cost of a sma w n n rt of t e Sanctuary . PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.

H T E very kind welcome given to Facts and Fancies ,

not only by personal friends and neighbours , but also

K ilmaveo nai by visitors to g, and even by the general

public , has called for a new Edition . In this the only

alterations made are a few necessary corrections , and the addition of a small paragraph which is concerned

with the matter kindly supplied to me by Mr . Mitchell , i of the Un on Bank in Pitlochry. A kindly review in the Chu rch Ti mes suggested that l I had trave led somewhat beyond the limits of my title . I agree that for the ordinary passer-b y a simple history

of the Church itself might be more useful , and I hope it may be possible shortly to bring out an abridged edition (at a smaller price) which will omit the less relevant

matter . I have been very glad to gather from the few criticisms

CTS received , that my main FA are not disputed , and that

CI ES are my FAN not deemed altogether fantastic .

CH R . . I . K B . ul 1 91 5 j y, .

CHAPTER I .

- - - KIL MA VEON AIG.

has VERY House of God that has been built ,

a local history , more or less full of interest , ’ D o rnu s but as Dei , it also is a witness to ’ callin Regnum Dei , a king dom of God , g for wh the loyal homage and service of those o. have made their home around it for daily life and work and rest . In tracing the history of this Parish Church ,

I desire to take my readers back in thought , through all the troublous times of the Penal Laws , of the bitter conflict between the Catholic Church and the Cove nanters l t , between Episcopa ians and Presby erians , which A D 1 689 ended in the Revolution . . , and the recognition of the latter by the State—back to the 1 1 th and 1 2th centuries , which were noted for the building of Churches and Benedictine Monasteries on the ruins of the Col u mb an , also noted for the spread of education and

“ civilisation and the submission to the Papal Power , - i Adamnan back to Iona call ng to mind Columba , , and their fellows in frail coracles , carrying the Gospel of Eternal Life to the Picts and other warlike and rude — A. D . 4 1 0 inhabitants of our land back to Britain before ,

when the legions of Rome , having sought but in vain to make their victory complete, evacuate their con — s quered Province and thu lastly to Rome , the mistress t e in and proud conqueror of the nations round her, h heritor of the wealth of other nations that had waxed great and then had fallen a prey to nations strong in the

vigour of youth .

Let us pause and think on Rome and her Empire .

Many miles eastward lies the Land promised to Abram ,

with Egypt to the South , where his seed were in bondage 2 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

400 years—the land conquered by Pompey and annexed — B C. 1 00 a i to the Roman Empire about . startl ng fact and a great trial to the Faith of Israel The Land of Promise contained within its borders the mountain on ’ — which Abram at God s behest offered up Isaac , the ’ — mountain that became the seat of David s Kingdom , the Moriah on which Solomon built the Temple for the offering — of the divinely appointed Sacrifices , the mountain that witnessed so many futile attacks of hostile nations whi ch one after another passed away—that witnessed Israel led captive for their sins and then again restored in the

Providence of God , Who remembered His mercy to — Abram and his seed this mount becomes the abode of a ! Roman Governor . What meaneth this Go back

h e. to Adam made in the image of God , Righteous , and

therefore, possessing Prudence , Fortitude , and Temper

ance, virtues recognised by the heathen as making the

true man . But when man , by disobedience , fell from o ri inal g righteousness , antagonistic seeds are planted ’ in Go d s World and the nations that spring therefrom will war with ea ch other till victory remains with the Righteous One ; and every nation has become great

according as it has built its City on righteousness , for “ in every nation each individual fearing God and work ing righteousness is accepted with him (Acts

Romulus, whether suckled by a wolf or by a human

mother, is the reputed founder of a Nation that has been excelled by no other in the Gentile world for the purity of its religion and the righteousness of its laws ; at the zenith of her power she became corrupt in morals a and untrue to her st ndard of justice, and mark here ’ the mystery of Go d s good Providence ! He gives to man freewill ; He gives to man the i mp orta nt (the com fall mand) , but at the He promises the Seed Who was to make Imperium in Imperio (an Empire within an o Empire) , and thus when the g vernor sent by the Emperor E cce H o mo flrch

’ m the L a/ m Chmch i n ems al e b u t o n t e s zte o l ate s P aeto i u [ m i l h f y r m.

KIL-MA-VEON-AI G

does the foulest act of injustice the world has ever seen in delivering up to death JESUS CHRIST to be crucified - when before Pilate passes the sentence , he says to the

people (and surely to men of every age) ECCE HOMO , R E! ECCE (Behold the Man , Behold your King) , Rome co -operates unwi ttingly with the determinate - counsel and fore knowledge of God , Who willed that by death His Only Begotten Son should redeem the — u s — World , should be made Sin for , should as Sin bearer overcome him that had the Power of Death , ” — Le. the Devil , and should rise from the dead to ascend

up far above all the Heaven that He might fill all things , and have all authority over things in Hea ven and on ” Earth . The reader may think this a long digressmn from the

! w r avo ed pu pose of this book , but I desire to show how

Rome , by her terrible act of injustice in conjunction with the Jewish people, was instrumental in setting up in her ” midst Regnum Dei , the Kingdom of God ; that this Ki ngdom would accomplish God ’ s eternal purpose of — building the Holy City that had the foundations , the Go d Society of men , created after in Righteousness ” ss n and Holine of Truth , that this Ki gdom would there O men fore ffer to of every race a government , under which ’ en all that man s upright heart thirsted for, should be

joyed in Righteousness and Peace by all men , Jew and e Gentile , rich and poor, bond and fr e , without partiality

set Ps . . r t as forth in lxxii Now, mark the g ow h of the

Kingdom of God , sometimes silent , sometimes manifest to U the World . JES S , the crucified King , is declared on the Third day to be the Son of Go d with power by the D 3 4 Resurrection from the dead (Rom . and about A. . He knit together His Elect into Union with Himself as His Mystical Body by the descent of Go d the HOLY SPIRIT at Pentecost and a few years later the flood of Roman invasions of Britain reached their height under Agricola 4 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

A. D . 85 , and little by little a network of Roman roads

secured by strongholds spread over the land , and after the lapse of centuries , there are still being unearthed

by casual workmen , villas and camps , and other Roman

work . We drive upon the roads , we excavate ancient

villas , and most notably , in our day are being excavated parts of the Roman Wall from Wallsend to Carlisle w 70 ith its camps , a mile apart , and numerous forts ; had u sed the works and the KING, in His Wisdom , of

His rebel subjects to advance His Kingdom , while the persecution of the Christian Church results in its growth in the land . Joseph of Arimathaea is said to have come to Glastonbury, and if St . Paul only reached Spain , his companions at an early period reached our Britain ; but more than this , as time went on , Roman soldiers D . A. . 3 1 6 became Christians In , three British Bishops went to the Council at Arles and some to the Council D 3 A. . 59 at Ariminum , , having their expenses defrayed ,

being unable to pay it out of their own purse . This shews that by the 4 th century the Christian Church had

taken root in the land . On the Roman Wall there are at least a few carved stones showing the Faith of a Chris s tian , and before the withdrawal of the Roman legion — A. D 4 1 0 . , there were many witnesses for Christ (like St .

Alban) faithful unto Death . But let us retrace our steps to Rome to see how the Kingdom of God was spreading in the centuries up to A D 4 1 0 the sack of Rome by the barbarians . . . Let us bear in mind that the Christian is a Man inheriting all the lu s virtues which made him like unto God , p the Grace of the new man created in Righteousness and Holiness of ” Truth , even the Gift of the Holy Spirit , so that Christians

have not only the grace to live a godly, righteous , and i sober life , but , as knit together for corporate Life n

Christ , have gifts for government , for the study of the

Arts and Sciences , and above all for that Science which KIL-MA-VEoN-AI G

deals with heavenly Mysteries and spiritual gifts . ‘ M Gib b o n o , in his b ok on Architecture in Provence , well expresses what is in my mind he says From the date of Constantine till the overthrow of society, barbarism , paganism , and Christianity went On side by side . While civilisation remained , and the schools continued , Christians of ancient learning and Pagan students discussed together the same problems of philosophy, and the fathers endeavoured to reconcile them with Christianity . But as successive waves of bar ari b sm rushed over the land sweeping all before them ,

almost every semblance of learning was swept away . Hence arose a desire on the part of learned men to retire from the anarchy and insecurity of the conditions around them to some safe retreat where they might converse o n

' and study in peace those high problems which o ccupied their minds . These Societies in the natural course of events were by degrees converted into Monasteries . The celebrity of the Eastern ascetics and devotees had a Of penetrated to Western Europe , but the solit ry form religious Observance did not at first meet with much

encouragement there . Societies of recluses were then ,

however , also common in the East , and the Eastern Monastery was the form adopted by the Western re n cluses as their model , but Mo asteries were not at this time Religious Societies , nor were the Monks in Holy

Orders . They were simply associations of laymen who wished to retire from the confusion a nd turmoil into which all civil government was thrown and to find peace Su ch for study and quiet for contemplation . was the Lerines famous Monastery of the , founded early in the fifth century by St . Honorat, on an island off the coast near

Cannes , which soon became the most celebrated school of learning and piety in the South of Gaul, and was as great a blessing to the countries Of the Mediterranean a s I OD a the similar Colony of St . Columba at was to 6 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

our land . It is easy, however , to fancy how, in the midst of the strife and unrest of the fifth and sixth cen turies , such Societies tended to become religious and thus obtain protection from the Church . This they

were finally compelled to do , although at the sacrifice of their liberty , by placing themselves under the authority of the Bishops , where alone they could find rest and safety . For the barbarians , many of whom were already Church Christians , stood in awe of the , and the Church strove to secure her ascendency by maintaining the a independence of the spiritual power, and the inc pacity of the temporal powers to interfere with it , a doctrine which afterwards led to the terrible struggle for supremacy d between the temporal and spiritual powers , represente on the one hand by the Emperor, and on the other by the Pope ; a struggle which lasted so long and involved so many cities in the horrors Of the factions of the Guelphs enes and Ghib ell . The above extract shows that the Kingdom of God was slowly making its conquest with lovers of Wisdom and seekers after Truth in the Gentile world : i t also shows the adaptability of the Sons of the Kingdom

to changing circumstances and trials , and their power of extracting the good out of them ; the riot and unrest resulting from the invasion of the barbarians leading

men to withdraw from the chaos of Society into seclusion , paved the way for the Monastic life—not religious at first—but soon developing into that monastic system which was destined to play so large a part in Europe — for good but , alas , often for evil also , for the Enemy ” ever sows tares among the Wheat , as seen in the case L erins of Les Iles de (the Lero and Lerina of the ancients) ,

which became as celebrated as a Monastery as Iona, o being called by a m dern writer , The Iona of the ” South . This development of the Monastic Life combining

8 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

Kincardineshire where the Parish Church bears his name, ’ Pald s and the yearly market is known as y Fair . It has to be kept in mind that until the end of the 7th century , Celtic Churches were usually dedicated to

living Saints , and so their names are a fairly accurate ” guide to the date when they were founded . —St K enti ern— Another notable name . g better known

i e. by his pet name , Mungo ( . dear) forms the connecting

link between St . Ninian and St . Columba . His work

was done amidst new conditions in the life of the country, ami d the political and social anarchy resulting from the k ind o ms withdrawal of the Roman legions . Two g grad uall E R CI y emerged from the confusion , That of B N I A , ex o f tending along the East Coast South the Forth , occupied by non-Christian English Settlers from the Continent ; BR and that of the Britons , called CUM IA at Strathclyde, stretching from Dumbarton to the Derwent in Cumber

land it was among the Britons that St . Mungo laboured . f ’ A ter being educated in St . Serf s School , Culross , he goes to Cathu res (Glasgow) where he was chosen Bishop and

consecrated by a Bishop from Ireland . Before his death ,

he met St . Columba on the banks of the Molendinar Burn

in Glasgow, and by the burn over which the Cathedral

of Glasgow was built, they, the representatives of the - and Roman British and the Celtic Churches , embraced u exchanged pastoral staves , and thus we pict re the blending of the two currents of Christianity in the one Chu rch , Catholic in organisation , still free from that as yet undreamt of and unasserted claim of Roman ” ” . Short H i stor o the Chu rch i n Scotl and supremacy y f , b he i o o Ab e y t present B sh p f erde n) .

CHAPTER II .

MBA S. COLU .

1 00 And now after a lapse of years , since the death of St . Ninian , the great Columba comes before us , and we pass from the scene of the labours of these early Christian Missionaries—harassed and devastated after the de — O parture of the Romans to I NA , to a small barren island in sight of Ireland and close to Mull . — Here the King o nce crucified and now ruling from the right hand of God—begins to advance His Kingdom b e by new methods and different weapons . Columba , ’ O D on nell s longing to the powerful Clan of the , was born

A. D 521 . of royal blood , and for those times , well educated in Monastery Schools (five of his school-fellows are men tio ned — Co m all by him Cormac , g , Brendan , Ciaran , and Cainnech m ) he had the bard , Gem an , as his instructor in i l terature, and after his ordination , he laboured in the Gospel for 1 5 years and whether the oft-told tale be Fact — C or Fancy, that he made a opy of the Psalter unknown to C its owner, who claimed the opy as his , and the case being u d e— laid before a J g that the verdict , Every cow has its calf enraged Columba, and he raised a quarrel of which the result was a battle in which thousands were slain , Mo laise , his confessor, imposing as penance upon him that he should win many souls to Christ , even as many had been — it i s a a ct A. D . 5 63 slain in a battle, f that in , Columba , 1 2 with companions, sailed for Iona and began his work which has hallowed the Isle to which Dr . Johnson in his journey to Iona in 1 773 thus refers We were now tread ing that ill ustrious Island which was once a luminary of the Caledonian regions whence savage clans and roaming 1 0 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the l blessings of religion . To abstract the mind from all loca e motion would be impossible if it were endeavoured , and ws would be foolish if it were possible . Whatever withdra us from the power of our senses , whatever makes the past , the distant , or the future predominate over the present , advances us in the dignity of thinking beings . Far from me and from my friends be such frigid philosophy as may conduct u s indifferent and unmoved over any ground

d r . which has been dignifie by wisdom , bravery , or vi tue That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the Plain of Marathon , or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona . Here it may be well to describe from the Bishop of ’ 1 1 Aberdeen s booklet , page , the manner of life of the monks in Iona and other Columban monasteries “ A a ramp rt enclosed the dwellings of the monks , the church , e the refectory, and the guest chambers , while outside wer the Mill , the Kiln , and Farm steading . Holy Scripture ’ was studied and copied possibly as early as St . Columba s

day . The young were educated . Most , if not all the i s canonical hours of devot on were observed , Wednesday - and Fridays were usually Fast days . There were two peculiarities brought from Ireland which afterwards — a ns caused much trouble ( ) the Irish form of to ure , the i shape like a crescent w th a fringe of hair in the front, b and ( ) a method of calculating Easter , different from the Adamnan Roman use . It was not till after the death of as that the Iona monks conformed to the Roman use , ” now observed by us . Now let us picture to ourselves—and Fact and Fancy - - — may well go hand ih hand Columba and his fellow workers crossing seas and lochs in their curagh (coracle) ’ to make captives of the Picts in the King s Name . What a contrast to the entry of the Roman legions in days a gone by . What conquest greater than that of Rome , S . COLUMBA

who Mo ns ram ius u , after the great battle of g p , co ld not

enter the country of the defeated Picts .

Not by warriors spear and sword , Not by art of human word

Preaching but the Cross of Shame , ” Rebel hearts for Christ ye tame .

Let us note that Scots from Ireland (for the name Scotland was not given to this country till a much later o 1 00 date) had settled in Argyllshire , ab ut years before i St . Columba came and had founded the little K ngdom D al a of ri da north of the British Kingdom of Strathclyde , so that Columba was related to its King and lea ding people , The Highlands of Perthshire and the North of

Scotland , not the West , were still in Pagan darkness , but s the Ea t , according to the Venerable Bede, was Christian from the time of St . Ninian . - f D alriada . A ter visiting his fellow countrymen in , St

A. D . 565 Columba , about , decided to proclaim the good tidings of the Kingdom of God to King Bru de at Invern ess . A glance at the map will show how the chain of lo chs from the Clyde to Inverness form an almost continuous waterway for Columba and his companions in their coracle . Picture them as they step on shore and ascend the hill to the Dun (or Fort) such as is described in Branan the “ About a mile and a half from Inverness a Phadri there is vitrified fort on Craig g, which many suppose to be the remains of the actual fortress of the -an King , visited by St . Columba , known as Larach -Mho ir Tigh (the site of the Big House) . The hill on which 550 it is situated is about feet above the level of the sea . i as The conical top is still crowned by masses of sol d m onry, partly welded together by the action of fire . There are many such vitrified forts in Scotland and again

B Mi ss Ou t am y r . 1 2 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

quoting , we picture Columba approaching the gigantic

wall of the Dun from six to ten feet in width , the whole forming an imposing rampart from 50 to 60 feet high a narrow winding way deeply cut out of the solid rock or built up on either hand with stone work led up a ” steep ascent to the inner gate of the Dun . What a sight for the reverent imagination to picture

Columba , tall , of commanding mien , and with a voice Adamnan strong, penetrating, but sweet withal (so de o f scribes him) , he comes as the Ambassador the King of

Kings , with the praises of God in his mouth , and a two-edged sword in his hand to execute vengeance on the nations and to rebuke the people to bind their Kings ” w man ith chains , with the cords of a , the bond of Peace

and of Love which is the Bond of Perfectness ; yes , he comes to break the Spells of Witchcraft and the authority a of D rkness , with the good tidings of the World being

redeemed by the Blood of the King , Who on the Cross ” became the Propitiation for the sins of the whole world . This Gospel had sweeter music for the heart of man than the songs and sounds of the mere world of nature con trolled as the Druids taught by the Demons they wor the shipped . In Branan Pict , the scene at the gate Eru de of the Fort is graphically depicted . King advised Bro ichan by , the Druid , had roughly refused Columba

admission, bidding him return to the land whence he

came . - n Colum cille was weary with his jour ey, and had ’ sat him down by the side of the gate to await the king s

answer . As the rough message was shouted to him over s w the wall , he ro e from his seat and advanced to the icket

of the great portal . Then knocking loudly , he laid his e hand , as if to push op n the doors . At once the bolts b ack shot , and the great gates swung open , leaving the

way free for the holy man to enter with his train . Whether it was the guard who feared his curse and unbarred the

1 4 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

m tru pet notes echoing through the skies . What mattered it that the Druids did their utmost to hinder the work Go d of , when the heavenly King gave His Servant so marvellous a power with which to silence the Opposition of His foes I tell thee, fear fell on all those who heard ” the wondrous psalm that day . Here it will be helpful to quote from the lectures E delivered in St . Giles Cathedral , dinburgh , about thirty years ago the account of the Druid teaching and practice o shew what Columba and his foll wers had to confront , and how the Word of God offers to man all th at is true in his half knowledge, with all the perfect knowledge which God alone can reveal of Himself and Jesus Christ

Whom He has sent . This Gospel has won its way into ’ Man s heart in every age, because it is the knowledge of Life, not temporary, not partial , not limited in its

TER L . n sphere , but E NA The following somewhat le gthy quotation is apt and full of interest Many all usions are found in old manuscripts to the n i necroma cy of the Druids , and to their d fferent Spells and incantations . A favourite method of divination with them was by sneezing, or by the song of a bird

e . perched on a tree . In an old po m attributed to St a nd Columba, these other similar practices are referred ’

a . to and bjured Our fate, sings the poet , depends not on sneezing

a Nor on bird perched on a twig , t Nor on the root of a knot ed tree, Nor on the noise of clapping hands

Better is He in Whom we trust , ’ The Father, the One, and the Son . an s d in another ver e of the same poem , he says

I adore not the noise of birds .

Nor sneezing, nor lots in this world , S . COLUMBA

Nor a son , nor chance , nor woman ’ M . y Druid is Christ , the Son of God The religion of the Northern kingdom of the Picts and Scots , of which the Druids were the Ministers , was in itself, as might be expected from what we have said, of a very debased and grovelling kind . It seems to have nl been mai y a kind of fetishism , an adoration of natural — objects , and of the powers of the external world the o rocks , the wind , the thunder ; and if the people r se in thought above what came within the knowledge of the senses , it was only to people the material world with demons and malignant spirits to whom all phenomena e were attributed , and whos aid was to be sought or whose wrath was to be averted by means of charms and magical spells . Among the pagan Scots , pillar stones were objects of worship and were either overthrown or consecrated with the sign of the cross by the early Christian Teachers . Th e Sidhe were spirits who were supposed to haunt nature and to dwell underground , and a belief in their dread power remained long after Christianity had obtained

a firm hold on Scotland , and lingers in some parts of our

country to the present day. St . Columba seems to have

had full belief in the existence of these demons , which were believed to have their usual dwelling-place in

fountains and green hillocks , and he delighted in exorcising

them . These invisible spirits pervaded the elements of — Nature the clouds , the waters , the earth , the trees , and

in a striking poem said to be by St . Patrick , there are signs that even he had not altogether shaken himself free from a sense of the mysterious power of the elements of

nature . He says

I bind to myself to-day The power of Heaven The light of the Sun The whiteness of the Snow 1 6 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

force of Fire ; flashing of Lightning ; velocity of Wind ; depth of the Sea ; stability of the Earth ’ hardness of Rocks .

w He invokes these ith Christian powers , such as the ’ R esu rrec power of Christ s Incarnation , Crucifixion , and n tion , to defend him from the magical and evil i fluence by which he believed himself surrounded .

I have set around me all these powers , Against every hostile savage power Directed against my body and my soul Against the incantations of false prophets Against the black laws of heathenism Against the false laws of heresy Against the deceits of idolatry Against the spells of women and smiths and Druids

Against all knowledge which blinds the soul of man .

With mysterious and weird prophecies like these , familiar to them , sung by their bards , repeated by -s —o u r their priest , forefathers found themselves face to face with Christianity and its message of Hope . Christianity took up and consolidated the national characteristics of our forefathers . Among the I n Celts , it enlisted the spirit of clanship the service of

Christianity . Among the Saxons it allied itself with what — was dearest and what was highest with their homes , their assemblies , their crowns , their graves . It fused the dif ferent — races Picts , Scots , Britons , Saxons , into one great strong people , through the idea of a spiritual society which it inculcated and held up before them , the purest which ever drew men together . They seem to have S . COLUMBA embraced Christianity with wonderful facility when it i was presented to them , and though there were occas onal relapses into paganism , and some heathen practices were tenaciously retained , the converts appear to have adhered with wonderful constancy to the rites and worsh ip of the e new faith . Their teachers wer gentle with them , tender su erstititio ns to their p , and forbearing with native usages of which they might not altogether approve .

In an ancient Gaelic poem , the heathen poet , Ossian , is represented as holding a dialogue with the first Christian —St teacher of the Scots . Patrick , and it must , I think , be

regarded as the last voice of Celtic heathenism . The old

bard rejoices in the worship of nature , and records the prowess of his historic forefathers ; the Missionary tells of the power of God beyond all visible things and speaks

in dogmatic terms of the future state . ’ Patrick of the solemn psalms , begins the old

pagan , how great your love for God must be , since you do not close your book and listen to the voice of the blackbird Sweet blackbird , high on yon bending bough , how soothing is your song ! Although you have never ’ heard Mass said by Priests , how delightfully you whistle . He then goes on to tell of the music of his warlike an cesto r , Fionn , He played melodiously with the harp ’ while I am here in grief with the Clergy, and then he

sings in heroic strains of the prowess of his forefathers , and mourns that he should have survived them and fallen on an evil time . When I think of the men who were so brave , I feel cheerless without friendship for my heart .

Here I am weak , living after the Fenii and Fionn Mac

. Oh Cumhal Small is my esteem for thyself and clergy, holy Patrick of the Crosier . I have greater regard for - — the white handed King of the Fenii but he is not near ’ me now . The Saint has little sympathy with his regard — fo r the heroes of other days he warns his listener that he has not long to live—his great forefather died a pagan B 1 8 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

and is in hell , and he will soon follow him unless he accepts

the Christian Faith . ‘ I would rather be in Fionn ’ s court hearkening to the voices of hounds in the morning and meditating on - ’ hard fought battles , than in the Court of Jesus Christ .

The dialogue goes on at great length . What we have quoted is probably sufficient to indicate its character—the heathen clinging to his old beliefs ; the saint entreating him to smite his breast and shed tears and believe in ’ Him Who is above him . It exhibits in poetic form the

meeting of the old and new . It belongs to the transition w time, the da ning hour, the twilight of Scottish Chris ” tianit y . I also quote the following In a Council of the — WI se men of the Court of Edwi n who gives the name —o f to our own city his aldermen , and thanes and nobles ,

the Christian teacher stood ready to plead his cause . No scene in the history of missions is more full of romance - . Co ifi n than that which ensued , the high priest of Wode , arose and confessed that he was moved by the new

doctrines . He had served his gods long and faithfully, yet there were those in the kingdom who were richer and — greater than he if the deities had power he would have

been richest and greatest of all . He asked that the new

doctrines should be explained to them , The missionary

explained his message to the assembly, and at the close of - his address , the high priest exclaimed , Long since have I known full well that what we have been worshipping is naught , and the more diligently I sought after tru th therein , the less I found it , but now in what this stranger O preacheth , I penly confess there shineth forth such truth as can confer on us life , salvation , and eternal happi 0 ness ; I advise, therefore, King , that we straightway break and burn down these temples and altars which we have hallowed and whence we have gained no good f (Bede) . Be ore this demolition of shrines was S . COLUMBA

the agreed to , one of assembled thanes gave his opinion in words that are full of deep feeling , and cannot fail to touch us still , though so many centuries have passed away since they were Spoken . They are words which speak on the one hand of the hopelessness of the old religion and of the gleam of hOpe which the new threw on the life and 0 destiny of man . The life of man in this world , King, said the speaker , may be likened to what happeneth when thou art sitting at supper with thy the mes in the

i . t me of winter A fire is blazing on the hearth , and the hall is warm , without the rain and the snow are falling and the wind i s howling . There cometh a sparrow and flieth through the house . She entereth by one door and goeth feeleth out by another . While she is within the house , she not the howling blast , but when the short Space of rest is past , she flieth out again into the storm and passeth away from our eyes . Even so it is with the brief life of man recedeth it appeareth for a little while , but what p it or what cometh after it , we know not at all . Wherefore if this new lore can tell us aught , let us hearken to it and ” follow it . The contrast between the paganism of that time and the civilisation of to-day is so overwhelmingly great as to be indescribable . The change in social life , political organisation , the rise of art , the discoveries of

science , these things mark the distance we have travell ed since the first Christian missionary set foot U pon our

shores .

Adamnan Yet as we recall Columba, , and many other ’ Saintly names , who by God s Blessing on their self - - surrendered , self denying, and self sacrificing lives , made

a conquest of our forefathers in the service of our King , are we not stirred to pray that once more the Counsels of Perfection may be responded to by many tru e o wn disciples who , in our day , ask of their Divine Teacher, What lack I yet ! We shall see as we pass from 20 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G the Columban period to the Benedictine that the corruption of the world through lust (desire to please self rather than God) remains and will remain to the Adamnan end . Did not Columba and apply to their ’ own times and temptations Ezekiel s words , Woe to the women who sew pillows to all armholes (Chap .

and the words of our Lord , Woe to the rich

(St . Luke using the simile of the camel trying to pass through the Needle ’ s Eye (the small postern gate seen in Eastern gates as a part of the larger one) with its load on its hump while Margaret , the sainted Queen of Scotland , shewed it was possible for one of rank and wealth to follow the Counsels of Perfection . I here insert a prayer formerly used by all the children of Iona in school , which I bought when I paid my first A 8 . D 1 8 8 visit to Iona , . . The Gaelic of the verse is ’ MacL ean S taken from History of Iona , and he copied A D 32 1 8 . them in . . from an MS school book which was the one book then used in th e one school in Iona , though transla the Bible was no doubt used also . The English MacCo rmick Eio n h o rt o s tion is by Mr . p R s , of Mull . The verses are interesting as shewing that Columba ’ s name was kept green in the hearts of the young .

U NUI GH PH I D R A S EAN I .

’ Tha Sinn cru inn ar ma d lath airsa (We infants feeble and mild are gathered) Paisdean lag tha (Together in Thy presence) Tighinn a dhiarraidh ort colais (We come to seek knowledge of Thee) Ann an Oige ar la

(In the morning of our days) . 0 Ath air na tro cair (0 Father of mercy)

22 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

Abbot of Iona, in whom we are specially interested , as the e Saint , it may be , by whom or in whose nam , after his m K l aveo na . death , i ig was built A brief notice of some names of note in the country after Columba ’s time will

be useful .

St . Fillan is said to have been a grandson of the

King of Leinster, and to have come to Scotland about A D 5 t t f ll — . 6 . S ra h i an he . 1 bears witness to his work also came North to the Garry and founded the Church of

Struan . A well at Struan , probably the old Pagan well , is ’ Fao len still known as Tobar or St . Fillan s Well , and the ancient bell known as the Bu idean (an engravi ng is inserted by the kindness of the Laird) is preserved at

. d Lude His crosier and his arm bone , enclose in a shrine ’ Breachb enno ch known as the , were taken to Bannock burn and received the credit of the victory which remained

with Robert the Bruce , who , as a mark of gratitude , built Strathf llan l . a Priory at i and dedicated it to St . Fi lan

Another name of note is St . Aidan , a monk of Iona ,

A D 63 5 . consecrated . . , in Iona , as Bishop of Northumbria

On his way thither he stayed at Fortingall . While at

Fortingall he founded the Church of Kenmore , where

the Tay issues from Loch Tay . The next Saint whose labours are handed down to us

. G i is St edd (St . Chad) a disc ple of St . Aidan and educated

at Lindisfarne , and in the controversy that arose about the keeping of Easter , he accepted the Roman use (our present one) and set out to Iona to win them over to adopt it . T had hey stopped him when he got as far as Fortingall ,

where he laboured with much success . He founded the Church there (which is dedicated to him) also that at

Logierait . This name from old documents is a corrup ‘ - - G G . tion of Logie ma edd or the Hollow of St . edd

We may here mention that the Church of Moulin , which was built on what was a peninsula of the shore of a small l och which at one time surrounded the Black s L M . CO U BA

l . Castle of Mou in , was probably dedicated to St Colman because Moulin market is known as Feil-na-Chalmaig c or Market of St . Colman . It was usual for lo al markets to be held on the name day of the Saint to whom the ” neighbouring Church was dedicated . r St . Cuthbert , the saintly Bishop of Du ham , born A . D 625 about . , was a shepherd boy in Lauderdale , and spent some time in Dull before he entered the Monastery at Ripon . I only mention him here as one of those whose names prove Dull to have been the centre of Chris tian work before or about the time that Adamnan (or E nan o ) began his work there . A glance at the map will 3 0 Show that Glenlyon , the longest glen in Scotland ( miles) ,

- was a natural highway or bye way from the West , which led to Perthshire, probably being a centre of work for the Adamnan Abbots of Iona , and thus in writing of St . , whom we are glad to think of according to FOLK LORE as o ur —we o Patron Saint , recall the saying by our L rd , One ” soweth and another reapeth .

Next to St . Columba , the Saint best known and Adamnan revered in the North of Perthshire , was St . or E o nan St . , as he was affectionately named by the people .

A D . 624 He was born in Ireland about . , and received his 9th 679 training in Iona , of which he became Abbot in . The controversy between the Columban and Roman Catholic clergy regarding the proper date for celebrating

Easter was then at its height , and Northumbria , which A had been converted to Christianity by St . idan of Iona , 664 had , after the Synod of Whitby in , adopted the Roman amnan . Ad or Canonical custom St . with the object of 688 obtaining fuller knowledge , visited Northumbria in , and became a convert to the canonical rule . He returned to Iona but was unable to get the monks to conform , and e was either exp lled or found it desirable to leave . On his way to and from Northumbria he had passed 20 through Glenlyon , where St . Gedd had some years 24 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G previously been successful in convincing the people of the truth of the Roman custom regarding Easter, and St . Adamnan no doubt thought he would find there a sym e L arich pathetic people . He ent red Glenlyon by the Pass from the head of Loch Tay and settled at the Bridge of Balgie about the centre of the Glen where his first work

was to restore the old church of St . Brendan (one of the - early pre Columban missionaries) and to erect a mill , E o nan still known as Milton . This Mill , though now fo r partly a ruin and no doubt often renewed , was upwards 1 000 of years the chief mill of Glenlyon , and yearly on the Saint ’ s day (6th October) the mill was kept closed and

silent . When the great plague visited Glenlyon towards the 7th end of the century, it is said to have wiped out all the population in the lower part of the Glen except one old

woman , who with her horse gathered the dead together Adamnan and St . , from a rock near the Bridge of Balgie ,

prayed that the plague should go no further . The plague D ianaidh stopped there, and the rock is known as Craig ,

or the Rock of Safety . Adamnan Leaving Glenlyon , St . crossed the hill to ’ u E o nan s Loch Tay, where he built a ch rch at Ardeonaig , ’ height , and thence he went eastwards to Dull where he founded a Monastery with a Collegiate Church and a right

of Sanctuary, marked out , it is said , by four crosses , one of which stands with an arm broken Off by the roadside in

Dull village , and two are in Weem Parish Church .

. A Concerning the Sanctuary Crosses , Dr nderson , formerly Curator of the Museum of Antiquities in Edin

burgh , kindly wrote to me as follows Three of them ’ are known and are figured in Stuart s sculptured stones,

are . they , however, no longer in their original sites Dull

was an early monastic settlement of the Celtic Church ,

da nan . founded by or dedicated to St . A m The Preceptory

of the Knights of St . John at Torphichen in Linlithgow One o the S anctuar r f y C o s s es ,

w th a n a r m. b ro /( e n o I N the v ll a e o D u ll i f! , i g f

S . COLUMBA shire had four girth crosses marking the limits of its sanc ” tu ary some of which still remain on their original sites .

Mr . Cameron , architect in Aberfeldy , has also favoured me with the following notes about these crosses There are two ancient crosses inside the Church

“ at Weem , of which I have pleasure in giving you these rough sketches and measurements . These are roughly shaped out of hard schist rock which may be found in the district . Both stand can upright , and from the ease with which one s move them , there would appear to be no ba e plinth to either of the stones . There is no sculptured work on either of them beyond the

bas r i e o small el v circle, with some trace of an 1 incised cross , as suggested on No . . There are two partially sunk small holes Fe on the face of each stone, and in connection with —One these is an interesting local story, viz . of the Menzies Factors , who appears to have had a r m practical tu n of ind , was in need of two gate l pi lars , and selecting these two crosses said to l er ared have been at Dul , he had them p p and Of erected at the entrance gate his house . On that same day he attended a farmers ’ dinner r in the B eadalbane Hotel , Aberfeldy, after which he rode home in the small hours of the morning, and his lifeless body was found at his entrance gate the same morning . This sad end appealed F9C6 to those concerned , and the two crosses were remove to then o rIgInal place “ d ma y p R flwmas 0 5 two at the Village of Dull . In olden times Weem Kirk was known as e ne ma ! c Rc M N in Ta ’ Al : . e St David s Church , and ban K 12 1 o 5 we i n, r D ab iu s Butler w ites that St . 2 5 S 6 was an Irish priest who preached with great success in wn his o country and in Alba . 26 Sc F K I LMAVEO AI G FACTS ANCIES ABOUT N .

r D o nach- n He is pat on of Cloney in the County of Dow , and of Kippen in Scotland , where a Church is dedicated to him by the name of Movean . In the Parish of Weem his holy well is pointed out and tradition relates that he had a Chapel on the shelf of the rock still called CRAG! -T’SCH EAPAI L NA or the Chapel rock . Here also -B ’ was a burial ground called CILL AIDH . Feill E o nan An important market , known as 6th was at one time held at Dull on October (old style) , the name day of the Saint . Going still eastwards , St . Adamnan founded a Church at Grandtully, which was 1 533 dedicated to him , but in the present Church was built

on the old site and dedicated to St . Mary . Adamnan From Grandtully, St . went to Forfarshire ,

where he built the Church of Tannadice, and the place where he sat and taught the people is still known as ’ ’ E o nan s St . Seat . He seems to have made a prolonged sojourn in the - u North Eastern co nties , and founded many Churches Chu rchés The Church of Kinneff in the Mearns , the of

Forgue and Aboyne in Aberdeenshire , and the Church of

Fo r len w Teu nank irk . g , formerly kno n as or Kirk of St B onan in Banffshire , all were dedicated to the Saint ,

and preserve his memory . He then seems to have retraced his steps and passed up the valleys of the Tummel and Garry to Bridge of Tilt where he is said to have founded the Church of Kil maveo nai g , and this Church and ancient Parish are named - after him . He traversed Inverness shire by Badenoch

and the Valley of the Spey, and made his way across the Mo ri sto n river Ness to Glen Urquhart and Glen , the s t district lying on the North side of Loch Ne s , where here is some evidence of Christian Churches having been founded - in the time of St . Ninian . In Inverness shire on the shore c of Lo h Insch , he founded a Church on a small height , ’ Eo nan B Eo nan ell . known as Tom , and the of St is

28 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

it is so steep as to be almost perpendicular . Adamnan was evidently possessed of many Singular i O g fts as well as f Irish royal blood (a cousin of Columba) , and it is worthy of note that in those days many noble s Adamnan were called to leave all and follow Chri t .

is known as the biographer of Columba, and as the writer of a book concernn The Holy Place based on a narrative — given him by Bishop Arcu lf who was shipwrecked on the Scottish Coast— both which mark him as a man of some literary merit ; his influence at the council of A D 697 Birr in Ireland . . enabled him to get the law Adamnan of enacted , freeing women from obligation n Go d to military service . Tha ks be to for the humanity as well as other good qualities that marked our Patron

Saint , but let us not forget that women , as well as men , girls as well as boys , at their Baptism , are signed on the forehead with the Sign of the Cross , as being enrolled as Soldiers of the Prince of Peace to wrestle not with - flesh and blood , but with the World Rulers of the

darkness . Adamnan w And here we leave , hether , as Folklore at has it , laid to Rest as regards his body Dull , or as the r Irish ave , in his native land . We insert the fine hymn

4 8 . . 23rd we Sing (Tune 1 A M ) on September , when we Adamnan thank God for St . , as one of the choice vessels ’ Grace of God s , and of the Lights of the world who caused our land to shine with the light of the Everlasting

Gospel . e Lo , our fathers hav declared

How the Lord hath done of old ,

How His servants He hath guided ,

How He kept and keeps His fold . l Lo , they te l that He is glorious , Chiefest in His chosen saints - In their battles and self conquest ,

In the love that never faints . S . COLUMBA

’ l O , tis sweet to tel their story , Fragrant wi th celestial grace Shining with increasing brightness

From the high and holy pla ce . - A amnan Thus , to day , the blest d

Comes by faith before our eyes , With dear record of another

Sainted long in Paradise .

Now he shares the peaceful glory In the Lord ’ s Own Presence bright

Now he tells the story wondrous , ’ Joyful mid the Saints in light . There Adamnan and Columba r Meet befo e the Throne on high , Ever surely interceding

For those loved so tenderly .

0 that soon the holy places , ’ - Scattered o er our sea girt isle , May arise from out their ruin

And on land and ocean smile . So once more may Saintly praises

Ring forth joyful through the air, And the evening and the morning

Mark again the day of prayer .

Thus at every holy Altar

May Thy Priests be seen to stand , Pleading aye before the Father ’ For the Church s ransomed land . 0 Hasten it , God , the Father, ’ - Thro Thy well beloved Son ,

Sanctify, O God , the Spirit , E Ever TH R EE and ever ON . Amen . 3 0 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

But if we thank God for Iona and its Abbots , do they not also warn us to be sober and watchful against

the Adversary Is it not strange that , with the warnings

of History, Christians , at least as a corporate body,

have not seen within , as well as around them , the mind of the Flesh which is emnity against Go d Modern r n Ty e , modern Babylon tur ing the blessings of civilisation ,

the inventions that save labour and alleviate suffering, into a curse by misuse and abuse ; the Fridays and all ’ — u Fast Days , the helps to keep the King s r le of daily - — self denial neglected , and the result of this being that the demon powers which Columba and his fellow workers unto the Ki ngdom of Go d had to confront

in the Druid system , now are at work in an even deadlier

form in the luxury and selfishness of modern society,

and in the slums thronged with the defiled in body, often , alas , tenanted by souls that are bound by Satan from childhood , often , alas , the sport of men and women whose wisdom is that from beneath , earthly , sensual , ” - devilish , and whose fault Is it not the fault of those

who profess to be lovers of God , but seeing their brother U (or sister) in need , shut p their compassion from him (or her) ! Are we Christians guiltless in the matter as regards what we have left undone in past years , as ’ well as in this our Day of Grace Now, as in St . Paul s day, it is a Shame even to speak of the things done by the godless in secret. Is it not ceasing to be a shame to k now that these are done without our sighing and crying before God for these abominations (Ezek . I must not pass from this period without referring to — the Culdees a small body of anchorites not to be con fused with the Abbots of Iona . They lived in separate cells in the same enclosure with their fellows The K eledei name in Scotland was spelt in Ireland , - ’ Cele De, meaning Servants or Friends of God . The

Latin form was Cultores Dei . Their desire seems to have S . COLUMBA

’ been to live a life of greater seclusion in devotion to Go d s service . After a time they were supported by endow ments or otherwise for the conduct of public services and private devotion , and they were often entrusted with important Churches but , alas , they Shared in the general decay which set in in the 9th and two following centuries noble ideals gradually disappeared , Laxity displaced i prim tive discipline , and love and fervent zeal grew cold .

The Abbot often held the endowment as private property, r 1 2 but appointed Prio s , usually presiding over Culdees ” and fulfilling the efficient duties . CHAPTER I I I .

BE E M R 1 . N DICTINE ONASTE IES, A. O. 100 to 1300 — The Kingdom of Go dm R egnu m D ei which we have

traced thus far, we Shall now see developed as to its civil life joined in holy and happy alliance with the temporal ’ Ci vitas D ei power it becomes , the nation becomes Chris

tian under the rule of Malcolm , and so the dark sad scene ’ o with which the last chapter ended , was but , in G d s good Providence (which by His mercy never faileth) ,

a passing cloud to issue in yet brighter days . There is a tide in the affairs of men which ebbs and flows by the law given to it , and when the ebb has come the ’ new flood of healthy life begins . The Ebb Man s Extremity is God ’ s Opportunity for a new Flood of Blessing , and in this case the Flood came from the great centre of Church Life , the Roman Empire , where, n as we have seen , the Monastic life bega and where it was w now being stirred into more vigorous life , and it is onder u u ful , but niversally tr e , that all true life is loving and one - giving , and that God generally calls true hearted hi man or woman to carry out His loving purpose . In t s case, Bernard , Abbot of St . Cyprian in Poitou , was the “ ’ Vessel of God s choice , and we Shall see that it is probably to him that we owe the building of a Benedi ctine

t e. s s . Monastery ( . a Mona tery in which the rule of St A a an Benedict were observed) on the ruin of that of St . d mn at Dull . ’ I quote from Go rdon s Mo nastico n

i A.D . T ron was in the Diocese of Chartes , where , Po i to u 1 00 . . c 1 , St Bernard , Abbot of St Cyprian , in , had a settlement given him by the Earl of Perche . c After a time he adopted the principles of a se t , BENED ICTINE MONASTERIES

endeavouring to effect a reformation of Monastic disci

pline , and joined the society of the itinerant Archdeacon

of Rennes . Bernard , desirous of retirement , and dis e o approving of som fanatical practices f. the Archdeacon , withdrew from the Society and f inally settled in the woods

of Tiron , where they formed themselves into a religious

fraternity under the rules of St . Benedict , with some — o wn . regulations of his added , viz that each of the Brethren should practise within the convent whatever

mechanical art he knew, both to preserve them from the

corruptive power of idleness and to provide , by useful

industry, for the maintenance of the community, poor

at its beginning . Accordingly the monks of Tiron and mo nastries the other of this order consisted of painters , a carvers , carpenters , smiths , m sons , vinedressers , and husbandmen , who were under the direction of an elder , and the profits of the work were applied to the common use . Six mo nastries are said to have belonged to this order in Scotland , but others think that Dull was also one , for Dull had the names of different localities (for which there existed no other cause from time immemorial) , as the Smith Street , the Mason Street , and other trades l which point to the labours of the monks (in Gae ic) .

The Minister of Dull (Mr . Macfarlane) kindly sent me from the Manse , the following bits of Folklore about

Dull , which seem to indicate that it was once a pretty large ecclesiastical settlement ’ ’ There is The Ladies or Nuns Walk , an avenue of D ru mdewan very old ash trees , by Farm , near to which a loc l tradition assigns the site of a nunnery . It also assigns sites to the Monastery—to the College (said to be the rudiments of St . Andrews University) to Baile Beag or the Little Town of Dull (where the lay servants and artiz ans connected with the settlement had their — ‘ quarterS) to Carsemu ck ie (Carse A Bhuicie) (where 3 4 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

’ - the Manse now is) The Buck s Close or Deer park , con nected Man with the Monastery . The Farm below the se ’ is The Carse or grazing ground . The Farm to West Te armu chd Ti armank of Manse is g (old spelling g ) , ’ Ti ar said to be from gg Monk or mendicant friars hospice . ‘ ’ O Tu lli hu ill The hill on pposite side of Ri ver c or Tullich .

Dull, where the flocks were driven to Summer Pasturage

and herded by the younger brethren , who lived in ’ Sheilings . These are a few of the place names , which indicate the uses to which the different places were put . ‘ M L ean A few of them I had from the late Rev . John of

Grandtully, who was somewhat of an authority on the ” subject . This tide of revival of Christian life which in those days was , as we have seen , largely Monastic , reached our land about the time of the Norman conquest , and we cannot fail to see the directing power of the ascended King using the things of Caesar to advance his o wn u Kingdom in the world . William the Conqueror bro ght to England a great company of Norman nobles and clergy with their more advanced learning and civilisation , and the Norman conquest was also the indirect means of changing u the whole character of the Scottish Church , hitherto r led a from Ion , which had only slowly and in part, y ielded to m Roman practice (e. g . the keeping of Easter and the for of tonsure) , but Edgar Atheling , the claimant to the English v Throne, with his two Sisters , was dri en to seek refuge in

A. D . 1 0 58 the Court of Malcolm , who began to reign over a kingdom which had been gradually enlarged by the l cession of the English Lothian , and an al iance in marriage with the Ruler of Strathclyde ; the result of the wel c ome which Malcolm Canmore gave Edgar and his sister, was that Malcolm made a conquest—after many attacks ’ t he —o f on citadel Margaret s heart . Is not the con i i o trast str k ng between Columba of Royal Irish Blo d , who by his monastic and ascetic life won Scotland from

3 6 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K ILMAVEONAI G

S midst of Imperial Rome grows , preads , goes forth

conquering and to . conquer, by the corporate Life and

Witness of the Soldiers of the King , till it wins Kings to be the Nursing Fathers and Queens the Nursing Mothers — of the Church , and a Christian State is the result the n Be edictine monasteries , the Abbeys , the Parish and — Collegiate Churches , the Legislative all unite in one

aim , viz . , the growth of the Kingdomof God in the land . What a change Since Columba knocked at the fortress of King Bru de in the name of the King of all the earth I R E ! c Yes , ECCE HOMO ECCE e hoes on through the ages ; the King in the person of His Mystical Body — — stands before men for acceptance o r God forbid for rejection

We must keep our thoughts on Calvary and realise that the Only Begotten of the Father be came MAN in order by Death to abolish Death and that until the t o n immo rtalit mor al has put y , it will be age after

age growing old , yet to be always renewed unto new ’ life ; otherwise it will depress U S thus to s ee Columba s

work an apparent failure , and the glory of Iona passing from it to Dunkeld (which then became the seat of the Adamnan Bishop) . But now in faith we leave Columba, , and their fellows resting from their labours in “ sure ” hO e and certain p of the Resurrection at the Last Day, and we turn cheerily in renewed hope that now the turn of the tide has come . Yes , the King on His throne sitteth above the waterflood

From age to age more glorious ,

All blessing and all blessed , The tide of Time shall never His Covenant remove

a S a ever His N me h ll stand for , ” L ove His changeless Name of . BENEDICTINE MONASTERI ES

E o nan On the sites of the Monasteries built by St . and others of mud and other more or less perishable n m materials , S . Ber ard built his ore permanent structure n of stone , no doubt larger and more suited to the moder k 50 60 life . The number of mon s varied from to , and

200 . up to as many as , it is said in Melrose The last

Abbey founded in Scotland was in Galloway in A . D . ” 1 275 , called Sweetheart , it is said because the foundress , the daughter of the Lord of Galloway, and wife of John ’ Baliol , had her husband s heart embalmed after his death and placed in a coffin of ivory which at her death should be buried with her and placed upon her breast in the

Abbey she had founded .

Before we pass from the subject of Monasteries , let us consider their great u se in the fresh vigour of their ab o n— religious life ; their use will be seen later alas , which at the Reformation blinded men ’ s eyes to the good they had done . We find they required manual labour, Tiro nences specially as we see in the , where every monk must have a trade . The monks were the friends of the serfs , the poor and the helpless they not only gave much attention to agriculture , but were the first to grant long leases of their lands on easy terms to tenants , who were not , as a rule , like lay proprietors , obliged to give military service . Each was a centre from which educa th tion , religion , and civilising influence radiated to e country round . The Scottish Baron of the time not only could not Sign his name , but looked upon such an act as only a monkish accomplishment to be despised . In the monasteries then we may see that the flickering lamp of knowledge was kept burning till brighter times came . What a change Since then to our day Now we need in a different way the Lamp to give that true knowledge n which alone is Life Eter al , lest we lapse into worse than Pagan darkness . What brought the evil days on the monasteries 7 3 8 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

b o ard d riches e up , instead of being used for the brother in need , the want of simplicity of life , the acquiring of property contrary to the rules of Benedict , the well — stored cellars , and the relaxing of discipline these and such -like made the communities a proverb and a byword which were at first a blessing . The monasteries were we largely abolished at the Reformation , but have , the children o f the Reformation -renounced the - luxury and self indulgence we professed to condemn , ’ and ruled our lives by the Master s words , If any one wills to come after Me , let him deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow Me Let the conscience of each one of us answer in the words of our Christian Poet

Seek we no more content with these , case Let present rapture , comfort , ,

As Heaven shall bid them , come and go , ” The secret this of Rest below .

We turn in the next chapter to the earliest date of K l av o a A D 1 27 i m e n i . . 5 g, . CHAPTER IV .

THE PARISH OF KILMAVEONAIG. 1275.

We no w come to our first Fact about our unique church , for it is mentioned in an old register in Edinburgh ’ s A. D . as a parish . In Grub History we read that in 1 275 Bo iamu nd Vicci , the Pope sent a nuncio , de , to collect a tithe from the parishes of the Scottish Church for the

relief of the Holy Land we know that Peter the Hermit , u in the twelfth century , by his acco nt of the sufferings

of Jews and Christians under Turkish rule , stirred Chris tian Europe to undertake another Crusade , soldiers going forth with the Cross as an outward earnest of victory ’ and in this roll commonly called Bagimo nt s Roll (for the man and his work were not popular) are inscribed the

names of the Parishes and the tithes paid by them . The Roll was headed Taxati o Benef i ci oru m Praeter Prelaci as d S coti ae i n deci ma parte earu n ern.

The late Bishop of Edinburgh , Dr . Dowden , most “ kindly sent me the following details : At the Vatican ’ there is a record of Bo iamu nd s Taxatio in 1 27 5 and 1 276. In the Collection Decima in Episco patu D u nk eldense ” ” K lnevenet 1 mare . pro primo anno , I find Ecclesia de y The final t of K ylnevenet is doubtless an error for ” c , nothing is more frequent than the confusion of 1 c and t in me—dieval script . The marc for 0 6 1 3 . tithe gives us 1 mares lib . shillings and fourpence

This was a fairly good benefice for the day .

de 30 . Ecclesia Weem paid as tithes sol , giving ’ revenue of 1 5 lib . In the second year s account the ” K ilmevo o 1 mare . church appears as n c, and again pays In 1 276 there is the following entry 40 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

4 dc Lod 9 Sol den .

de Leod 9 sol 4 den . paid as tithes on revenue . de Mulin

4 2 . 8 . de K ylmichael lib . sol den

’ Theiner s a 1 1 2 The above notes are from Monumenta , p ge .

The Lod is the same as Kirkton of Lude , the old

ruin well known to us , and it is interesting to find this as an ancient parish mentioned in the same Roll as paying

this tithe . We have therefore here clear proof no t only of Kilmaveo nai b n g eing an ancie t parish church , but also 1 275 that it had been formed some years before , for the Bishop says that the tithe paid proved it to be a parish

of some importance . This probably arose from its

connection with the Robertson clan , and its early link

with Iona .

It is also interesting to note that Kirkton of Lude, t of which we are able to give a pho ograph of the ruins ,

is mentioned in the old Register . K ilmaveo naig being mentioned in the Register gives

u s D o u s D ei ac . the House of God , m as a f t The King when He founded His Kingdom on Calvary had not

” ' H i s K in do m where to lay his head , but when g comes into the land , His Ministers have gifts of government amongst the spiritual things given to them at Pentecost , and a Kingdom becomes a State (civitas) and of course as u Solomon b ilt Him an House , so Christian kings and nobles did likewise . Is it not pleasant to let Fancy roam back to the dim past , and picture perhaps first the mud or ’ rc . E o nan s wooden chu h of S day, and then later on one of stone maybe built by Patrick or some other early forebear ’ Of the Robertson clan Thus may not Fancy revel o er the auld l ang syne ‘ of the palmy I ona days

Doubtless then , as now, the Fender fell into the Tilt , Carr and the Tilt into the y , the Garry into the Tummel ,

PARISH OF K I LMAVEONAI G

the Tummel into the Tay ; and methinks I see a man of

reverend mien and simple dress , with Shepherd crook

in hand walking up and down the Strath , perchance giving to some native the rites of Christian burial in the r g ound where Mr . Christie now has his farmstead , where

there are still graves to be found , and which some people think was a sacred spot in old Pagan times the old stone

now standing there is thought to be Druidic, and in the

noontide heat I think I see a man resting on the ground , from old times known as Dail-ant-sagairt (the field of the E o nan priest) . Is the figure I picture here dear Why n Stro wan not And when eve tide comes , as had an old ‘ bell (of which Mi ss Nora M I nro y has kindly furnished

i . me w th a small photograph) , so may not one at St ’ Eo nan s Church be heard calling to prayer !

Be the day weary and be the day long , n At length it ri geth (or weareth) to evensong .

And it is interesting to note how the monks of those olden

e. . times have left their seal on the country round , g they would often retire to some secluded desert place , as in the Gospel story, for rest and quiet , and in the name Dysart we have in our neighbourhood the record of a

dese u . Fask all rt m Dysart was the old name of y . The following quotation shews that in the Columban

Pari hes n o D i oceses Church there had been no s and , but with the influx of Saxons and Normans from England and the Benedictine Monks from abroad , the Church system familiar to us took its rise The remodelling of the Scottish Church was carried out mainly by th e establishment of Parishes and the i introduct on of Diocesan Episcopacy, and the Bene d ietine Monastic Orders from abroad . The n organisation of the Celtic Church was mo astic ,

not arochi al . p In many cases , a tribe or a province o o wn p ssessed its monastery , endowed by some former 42 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K ILMAVEONAI G

chief, and supplying Christian rites to people around . There were also foundations which did not possess this tribal character . Sometimes a monastery had under its u charge a group of neighbouring ch rches . Mortlach , in

Aberdeenshire , with its five churches , was an instance of r such an ar angement, and also Scone with its eleven the Churches , first it is to be noted of the Benedictine

A. D 1 1 1 5 . Monasteries , founded in Scotland . We can often recognise the name of the first evangelist of the district in the Saint to whom its church was after o r wards dedicated , in the well at which he baptised his converts , or in the fair or festival (for such is the ’ original meaning of the term) held on his day, and n the still know by his name , or in stone seat on which o a the go d man was wont to rest , or in the c ve to which he retired for shelter or meditation ; but parochial

Churches in the proper sense , mainly supported by

tithes drawn from the district which they supply, were almost unknown till about the beginning of the twelf th

century . The formation of parishes was promoted

by the sovereign , whose efforts were zealously seconded

by the Norman and Saxon settlers . en The proprietor of a manor built a church , or dowed one already existing for the use of himself and his

people with the tithes of his land , and nominated a priest s with the anction of the Bishop to serve it . His manor a n came to be regarded as a P rish , and this was the origi i of Parishes , T thes , and Patronage . The Institution of Parishes was the most a valuable part of the organis tion of the Medieval Church ,

and it has proved to be the most lasting . Another part of the process o f assimilating the Scottish to the Engli sh Church was the introduction of D i ocesan l d Episcopacy which , it is now generally be ieve , i had no ex stence in Scotland till the twelfth century . ’ The only Bishopric created after David s reign was PARISH OF K I LMAVEONAI G

that of Lismore or Argyll in 1 222 . It was formed out of the Diocese of Dunkeld and embraced the mainland - of Argyll ; this made the thirteen pre reformation sees , ” Edinburgh being formed in the reign of Charles I . By the FACT that K ilmaveo naig was a Parish Church A D 1 275 . . , and paid a tithe collected by the Pope for the o f relief _ the Holy Land , we are brought face to face with the claim of Rome to supreme authority over the C atholi c c Church methinks , therefore , that some referen e to

authority comes within the scope of this book , for there

can be no lasting unity without authority . Let us note first what the Word of God saith about ” — Authority . There is no authority but from God the authorities that exist are ordained by God (Romans xiii so that God has from the beginning ruled the world

by delegated authority . We must distinguish between — authority and power physical or moral . Two Greek words are often translated by one English (see Acts but “ Autho ri S . Peter speaks of two ranks of spiritual beings

1 E . r ties and Powers ( . p chap . Obse ve then that God delegates His authority (a) by Priority of Existence “ ” Adam first formed , by seniority (elders , by parents; 6 — r ( ) by legally constituted authority kings , governo s , l n elected by the people , a so by any meeti g electing a i ” cha rman , and when there is no King in Israel , everyone hi s does right in own eyes , and disorder and possibly riot ensues . Or again , a divided authority, or usurpation of it , weakens its power to enforce its decrees , and in the one case or in the other leads to defiance or rebellion . We see this in the Scottish history before the Revolution , and are there not ominous signs around us now I n some difficult problems before Parliament Mark then the unique claim made by our King after His crucifixion and when abo ut to take Hi s place on the —“ Ri ght Hand of Power AL L AUTHOR ITY is given unto ME in Heaven and on Earth . He claims to be M o narch no t 4 4 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

only over Israel , not only over earthly rulers , not only over but r loyal subjects , also over the rebellious , whethe men or angels . Here then we have delegated authority centred in one Person , and as the Head of the Church , which is His mi ni s eri all Body, He exerts that authority t y , and we are n w confro ted ith the question of vital , of primary import e anc , How is the Church to minister it Who gave thee this authority is the question that in daily life is asked of everyone who in matters great or small ventures to interfere or to give an order more or less autocratically . Who made thee a ruler or a judge ” asks one . Mind your own business , says another . ” Who sent you your orders are not valid , saith a third . Therefore to ensure obedience the authority of the person U or Society must be recognised , and we are fallen pon times

perilous through defiance of authority it is most urgent ,

therefore , that the authority of the Church must be plainly

delegated to Her by Her King . The claim of Rome must

therefore be either right or a usurped one . If it is the r in latter we are wrong in admitting it . I wish he e to ’ ! tro du ce the reader to Bryce s Holy Roman Empire , e hO e a most int resting book , and I p the following extracts

will lead to a careful study of the book , as well as justify

my quoting it . The first extract shows how the Roman Empire at tained s r its proud position of mistres of the wo ld , and that stability of power which gained for H o me the title of ” The Eternal City . Then other extracts will show how

Christianity , as the Kingdom of God , rose out of the ruins

of the Empire of the Caesars , and ended by embracing and s Of transforming it . The fir t extract is as follows out Chapter I “ Among the institutions of the Middle Ages there is scarcely one which can be understood until it is traced up

to either classical or primitive Teutonic antiquity. Such a mode of enquiry is most Of all needed in the case of the PARISH OF K I LMAVEONAI G

i o Holy Emp re , itself no more than a traditi n , a revival of h departed glories . In order to make it clear out of w at elements the imperial system was formed we might trace Rome in her developing legislation and the growth of her her power and conquest of surrounding tribes , but , let it suffice to glance at her condition in the third and fourth centuries of the Christian era . We Shall then see the old

Empire , with its scheme of absolutism fully matured , and we shall then mark how the new religion rising in the midst

of a hostile power , ends by embracing and transforming it , and we shall be able to understand what impression the

whole huge fabric of government , which Roman and

e . Christian had pil d up , made upon the barbarian tribes Athnul f The letter of , the successor of Alaric , records t his wish o restore the Roman power . He writes

It was at first my wish to destroy the Roman name ,

and erect in its place a Gothic Empire , taking to myself the place and the powers of Caesar Augustus . But when experience taught me that the untameable barbarism of the Goths would not suffer them to live beneath the sway of law, and that the abolition of the institutions on which the State rested would involve the ruin of the State itself, I chose the glory of renewing and maintaining by Go thic os strength the fame of Rome , desiring to go down to p terity as the restorer of that Roman power which it was beyond my power to replace . Wherefore I avoid war , ” and strive for peace . Then later o n we read The conception of that It Empire was too universal , too august , too enduring . was everywhere round these barbarians , and they could remember no time when it had not been so .

There were especially two ideas whereon it rested , it O and from , which _ btained a peculiar strength and a was peculiar direction . The one the belief that as the dominion of Rome was universal , so must it be eternal . l Nothing ike it had been seen before . 4 6 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

The empire of the Italian city had for fourteen gen eratio ns embraced all the most wealthy and populous

regions of the civilised world , and had laid the foundations o f its power so deep that they seemed destined to last ‘ ” for ever .

o From the end of the republican peri d her poetry,

i her orators , her jur sts , ceased not to repeat the claim of ” world dominion , and confidently predict its eternity . The proud belief expressed by Virgil that the Empire “ would lastf or ever (imperium sine fine) was shared by the early Christians , who prayed for the persecuting power ” whose fall would bring Antichrist upon earth . In early Christian times L actantiu s writes : When h can Rome , the ead of the world , shall have fallen , who doubt that the end is come of human things , aye , of the earth itself. She , she alone is the state by which all things are upheld even until now wherefore let us make prayers and supplications to the God of Heaven , if indeed His d decrees and His purposes can be elayed , that the hateful tyrant come not sooner than we look for , he for whom are n reserved fearful deeds , who shall pluck out that eye i ’ whose extinction the world itself shall perish .

And S . Paul is considered by the early Christian writers to refer to the removal of the Roman power as making way for the Lawless One (2 Thess . The following extracts refer to that wonderful Provi

' Go d co nversio n o f dence of whereby the Church , at the A D 3 . 1 3 Constantine, . , entered on the inheritance of that authority and power of the Empire which the barbarian conqueror resolved to perpetuate “ With the triumph of Christianity this belief had u fo nd a new basis . For as the Empire had decayed the n t Church had grow stronger ; and now while he one , trembling at the approach of the destroyer, saw province

48 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

. . a universal authority of our Lord (S . Matt xxviii ) for ( ) the claim was not made by the first Bishops of Rome ; ’ 6 a law m ( ) it is contrary to the nalogy of God s , in fa ily life , is not the aut ocrat u the eldest son — of his yo nger brothers the will of the Father i nterpreted by the whole f amily — according to the varying needs is the authority ; (0) the Roman Church stu ltified herself at the Reformation by refusing to return unto the Way of Righteousnes s d ( ) if our Lord gave supreme authority to S . Peter would

S . James have been first Bishop of Jerusalem (Acts

i . would S . Paul have w thstood him (Gal and surely Peter himself would in his epistle have asserted his authority .

My contention is that the Risen Lord , to Whom The

Father gave all authority , must rule in His Mystical Body after the Law by which He rules in Family Life . The different branches of the Family are ruled by the head of each Family, so in the life of the Mystical Body, the rule must be according to the tradition summed up in the words L erins m of S . Vincent of , quod ubique , quod se per, quod ” ab omnibus , and for the elder branch of the family to claim supremacy is usurpation of authority , and therefore to be resisted as contrary to the Will of God . When

the Lawless one appears , a recognised Authority over all Christians will be essential to order and to Unity, and therefore to the strength necessary to overcome evil in let the good . For this us pray, believing that our King in supreme authority will gather us into His Presence ” to tell us all things whatsoever He commands . Now as to the meaning of Kilmaveo naig -as far as an m I c esti ate the divers theories set forth , that most held by folk-lore and by the best historians is as follows K I L (cell) MA (Saint) V (a consonant inserted before a E 0 N E u nan - Adamnan vowel) ( , a well known variation of )

AI G (a Gaelic word expressive of affection) . It is evident that the family of Iona did endear themselves PARISH OF K ILMAVEONAI G

i i to the people by go ng about doing good , as the r

Divine Teacher was wont to do , healing their bodies as well as bringing peace to their souls and then sometimes , u even in the lifetime of the Saint , a House of God wo ld be built and named after him or her . There is another explanation put forth by Bishop Forbes in his Book of Scottish Saints that the words mean the Church of ” the Beloved Bishop John . There was a noted Bishop h — di Jo n of Dunkeld John , the Englishman who vided the Diocese of Argyll (or Lismore) from that of Dunkeld , and afterwards became Bishop of St . Andrews ; he has ever been held in the highest reverence . In the end he d retired to the Cistercian Abbey of Newbattle , and die

D 1 203 . A. . And there is a well at Lude known as ’ ” Bishop s Well , also the Village Fair is in an old book - - called FEIL E spo g EON (The Fair of Bishop John) . The true explanation may be found in the following note sent to me .

Granting that there was really a Fair instituted in h n u memory of this Bishop , Jo of Dunkeld , it is nat ral enough if the Fair used to be held at the Church grounds , to suppose that in course of time the name of the Bishop got transferred to the Church, and that thus the people took into their heads that some Bishop John was their

Patron Saint . In no other way does it seem credible that the name of a Bishop could become used as that of ! the Patron Saint No Bishop , in consecrating a Church , would have dedicated it to another Bi shop of so (com arativel 1 sth p y) recent date as the Century, and the sentence quoted from Forbes anent Feil E Spo g Eoin was originally suppli ed along with other dates of Athole

. Fairs , to Dr Joseph Anderson , Keeper of the Museum , who holds that Skene probably got these names and dates of the Fairs from the people of the district by word of mouth , and that if written down at all by any D 5 0 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

honeti call one who gave them , they would be spelt p y . In Historic Scenes in Perthshire we find reference made to the old burying-ground referred to as at the back u of the Tilt Hotel , not the site of an old ch rch as some - - N have supposed, but Clack GHIL AI DREAS is the ’ cemetery of St . Andrew s disciples ; at the latter place many bones have been found entire in co ffins made of k and plan s , to the south , in the olden times , was held e as Andr wm Market . The Annual Fair was held in the

City of Perth .

That the Blackwood , as it is called , was an old - burying ground is proved by excavations that were made. 1 840 l about the year , as mentioned in a etter sent me by

o 26 1 91 2 . Miss Hay, N vember , She wrote

7 0 . McI nro Somewhere about years ago Mrs y, Lude, having reason to think that burials might have taken place in the Black Wood , sent men to dig in different t spots there , with the result that more than one s one 6 coffin of a simple type, consisting of loose slabs , were discovered . In one at least of these coffins was a skeleton still possessing teeth and long hair . The bodies had been f doubled u p in the cof ins . The coffins and bodies were ” not disturbed , but covered up again . CHAPTER V .

KILMAVEONAIG RESTORED , A. O. 1 591 .

The next Fact with regard to the Church is the re h o f D . 1 5 91 building it , A. (as s own by the stone in the

South wall) by the Robertsons of Lude , on whose pro o perty the Church st od . But before we refer to this ,

let us glance at the state of Scotland , and note some changes that took place before this date and afterwards . ” In the reign of David , a sair sanct to wear a crown, - events of far reaching consequence took place . Rome

was appealed to instead of Canterbury , with regard to the a filling of vac nt Sees , and a Papal Legate was called in for the first time , and thus recognition of Roman authority

r u . began , and lasted for weal or for woe du ing four cent ries

A. D . 1 225 R ST L RO C L Then again , the FI ANN UA P VIN IA C L COUN I was held according to the provision of . the A D 1 21 5 Fourth Lateran Council , . . , which enacted that Provincial Councils shou ld be held ann ually throughout r the Chu ch , and the Bishop of Aberdeen points out in his bo ok that it illustrates- happy omen how Episcopacy might be combined with the General Assembly system in the event of a large Ecclesiastical Reunion ” taking place in Scotland .

Again , we find history repeating itself. The renewed life resulting fro m the work of the Benedi ctine and Cis

tercian monks began to lose force . As long as they hon ’ estl y made S . Paul s teaching as to labour their rule Let h him labour , working with his ands the thing which is that he ma have to ive to hi m good y g that needeth (Eph . - all went well , but when the deep seated selfishness a of our fallen n ture had again asserted itself, and the object of all Christian labo ur (to give to him that needeth) 52 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

was set aside , and the monks planted and builded and b o arded U laboured and p their gains for their own use , the corruption through lust got the upper hand the jolly monks of old became a proverb often voiced s in song , and a selfish and debased living gave an excu e to the Ahabs of the time , to despoil and appropriate Naboth ’ s Vineyard for themselves side by side with this the Church at large is marked by error in doctrine , l no less than by viciousness of life . Luther ifted up 1 5 u his voice in indignant protest in the th cent ry, and the tide of what we know as The Reformation set in , n and in due time reached Scotla d . John Knox, a parish ” priest , a Minister of the Holy Altar , feels its influence . Driven abroad for the part he took with some rebel

D 1 9 r . A. . 55 spirits of the time , he returns to his count y

It is not my purpose , of course , to write a history of that ’ u troubled time , I only c ll from the Bishop of Aberdeen s most interesting booklet (which I commend to those who desire to grasp the facts) what bears upon K ilmaveo naig in the 1 6th century . In the two centuries after the Battle of Bannockburn we see the gradual growth of those forces which we have — now before us the growth of ignorance and turbul ence amongst the nobles (whose best blood had been shed w i in the wars ith England , especially on Flodden F eld) , and the generation which followed being , to a great extent , ignorant and uncultured , of headstrong character and disloyal to principles , caring only for their own a s aggr ndi emen The boast of James I . tha if God S spared his life , there should not be a pot in his kingdom where the key should not keep the castle , and the furze ” u S bush the cow, s ited not the lawless pirit in the land ,

A. D . 1 437 . and his brutal murder was the result in Perth ,

s . In Church matters , thing were no better We see the growth of avarice on the part of Pope , king, and nobles , specially in the usurpation of church patronage ; K I LMAVEONAI G RESTORED with a celibate clergy often openly immoral in their lives, and giving to the king the things not only that were ’ Caesar s , but also those due to the King of Glory, the only — with Head of the Church and luxury , sloth and laxity hi in the Monasteries , w le outside them real religion was starved and neglected , what wonder that righteous wrath was roused among the people but the wrath of fallen man ’ never has , and never will , except as God s sword , work ” s . the righteousne s of God . It is indeed a dark picture

Let us note now the strange story with the chief dates ,

D . 1 689 which culminated in the Revolution A. . D 1 560 A. . , John Knox preached his famous sermon ’ in S . John s , Perth , which roused his hearers to begin R e the work of destruction ; this was in May, but the formers found they had to deal with a French King who e h lped the Catholic party, so the Reformers appealed to England for aid , and war followed , but a treaty was 8 made at Edinburgh on July th , at which it was stipulated that the question concerning religion should be settled by a meeting of Parliament at thi s only a few ecclesiastics were present , and when the petition was pre sented , craving for reformation in doctrine, discipline, the administration of Sacraments , the power of the r Pope, and the patronage of the Chu ch , the Bishops ’ d b were silent (well earning , alas , Knox s epithet of u m do s 1 7th 1 5 60 g ) , and thus on August , , Parliament set l VI ! aside the old Catho ic order for the new system ,

Superintendents (in place of the Bishops) , Ministers , and

Readers , which last we shall find referred to in our notes later on . The words of the Earl Marischal will make clear to us the attitude, or rather the inaction of the Bishops at e o this time which help d to bring ab ut the Reformation .

Seeing that my Lords the Bishops , who for their can — learning , and for their zeal that they should bear — to the verity would , as I suppose , gainsay anything that 54 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K ILMAVEONAI G

‘ —s directly impugns the verity of God eeing , I say my Lords the bisho ps speak nothing to the contrary of the

doctrine proposed , I cannot but hold it to be the very

truth of God , and the contrary to be deceivable doctrine . t And yet more , I mus vote , as it were by way of pro

testation , that if any persons ecclesiastical shall , after e this , oppose th mselves to this our Confession , they have

no place or credit , considering that they, having long

advisement and full knowledge of this our Confession ,

none is now found in this lawful , free , and quiet Parliament ” O to ppose themselves to that which we profess . 1 7 1 560 ’ After the th day of August , , the Pope s u authority and j risdiction in Scotland were abolished , all former Acts of Parliament contrary to the Confession ’ n and God s Word were rescinded , and the admi istration of the Sacraments was restricted to those admitted for that purpose , mass being forbidden under penalty of confiscation of goods for the first offence , banishment

for the second , and death for the third . It is a sad fact that the Medieval Church of Scotland passed away unable to raise one brave word of defence or testimony, with no one bishop or priest ready to lay n dow his life on her behalf, falling to the ground , dis d n honoured , isinherited , and u done . But u the coming of Q een Mary from France , on the death of her husband , Francis , did something to stem the tide of reform , and it became clear as time went on

A. D . 1 572 that the new system was not a success , and ’ 20 O E T O O F E TH ( years after Knox s sermon) , the C NV N I N L I

—a i i i was held meeting of Super ntendents , Comm ss oners , — and Ministers the chief act of which was to restore in name Episcopacy ; this was known as TITUL AR BPI SCO

P C i . e. titles b ut the s ub A Y, the Bishops had their , y were e jcet to the G neral Assembly, and Consecration of the - Bishop was disregarded as non essential . The acceptance by Robert Montgomery of a vacant See offered by the D uke

56 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

1 660 s u i was ilent and cr shed nto inaction ; however,

Cromwell takes matters into his own hands , and disbands D 53 A. . A. D . 1 6 the General Assembly, , and his death 1 65 8 n , was soon followed by the Restoratio , and by the re- establishment of Episcopacy, both in England and

Scotland ; Douglas , the Presbyterian leader , declared r A D 1 660 in a letter w itten . . that the generality of this new upstart generation have no J ove to Presbyterian

government, but are wearied of that yoke , feeding them selves with a fancy of Episcopacy or moderate Epis ” c c o pa y. A D 1 661 u A . . , fo r Bishops , James Sharp of Crail , ndrew

! Fairfo u l Camb u sk enneth of Duns , James Hamilton of , i o m nisters in those places , and R bert Leighton , Principal c of Edinburgh University , were onsecrated in London (Sharp and Leighton being first ordained to the diaconate S dserf and priesthood) . These with y , the sole survivor

A D . 1 63 8 from . , and Wishart and Mitchell , two exiled

Episcopalians , formed a restored Episcopacy but wisdom was not that by which the restored King D . A. . 1 685 reigned, and the accession of James II , , as an avowed Romanist , soon revived the hatred of Protestants , and they hailed with joy the landing of William of Orange , 5 1 688 November , , which brought about the conflict t l between Scottish Catholics and Presby erians , cu minating A D 1 689 in the Revolution , . . ; this we must consider in the next chapter . The following extracts will show the working of the O system of the General Assembly at Blair Atholl , the ffice of Reader being part of that system

From The Miscellany of the Wo dro w Society V o l 1 . . 3 56. . p

st M i 1 5 74 The Regi er of in sters and Readers in the year .

n K ilmaweno k Stro wane L Clu y, , Blair in Atholl , , ude, a R nnoch . K ILMAVEONAI G RESTORED

Bartane L 89 6 8 Maister John , minister,

o hnne e llis reidare at n 1 6 0 0 k . l . &c. J N i , Clu y,

oh n re dare K ilmaveno k 1 6 O 0 k . l . 85 0 . J n e Leslie, i at Alexander Stewart (and Thomas Cu rro ur) reidare at Blair in 1 6 0 0 Atholl , D uncane reidare Robertson , at

Stro wan 1 4 1 7 9 k . l . 850 , ; .

Mak into sche reidare 1 6 0 0 k . l . &c. George , at Lude , reidare Patrik Williamson , at

20 k . l . &c. Rannoch , merks k l - In the outer columns . . stands for kirk land ; ” &c and . implies that some kind of victual was paid

in addition to the stipend in money.

From Old Statistical Account of Scotland

1 1 . 4 61 . Vol . p .

Article on Parishes of Blair-Atholl and Stro wan ‘ — M L a an . 1 7 92 . by the Rev . Mr . James g

These parifhes commonly go by the name of the united ar fh s an i e Stro w . co nfifted p of Blair Atholl , and They arifhes - Stro wan formerly of the p of Blair Atholl, , Lude , K ilmaveo no Blar fi nifies and g . Blair ( ) properly g a

plain , clear of woods and other incumbrances ; but the Celtae , of whom the Gael were a branch , in general , chufin f uch Blar g plains for their fields of battle , came fi nif Stro wan Sruthain fi n f es at length to g y a battle . ( ) g i i ftreams fo and , called from the confluence of the Garry E ro cht Thefe ftreams feem the y at that place . to have arifh R o b ertfo n Stro wan given that p its name , and of ,

En lifh Ro b ertfo n . (in g , of the Streams) , his title Kil maveo ne fi nifies wo rfhi g, g the place of p or burial place ’ . B Veo no Le o id feems fi nif of St onog , or g . Lude ( ) to g y d a l eclivities , where plough cou d bring a furrow only one way . 58 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

This list of names of persons appointed to be Readers after 1 560 when Episcopacy was s uppressed ’ is taken from Dr . How Scott s Fasti Ecclesiae Scoti ”

. 704 . lanae , Vol . ii , page K I MAV I L EONA G.

‘ 1 576 M GI BB U e . THOMAS O N trans from Mo n ydie ; - Stro wane Mo ne die Blair Athole, , Lude , Rannoch , y , K inclevin and being also in the charge . He was re- Mo ne die 80 Assi trans to y after 1 5 (Reg . g) .

MONEYDIE .

an Was disjoined from the Presb . of Dunk eld and nexed

. 3rd 1 578 . to that of Perth by the Gen Assembly, June , 1 567 MAK GI BBON . THOMAS ROBERTSON, alias u c ter av n removed from A h g i pres . to the parsonage

2nd . 1 574 . of this par . by James VI Jan Kin u ter a in elevin and A ch g v were also in the charge . K ilmaveo na 1 576 trans . to g prior to , but returned to o e ie M n yd without other addition on his pres . to the Vicarage by the King 8th May 1 583 he removed 1 595 to Moulin in , but returned and died in July s mat c 1 596 b uik i esti . His were at j merks , uten o s ii c micilli d . d . lxxxv d . cills and xx li , Frie geir j j v e He li . j . married Barbara Justice who survived

him and had a son William , and a daughter Violet .

LUDE . The parish was supplied by GEORGE MAKIN 2 A . 1 6 7 . 1 57 4 . D TOSCHE , reader from till w Mi scell si . Wo d o As . . r (Reg . Pres . and g Test Reg

D 1 627 u A. . This date is fo nd on a Bell in the Belfry which still peals over hill and dale and as the inscrip tion shows , was originally put up in the Church of Little —“ W. s . . Dunkeld . The inscription is as follows Gla min B r D d ell f o m u nk el .

“ I t o n— IV Gl a 114 L D nk eld A D 1 629 ns cri . s . m i t. i . p i ,

AV AI G K ILM EON RESTORED .

1 627 . . lit . Dinkel The story goes that Mrs Glas , wife of ’ the minister gave a bell to her husband s church , but on his forsaking the old paths she said the bell shall not

ring for Presbyterian service, and the Bell was apparently K ilmaveo nai sold to g, and thus we have the privilege of having an ancient bell which links us with “ Auld ” Lang Syne . — The following lines certainly not evidencing a re verence —ln t o for holy things rude verse , are supposed refer to our bell

Oh , such a people , oh , such a people , Oh such a people of Little Dunk eld

They have stickit their minister , D ro o ned their Precentor , u D ng doon the Steeple , e And drunck n the Bell .

We are glad to be able to give the accompanying photograph of the bell , and if the above story be true, it shows that at this time strife had entered even into

Christian homes .

Having given this short sketch of these troubled times , nl we now give some details of the Robertson Clan , commo y D o nnachie known as Clan . They are the most numerous

Clan in Atholl , and by tradition they are said to be a branch of the Macdonalds of the Isles , and to have made their way into the Atholl district towards the end of the A D 1 21 4 reign of William the Lion , who died . . .

The eldest Cadet of the house was Patrick Robertson , of Lude . He seems to have acquired the lands of Lude

as A. D . 1 358 his property and barony about , and to ’ their influence as old landed proprietors , we , in God s good Providence , owe our possession of our unique

Church . I propose not , of course , to write a history of the Clan , for which I have neither the knowledge nor 60 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K ILMAVEONAI G

the space, but only to give such details as are linked with the memorial dates preserved in the walls of our ” Holy and beautiful House , wherein our fathers praised God and which—like that in Jerusalem where God had — placed His Name was , in the troublous times , burnt with fire (Isa .

The dates are as follows

On the South Wall 1 591 . 1 639 The death of Alexander Robertson their son , in , e is r corded on a stone mentioned later on . 3 . On four wooden Tablets in order of date (now recorded on one Oak Tablet and placed on the North side of the Sanctuary) as follows

l 1 A exander Robertson died 673 Buried here .

His wife , Cath Campbell , sister of the Earl of i n Breadalbane F lari g . Their coat-o f-arms is on a wa stone slab on the north ll .

73 John Robertson died 1 1 Buried here .

His wife Marg . Farquhar I nvercau ld son , of ,

John Robertson and

his wife the Hon . Char lotte Nairn

James Robertson and Margaret Mercer of Aldie his wife

Col . J . Robertson their 2nd son

62 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

Atho lia w 2 . Thomas de , who had a Cro n Charter

Stro wan . from Robert III . for the lands of 3 . Gibbon .

Stro wan The Robertsons of , the head of the Clan (known as the Clan D o nnachaidh) appear to have had their first dwelling-house at Stro wan from which place the Chief

takes his name . The site of the old House known as Tigh-na-mohr on an artificial mound can still be seen ; their next family-house was I nverack on the south side

of the river from Blair Castle , where the site of the old

’ I nverack house can be seen a little to the West of Farm . m Then mention ust be made of John Robertson who , 1 547 Gard n after the battle of Pinkie in , married Beatrix y , d widow of Fin lay More , and his son , Alexander Robertson , acquired the lands of K ilmo ri ck (by the Ratification by

Colin Campbell of Glenlyon) , given to him and his spouse

o . Agnes G rdon by his eldest son , Duncan Campbell This Alexander Robertson and his wife are the two whose initials are in the stone already mentioned ; he was the first to give up patronymics (the using his father’ s name 565 in addition to his own) . In 1 he entered into a bond

with the Duke of Atholl to defend each other , and he acquired the Church lands of the Bishopric of Dunkeld

from Queen Mary. Their grandson , Alexander, married

Catharine , daughter of Sir J . Campbell of Glenorchy, and sister of the first Earl of Breadalbane (see Memorial 3000 Tablet) . He raised men for Gustavus of Sweden A D 1 627 . . , and he was called to the Privy Council at

A D 1 633 . Holyrood . . It must be noted that the reason for rebuilding the Church in 1 591 was evidently that the Robertsons had shortly before that moved from the mansion-house of Balna rew g , near Kirkton of Lude, which then was allowed to go to ruin , and the present house was built . K I LMAVEONAI G RESTORED

Then his son , Alexander Robertson , died very sud 639 D ulcab en D alca o n denly in 1 at ( p ) , and the deaths

of himself and his mother, Agnes Gordon , are recorded on the stone in the following curious terms

EIR LY IS HO NORABIL PERS O NS AGNES

ORD O N S POVS TO ALE! R RO BERTS ON

F INC H MAC RANOC H DOC HTER LAV

VL TO THE LARD ABERGELDY DEC ES S IT

D EC MB l634 : AND ANE VO RTH

MAN ALE! AND ER RO BERTS O N THAIR S O

LAIRD O F LVD E

AREIT HIS TVA DOC HTERS VEIL D ES S IT

N GREAT FAME FAVR AND VELTH 3 FEB l639

- l Alexander Robertson , son of the last named A ex

ander Robertson , though quite a youth , joined the great Ti ermu ir Montrose and was with him at pp , as the Master of Madderty and others in their evidence state they saw ” was him in Highland weeds . This Laird served heir to his father (owing to the state of the times) by a Colonel ’ o Daniel who was Cromwell s G vernor at Perth .

(As recorded in Lude Charter Chest) .

John Robertson , his only son , succeeded him, and

was only a few years in possession when he died , leaving 64 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

five children , his eldest son , James Robertson , a minor . 62 This Laird was years in possession , and was succeeded e by his eldest son , G neral Robertson , by whom the Estate ‘ 1 820 M I nro of Lude was sold in to the father of Mr . J . P . y ,

whose son is now the Laird of Lude .

Here it is of interest to note that the first so -called Stro wan Atho lia Robert of was the son of Duncan de ,

designed Dominus de Rannoch , so called because of his 1 436 large possessions . In he is mentioned as having I apprehended some of the murderers of King James . ,

D . 1 45 1 and A. he got a Crown Charter for all his estates

in which King James II . speaks in very flattering terms him of , stating that he grants the Charter for the love and favour he bore to Robert in having with much zeal ’ arrested the traitors concerned in his father s murder . For this he received the honourable augmentation to hi s o coat of arms of a man in chains and as m tto , the

words , Virtutis gloria merces . We now give briefly the details about the family of

. Lude Donald , eldest son of Patrick , _ was succeeded

by his son , John , who got the Charter under the Great

Seal , creating the lands of Lude into a Barony proceeding ’ a 3 l st 1 4 48 . on his father s resign tion , dated March , The Barony of Lude is stated to be within the Thanedom of Glentilt , and contained Lude , Brae of Lude, Little Lude, D al inro ss and Kirkton of Lude, the lands of g and Campsie , Brak o chs K incrai ie To ldu ni e of , g , the two Molochs , and and Shini a Easter Easter Monzie , g g More and Beg, Aldtallo ch Carr nero ch Urrard and y , More and Beg, luniemo re Cluni eb e Strath ro C and g, Levages (now g y) , K indro chet Balnagrew (here the mansion-house of Lude Balnak eill Balano t had been for a very long period) , y, , these all forming the two parishes of Lude and Kilma veo naig within the Thanedom of Glentilt and the Earldom of Atholl . K I LMAVE ONAI G RESTORED

In this chapter we have realised our Church life up a d to the Revolution , n have sketched the history of the e Robertson Clan , whos position in the country preserved us through the terrible stress of penal laws , is related in the next chapter . CHAPTER VI .

KILMAVEONAIG UNDER THE PENAL AW L S. D - A. 1 . 689 1792.

In the previ ous chapter we saw the struggle going on C between the Scottish Catholics and the ovenanters , but the abdication of King James , and the landing of William of Orange filled the latter with fresh hope of the triumph of their cause . The strife of the last century or more had created a thirst for revenge in both parties , which either party was seeking to satisfy when occasion served D 688 A . 1 and the close of . saw the Church party very O roughly handled by their pponents . Christmas time in particular was anything but a time of peace to men ” 300 of goodwill . Some clergy were driven from their homes and their furniture often destroyed . About this time Bishop Rose went to London and met the king at

Whitehall , who said to him , I hope you will be kind to ” me , and follow the example of England , meaning that they were to acknowledge him as King . The Bishop e replied , Sir, I will serv you as far as the law, reason , ” or conscience shall allow me . The Bishop felt that the king looked upon this as refusing his claim to allegiance, so he returned to Scotland , and he and the other Bishops refused to take the oath of allegiance to William and his heirs . This sealed the fate of Episcopacy, and at the Parliament which assembled in Edinburgh to pro claim William king it was declared that the government by Bishops was contrary to the inclination of the ” generality of the people . Then came the appeal to arms in the Pass of Killie

crank ie. 27 1 689 The Battle of Killiecrankie, July , , between UNDER THE PENAL LAWS

Graham of Claverhouse with his Highlanders and the English soldiers under General Mackay (in which “ Bonnie ” h Dundee , t ough victorious , lost his life) , sealed the fate

of our Church . It is said that he was wounded by a bullet shot from Urrard as he was holding up his hand to give

’ a signal to his men . With this the fortunes of the Stuarts C were doomed , and at the same time the old hurch of Scotland was replaced by the Presbyterian form of govern

‘ D undee who nl ment as the National Church . , lived o y the twenty minutes after he was shot , was carried along old military road which went past the village of Kil maveo naig (lying to the west of the Church) across the old i l br dge of Ti t , to Old Blair, and was buried in the vault

l . in the Church . The inscription can be seen on the wal The present Factor ’ s house stands on the site of the old

Village Inn . The death of Bonnie Dundee having sealed the -o f fate the Jacobite cause , Parliament in the next year formally established Presbyterianism in the country , and the clergy were ejected from their parishes , but only very slowly in the country north of the Tay . In D 1 695 A. . an Act was passed by Parliament forbidding

i . e outed ministers , . ministers ejected from charges im to baptize or marry, the penalty threatened being i pr sonment or perpetual exile . As time went on Pres b yterianism gradually made its way even in the districts which were the stronghold of the church . D 02 A. . 1 7 us The accession of Queen Anne , , brought i A. D . 1 7 1 2 more tolerat on , and the Toleration Act passed the British Parliament , securing to members of the Epis copal Church in Scotland the right to the worship of God ” as in the old paths , provided that the clergy officiating had taken the oaths , and would pray for the Sovereign

. A D . 1 705 the during Divine service About . , five surviving Bishops determined to consecrate two of their c n fo un lergy to keep up the successio , and thus laid the da 68 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

tion of that great company of Missionary and other r Bishops (notably Bishop Seabu y , consecrated in Aber 1 4 1 7 84 deen , November , ) who , in our day, represent

Christ in every land , in a church free , and deriving none

of their authority to rule from either King , Parliament , or ” State . a But las, this time of toleration is once more disturbed 1 7 1 5 by the Jacobite Rising of , during the first year of

e . Sheriffmu ir the reign of G orge I At the Battle of , the

victory again lay with the Government , and on the line of march the public devotions were conducted by e our clergy, and this mark d out the Church as an obj ect D 1 9 . A. . 1 7 of attack , a Law was passed making it penal for any clergyman to officiate where nine or more persons hi s o wn w were present in addition to household , ithout praying for King George and abjuring the exiled Stuarts . A D 1 7 4 5 Thirty years later, . . , Prince Charles Edward made a last attempt to win back the kingdom for the ” ” Stuarts , seeking , he said , a crown or a coffin .

It will be interesting here to insert extracts from the

! Lude papers , and other papers sent me , which give some details o f local persons and events . r Mr . Meldrum , late parish minister at Logie ait , sent me the following notes about Church matters at this time 1 688 For some years after , the four churches of K ilmaveo nai Blair Atholl, Struan , Old Lude, and g , continued to be separately used, and I should say that the Presbyterian form of worship became at once established two in the two former, while Episcopacy held on to the latter . I am not sure as to the date when the four Churches were united under the designation of Blair K ilmaveo nai Atholl and Struan , anyhow old Lude and g Churches were shunted off by the Heritors as not re — — c o e . quired , while the Laird of Lude Robertson h s

0 I 7 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K ILMAVE ONA G.

I nvernach le y , and so was the cadet of the Stewarts of 1 690 Appin . In he was obliged to leave the Parish of

Dunoon , of which he was minister , on account of his

avowed attachment to his great chief, the exiled king, and t e he came to reside in Blair Athole , in h Church of K ilmaveo naig he continued to officiate till his death in 1 730 (1 727 He was an able man and an accomplished

scholar, and aspiring to be a political leader as well as a o preacher of the G spel , he exercised an immense influence the aco b ites reS o n over J of Perthshire , and was largely p 1 7 1 5 sible for the rising of . He even went so far as to read the Chevalier’ s Proclamation from the pulpit of K i maveo nai s l . wa g This warlike parson a man of means , 1 703 and , when in the early part of , the Marquis of Athole had intimation given him that he was to be raised w as to the Dukedom , it the Revd . Duncan that supplied him with the ready money ' required for the journey to

London , and to defray the expenses connected with the investiture . For this money Mr . Stewart obtained in security wadsetts over I nverchadden in Rannoch and Strath arr 1 738 ac g y in Athole , and these lands were in ” quired by the Stewarts in freehold property .

A.D . 1 728 r a Walter Stewa t is invited , by the Congre atio n g to come from Doune , and in the Lude Papers , as havin we have two amusing letters , the first not sent , g s ome expressions not q uite respectful , inviting Walter

Stewart to come from Doune to be their Minister . The two letters are as follows

To he ev LTE R TE RT t R . WA S WA Mi ni ster of the Gospel alt D onn

D EVEREND SI R After several Meetings of the Gentlemen concerned in our Meeting House we have all unanimously made choice of you as the properest and most acceptable to be UNDER THE PENAL LAWS

our Pastor And therefore now for ourselves and in the name of the Gentlemen and Commons of our Meeting House in the Parish of Blair Athole (K ilmaveo naig) doo M hereby most heartily call and invite you to be our inister . And for your encouragement we promise you £25 sterling — yearly to b e paid out of our hand which is as much as

you get where you are . We expect your satisfactory

answer with the Bearer . Our Congregation is very much to be simpathised with by all good Men and we are hOpe full that the g o od Gentlemen you live amongst (tho they may be sorry to part with you) will not only part with you s willingly, but pre s your coming to such a Congregation as we have which may by the Blessing of God be for the

good of Church and State . We know no scruples you may have against coming if it is not being out of use of the ’ Irish tongue , but you ll soon overcome that difficulty by a little practice and in the meantime your English discourse will attone sufficiently for that little defect . And your countrymen hOpe now that we unani mously ’ make choice of you that you l frankly imb race this our cordial Invitation home to your Native Country and prevent our asking the Interposition of the Bishop ’ s Authority which we are determined to have if you refuse our kindly call

We are ,

E E RE D SI R R V N ,

Your most humble Servants

OBE RTSO (Signed) J . R N of Lude

E A . ROB RTSON of ffask alli e

JOH N STEWART of K ynachan

L I R TH OLE October 1 9 h 7 8 B A A , t 1 2 7 2 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K ILMAVEONAI G

This rather imperious call seems not to have been sent, dou'bt being expressed as to its being quite respectful in ’ a letter written by Lude s Son to Fask ally as follows

Before K ynachan went from the place he took

occasion to shew me a letter writ to Mr . Walter Stewart and after reading it once or twice he and my Father tho they both signed were satisfied there were some expressions in it not over seemly to a Minister such as “ And for your encouragement we promise you £25 sterling which is as much as you get where you are and to mention but one “ o f more And prevent our asking the Interposition _ the Bishop ’ s Authority before he had once refused their kindly call and they agreed that there should be another letter writ a draught whereof 1S sent enclosed which if you like you may sign if not appoint a time and place where you and my Father may cause an other be writ ’ to both your liki ngs . Hoping you ll pardon this trouble and be so good as offer all our Services to your Lady and

Family .

I only add that I am SI R

Your affectionate Co usin and most humble Servant D E Oc ober 22na 1 728 LU , t

Copy of draught RE VE RE N D SI R Tho ever since the death of our late Minister we have had an eye on you as the properest person and most acceptable to the generality of those concerned in our

n ' o Meeti g H u se of Athole . Yet having reason to believe that your present auditory would be very unwilling to part wi th you and you as loath to leave them we have hitherto deferred wri ting to you upon the subject but now UNDER THE PENAL LAWS . since we see the difficulty of finding any other of equal merit who knows the language and genius of the people we take upon us in the name of all the Gentlemen and

others of our persuasion in this Country, to call and invite you to be our Minister and hope the desire of promoting the universal good of the Church will make the Gentlemen with whom you now reside not only forgive b ut even forward our proposal for we are persuaded they’ d be sorry to see so considerable a number who incline to adhere to the Church disappointed of so laudable a Design as that of having a Minister amongst them . You may perhaps be apprehensive of being molested by those who are disaffected to our Party but we see no reason why you should entertain any such thought for not to mention some circumstances whi ch we reckon will secure you our late Minister lived without any D istu r bances of the kind . It is true he had some difficulty in U plifting his small salary from several hands but now we have resolved upon an effectual method of preventing that trouble to his Successor by making one of the number £25 answerable for sterling a year . We expect an answer by Bearer and if you incline to comply with our desire which we earnestly wish we make ’ no doubt of the Bishop s concurrence . Meanwhile we are RE VE RE N D SI R Your most humble Servants

Signed by Lude Fask ally and K ynachan

E V L E R TE RT To the R . WA T S WA

Mi ni ster of the Gospel at D onn i n M onteith

— ‘ NOTE Apparently this last letter was sent and u favo rably answered , the Settlement bearing date October

29th 1 728 . 74 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

The above-mentioned Walter Stewart was probably nephew to Walter Stewart , his predecessor in the charge

K ilmaveo nai and Orohill . at g, brother of the Laird of “ The hOpe expressed in the letter inviting him to come back to his native country—that he would not be molested -was 1 752 not realised , for he was put in prison in o i n for Nonc nformity . He is frequently mentioned Parish Records as having condoned culpri ts who were under Church discipline in neighbouring parishes . Aldclu ne Above the Village of , the site of the chapel at Aldclu ne is made into a garden , but there remains an enclosure with tombstones , one of which is thus marked

1 760 a , and Lochaber Axe cut on it and is said to be the tomb of a sister of the above mentioned Walter Stewart . The portrait we here present to our readers there seems good reason for believing to be that of either Duncan

Stewart or this Walter Stewart who succeeded hi m. The K ill chas at portrait was bought by Mrs . Douglas of ie ie the a K nachan sale of the effects of the late Walter Stew rt of y ,

1 9 1 877 . s on September , , in Aberfeldy, and Mrs Dougla kindly had it photographed for me . The portrait , there fore , is evidently that of an ancestor of the owner of t the portrait , and by his dress being evidently a minis er, it seems probable that it was that of one of these Stewarts , who were such strong personalities .

The following notes were sent to Dr . Howard about a a Miss E . Stewart , evidently descendant of the above mentioned Walter Stewart

3 rd ane 87 j , 1 2 . The late Miss Elizabeth Stewart ’ s Father was t Charles Stewart , who married Euphemia , daugh er of B all w Stewart of o h y. Her paternal Grandfather as Niel

76 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT KI LMAVEONAI G

repeal of the Penal Laws . We still have some trouble in repudiating the name English and in claiming for ” ourselves to be a native church in our ain countrie , not exoti c , but hardy enough to have endured keen blasts ” e of persecution , oft n seven times heated in the furnace,

and ever remaining true to the Faith of our Fathers . That clergy and people were true is proved at least in

one case, by the act of one of our clergy in Stonehaven

Gaol , baptizing from the prison bars an infant held up

to him in a fish creel , of which we give a portrait .

This dark picture , and it is dark , has its bright side ,

as has always been seen in human life, for necessity is found to be the mother of invention it is true that our

churches were burnt by the English soldiers , as in the case of K ilmaveo naig and at Aldclu ne after 1 745 (Aldcl u ne

was then on the Lude estate , there was also a pre Fask all reformation chapel at Old y , of which the ruin is still to be seen ; it contains in the north side of the

chancel a niche to hold the consecrated elements) , yet many of the lairds‘ and people were Episcopal and con — tinu ed so for many years and when burnt out of their churches Mother Necessity suggested houses with several rooms o eni n in o he hall p g t t , and by having five people in each room they could minister to thirty or forty people ’ without infringing the Act . The Jacobites way of drink ing Prince Charlie’ s health is worthy of note as being extremely canny ’ e God bless the King , God bless the Faith s Defend r — ’ -— God bless there s na harm in blessing f the Pretender the Pretender Wha is and wha the King, — ’ Go d bless us all that s quite another thing .

The following extract from the Bap tismal Register at Muthill is interesting

‘ ‘ Catherin M Laren e M Glashan g , wif to Charles , K ilmaveo nai - Wright at g, Blair Atholl Parish , and Ba tis m fro m the Ga l 0 a n p o ] S to neh ve , a n i nci de nt d u ri ng the persecu ti o n o f the E pi s co pal Clerg i ' H I 1 74 6

‘ lll a ny a child wa s held 1 11) to the b a rs O f the pri so n W i n/o w to recei ve the Gra ce 0] R eg enera ti o n ‘ xtract fro m The Pri so ners o f Crai ma ai E g c re .

“ 7 8 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

is proved by the fact that in 1 758 the family at Bo nsk eid s v came over the hill one Sunday to er ice , and some of

them came to the Episcopal service . The family returned , Bo nsk eid e d alas , to , to find it in flam s . This is recorde

in a memoir of Mrs . Sandeman by Mrs . Barbour . In this dark period when the Scottish Church is e ” describ d as being reduced to the shadow of a shade, we rejo me I n having some Bishops as shining lights and

i . A D true Fathers n God Bishop Rattray (who died . . 1 743) did a great work in printing the ancient Liturgy of

. A. D St . James , which is the basis of our present Liturgy . 1 722 Gadderar , Bishop published a reprint of the Com

munion Office, this being the first of what were called The Wee Bookies the Liturgy of 1 637 had been o already used at Tranent . Soon there was a call f r a D A . 1 735 print of the Services as commonly used . . , this demand was met by the venture of two printers; Other 1 752 1 75 9 1 764 editions followed in , , and , this last giving us the form most familiar to us . A D With the accession to the throne of George III . .

760 z . 1 , we see the dawning of peace on the hori on The

A. D 1 788 last of the House of Stuart passed away , . , and thus the Jacobites had no longer cause for refusing to take the oath to the reigning sovereign .

In the next chapter we shall find the act pas sed which r e removed the Penalties hitherto in fo c . The followi ng letters bearing upon the ministry of the ev Strathta m R . George Robertson in y give us a gli pse full of interest into the difficulties in our Church life at 1 71 5 the rising , and also of the appreciation of this ministry under such difficulties . They were copied from , papers in the house at Edradynate into the Register in Strathta the Church at y, which was for a brief period in

A D . 1 904 . my care in . The old spelling is very quaint , and to the ordinary reader not always intelligible . UNDER THE PE NAL LAWS — Note . The letters , though not in order of date , are th K ilmaveo nai inserted so as not to interrupt e g notes .

What follows is a true copy of documents in possession

E s . Edrad nate . of Stewart Robertson , q , of y

29th 1 872 . Copied this day of May,

Certified by

TOLLEMACH E ERNEST C . ,

Priest in charge of the Church in Strath Tay.

E E RE D ROTH E R R V N B , As I am much affected from the great discourage ments yr congregation and Flock is put under so I cannot but greatly rejoice by finding them so stedfastly adhering to you and your ministrie and (as I am informed) their i O being so well satisfied w th your fficiating among them , wherefor seeing by the Divine providence and the ap pointment of the Church such a worthy and well principled people ar faln under yr charge I hOp e as yow will apply yrself with all due care to feed them with all who lso m D o ctrin atem , go befor them as a good example and p

of all manner of piety , so you will cleave closs by them with no Less stadfastness than they have adhered to rememb rin yow , g that no man putting his hand to the fo r G plough and Looking back is fit the Kingdom of od . I pray God to bless yr people yrself and yr Labours among them I am

etc . etc .

To Very aff ectio nat brother the reverend servant

Mr Georg Robert son Alexr Edinb urgen

at Lo gierate 80 FACTS 8c FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVE ONAI G

s Tu llib ardine By William Marquee of . These are ordering 85 impowering you to preach every Lords day and other solemn o ccassio ns in the Church of Lo gyreat and to exercise all the other parts of the ministerial function within that parish as you be answerable at your Peril ffo r doing of which this shall b e to you a sufficient Warrant Given at L o gyreat the 1 2th day of Dece mber 5 1 7 1 years .

To the Reverend

b ne Mr . George Robertson Tu lli ardi

Minister of the Gospel

25th 7 . Scone March jr. 1 1 5

R E V. SR .

hearin I have seen yours to Mr . Gerard g date ye 2oth of this month ; it were a great injustice not to acknowledge that you have done eminent service to ye 85 Church by preserving the meeting house in Logierait , ’ ’ I m sensible you have lay d a particul ar obligation on

all the friends of it who are concerned in that Parish . c I have commenced a pro ess for the Patronage , which ’ o declar d ma is still depending , as s on as my right is you y assure yourself I will emplo y it for you r encouragement o u e in the meantime I desire y may send to Mr . G rard a particular account of the proportions of Stipend that are ’ e s pay d by the several H ritor . I wish you all success ’ in the good work you ve engaged in 85 am

To the Reverend Rev . Sr .

af f Mr . George Robinson Your friend

Minister of the GOSpell 86 serv

att Lo gereat Stormont

82 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

Our pro rs 85 in witnes whereof We have subscribed thir presents (writtn on Stampt paper by James Stewart in Inverhadden at Cu lna Sauch the Sixth day of August o ne thousand seven hundred 85 thirty two years Before

' witnessess o u n er o f K nachan these , David Stewart y g y 85 Alexander Robertson son to Alex Robertson of Drum c a hine .

J . A . Stewart in Inverhadden A . Robertson of for three pounds Scots for five Jer

Obligation John Stewart of K ynachin owan 85 others twelve Pounds Scots to Dun Robertson of Achl eek s Mr . George Robertson 1 73 2 6 lb . Scots .

Alexr Mack glashan two Pounds Scots enquire Niel Stewart in L assentulli ch eleven pound Scots money Alexr Stewart in Inverhadden for three pounds Scots Pat c Robertson for two p u nds Scots John Mc Donald for two p u nd Scots money

Cro ftinlo an J . Stewart in

for three pound Scotts .

h t o The first Jacobite rising, w ich o k place a e after the date of two of the above letters , no doubt m d ’ o i s o ne a if i l Mr . Ge rge Robertson s m ni try of gre t d f cu ty and danger . UNDER THE PENAL LAWS

TH I S CH A PTER may fitly be brought to a close by giving extracts from speeches made at a Co nference in

868 . Perth in 1 , convened by the Bishop of S Andrews ,

Dunkeld , and Dunblane , where testimony is given to our

Scottish Church at the Revolution being in the majority, and to the hold it maintained in the early part of the 1 8th the o u century, at least north of the Tay, over p p lation . It must be observed that when Presbytery was re- established in Scotland at the Revolution , more than

- two thirds of the people of the country, and most of the gentry were Episcopals the restoration of Presbytery by William being (he proceeds) chiefly owing to the Dukes o f Argyle , Marchmont and Stair, and other leading nobles , Who had who had suffered under Charles and James , and promoted the Revolution with all their interest and power”

(thus Dr . Carlyle wrote) . The Bishop Spoke of the

Nu ber f Eas er mun n m o t Co m icats at Kilmaveo naig. Our first duty is to arrest the dying out of congre atio ns g where they already exist , as in the case of Blair

Athole, where I find (from a former register of the Diocese) that not more than thirty years ago there was a return o f nearly fifty communicants at Easter, a season which s would imply that they were mo tly, if not all , natives . From the same authority I learn that Strathtay and Tummel Bridge returned at the same time 76 com municants .

The Rev . Charles Robertson , of Rannoch and Tummel]

Bridge , referred to

Church Membe nn rship at Ra och.

In the memory of those still living , and who are m embers of the congregation , the Church in R annoch 84 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K ILMAVEONAI G

embraced a vast numerical majority of the resident

proprietors and others connected with the district . Sixty years ago the roll of members and adherents in a thinly 1 80 peopled district numbered . Circumstances , however,

over which the Church appears to have had no control , ” reduced this congregation to a minimum .

He also referred to

Pra er Book i n Gaelic and n y E glish . Traces of her former condition are still abundant in the district ; there is hardly a home there which has - c not its prayer book in Gaeli and English , which is still regarded with something like veneration as an heirloom ” of the fami ly .

Lord Rollo spoke on the

a f u e i oi e t le En H te l i ect th it glish Church . “ Nothing has more hindered the advance of our Chu rch than its being looked upon as a mere offshoot of the Established Church of England , its members as those who , by education or subsequent ties , are members of the Church of England , and its houses of God as h English C apels . If Episcopacy is to advance among l u our countrymen , it must present itse f as an indigeno s and national institution , an independent branch in this country (as the Church of England is in England) of the ” great Catholic Church of Christ .

Testimony of General Mack ay. But I would beg to produce a testimony which is not so well known , viz . , that given by the opponent of c o the great Dundee , General Mackay of S ourie , the p ponent of him who met his death at Killiecrankie, with Go d c of these words on his lips , For and the Chur h

86 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G a ppears , he says , that all along , since the Reformation , the Clergy looked upon Church government as alterable or ambulatory, or made little account of the difference between Presbytery and Episcopacy, notwithstanding di i the wranglings about the ju s v nu m. The zealous 1 638 e Prelatists, before , fully complied with Presbyt ry i and the Covenant , and the bigoted Covenanters as read ly

i 1 662 R evo lu complied with Prelacy n . And if, at the — tion notice his words few conformed to Presbytery, it was because they were allowed their benefices for life , ” upon qualifying to the Civil Government .

With these quotations , inserted here as collective evidence given at the Conference as summing up in 1 868 1 689 our position in and afterwards , we propose to con sider in the next chapter the Peace and renewed Church

Life , resulting from the olive leaf brought over the Border - on dove like wings to us as now trusted loyal subjects . CHAPTER VII .

KILMAVEONAIG REBUILT.

- A. D 1 92 w . 7 as a red letter year in the history of our

e . Scottish Church . Since the accession of G orge III

A. D 1 760 hO e ( . ) a p of better things had sprung up . The Bishops and others had made an effort to get the Penal t Acts repealed , and the dawn grew brighter, ill at last , 1 792 in the year of Grace , , the Church found herself free to worship openly according to the dictates of con science , and the Church that had been (through much tribulation) true to the Faith of her Fathers , proved her vitality by setting to work to restore (rebuild) the waste places this was so with us , for we read that Stro wan Robertson of gave the timber, and the congre atio n g worked with him . Soon after I became Rector ' o f I was in the vestry our old church one day, and saw a piece of, what I thought waste paper lying there , but on taking it up I found it to be about a hundred years 1 794 old , being the identical paper on which the joiner in had drawn his plan for the rebuilding of the Church , and o wn on it were words in his handwriting . I give a photo graph of it , adding a copy of the writing , now not very legible , which is as follows

n D erculich 1 4 1 794 C Middletow , March , I has . r lo chfo l ch Robe tson , Mason on C di ground do hereby declare that the plan contained in this sheet is the one i referred to in my m ssive letter of this date to the Rev .

. t i l w ss Mr R ober son n Middletown D ercu ich . As itne my hand . as Chas . Robertson , M on 88 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K ILMAVEONAI G

K ilmaveo nai 1 5 1 794 g, March I john Stewart wright declare that this is the plan referred to in my missive letter of this date to Mr . Robertson the amendments R proposed by the said Mr . obertson shall be done to his satisfaction Witness my hand

Signed John Stewart .

The east loft contains 66 persons at the Reat of 1 8 ins . Bottom to each person 42 The west loft contains persons at the same reat .

The 4 4 1 7 ns back gallery contains at the reat of i . to each person . 1 08 1 7 The low area contains at the reat of ins . to each 258 Total of persons at the room above mentioned .

The plan contains (a) the elevation ; (6) the gallery

0 . plan , with section of roof ; ( ) the ground plan The exact details as to the Space allotted to each — 1 7 1 8 — person inches in one gallery , in another puzzled e me for a while , till someon said to me , Why, it was the ’ ” quality . Of course, I said , the laird and his ”

1 8 1 7 . friends had inches , and the others inches Then 258 the seating for people by means of three galleries , one ’ at the east , over what was called the Robertson s ‘

‘ vault one at the west , which remains and is seen h in one of the photograp s ; and one on the north side , joining the other two—this Surprised me till the present Laird kindly showed me in 1 898 a copy of the minutes 823 of the Session held about 1 , to decide on the site of a new Presbyterian Church , which was rendered necessary n -r 1 820 n by the prese t high oad being made in . Whe someone at the meeting suggested Blair Athole as the new u as n best site for the Ch rch , havi g the bulk of the 1 1 00 people near it , the reply was that out of people 550 are a in the place , Episcopalians and they have

K ILMAVEONAI G REBUILT

Church to worshi p in so that explains the seating 58 of the church for 2 . I then learned that I was priest - i n charge of a Church which .was not a transplant from n Engla d , not an exotic unused to the cold blasts of the north , but a plant of hardy native growth rooted “ in our soil in the days of Auld lang syne .

Let us pause and picture the scene . The ancient i ’ 1 7 4 5 build ng, scarred with the soldiers marks in , the old military road running (as seen in an old map) past the churchyard and the little village lying to the west , ’

e . and so on over the old Bridg of Tilt , to St Bride s

Church at Old Blair . The Church was evidently rebuilt from the ground ; I was satisfied of this when , under the wise guidance of the Rev . E . Sugden , I began to

A. D . 1 893 r restore the Church , , for the th ee large windows with big panes of glass would never have been found in an old Highland Church (small windows were a help for defence in times of danger) one of the three windows , to the most eastern , was added the plan at the request t of Mr . Robertson , the minis er (see words on the plan) . As we picture the walls rising everyone having a ’ — mind to work as in Ezra s time at J eru salem and when finished the date 1 7 94 being placed on a s tone in the west b e o ne wall , our thoughts may wander back to y g centuries , ’ 4t Ninian s to the end of the h and St . building of Candida 6th ’ Casa , to the end of the and Columba s death at Iona , to the end of the 1 1 th with our saintly Queen Margaret 1 4 passing to her rest , and to the th , the close of a period to which all Scotchmen must look back with honest pride and thankfulness for many blessings and then 1 5 t lastly, with the th cen ury , we see the growing weeds o of error in d ctrines and viciousness (or , at least , a sad lack of sterling righteousness) of life which , in the a strife th t follows , showed not the desire to maintain

Catholicity on the one hand , or to see the triumph of the 90 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K ILMAVEONAI G

Reformation on the other ; but as Longfellow puts it for us :

The longing for ignoble things ,

The strife for triumph more than truth ,

The hardening of the heart , that brings ” Irreverence for the dreams of youth .

And so , for two centuries , Christians bit and de ” vo ured one another, and then for another century — Might claimed to be Right , till gentler counsels counsels — 1 6th of Peace prevailed . With the century then beginning , and now passed with its fellows into Eternity - how do we regard the past As a mistake as a shame on our Christian name ! as a blot upon our ! escutcheon Yes , surely, therefore , let us now make

peace , pursue love , and seek to speak the truth in love

controversy there must still be , earnest contention for the faith once delivered to the saints but the b e o ne b attles smoke of y g is gone , we fight now with smoke o less powder, we see the issues at stake m re clearly, we try to see the apple of truth from the side of those we differ from ; we see the wrong we have done to each other certainl to ( y ourselves) and to our common Christianity,

and the dishonour we have done to our God and King, Whose Name is blasphemed through us by those who eye r us with dislike . The study of histo y is said to be the

best tonic for drooping spirits , but it is surely also the strongest incentive to humble confession that the remem

bra ce o the as bu rden . n f p t is grievous , and the is intolerable

Let us desire to respond to the exhortation of St . James , Confess your faults one to another that ye may b e healed then the strength to rise and walk in love i will follow , and the prayer for un ty will be answered “ by the Spirit of Truth , Who maketh men to be of one ” n e s mind i an house . The words of the old Jacobit ong roused many to loyalty to Prince Charles

92 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

A O LI N Which (as in dissolving views) , changes to a ” B LAM , standing as It had been slain . — The Vision is (l st) of Royal Authority Of sacrifice O — 2nd to be ffered and then eaten and of renewed life . ( ) , — The Vision is of the Faithful Worshippers a Kingdom of O Priests , a mystical Body to reign and to ffer spiritual

TH RO GH E S S H R ST . 1 Sacrifices to God , U J U C I (Rev . ch v . . m 1 Pet . and this ystical Body changes in Vision into — the WIFE of the Lamb a Holy CITY built upon apostles K chosen by the ing, and the citizens are called , chosen , and f aithf May I say to my Scottish fellow-Christians me what the Vision teaches First , a Divine model , n as a pattern was shew to Moses in the Mount, and to ” OD H R ST David and to Ezekiel , so The B Y is of C I , and embo dies all that is gone before ; therefore the s R D ER piritual pattern must be of DIVIN E O . The High s — Priests , Prie ts , and Levite the Apostles , Presbyters , and —s m Deacons ee to me to have the Divine Seal on them, merel hu an therefore I cannot give them up as y m , And mark how much more of common ground we see now w that we kno each other better . Presbyters of the second order are associated with the Bishop in the r e ordination of Priests (see ubic) , and Presbyt rian elders might well find their counterpart in the fuller recognition of t he confirmed as endowed with the sevenfold gifts e re for service , especially in the Lay Read r . and all l a cognised y work . Once more this Church (Ecclesia) is a Kingdom of ” i s a K i n Priests , every one baptised into Jesus Christ g and a Pri est in virtue of his or her share in the corporate “ i life . Ye shall be named the Pr ests of the Lord , men

shall call you the Ministers of our God (Isa . If, r r therefore , every Ch istian is a King and a P iest , can the o ne ordai ned to the Priesthood be otherwise than a Priest to Offer s acrifices as the Representative of the corporate Body Does it not then follow that I am both Priest

9 4 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

herent S uperi ority would be inconsistent with Christian

humility . May the Vision of the Beauty of Holiness

be ever more and more clear, and may it ever be seen by us when in K ilmaveo naig we seek to behold the Glory E S S H R ST of God in the Face of J U C I .

We have no notes o f when the Church was ready for - D 9 re O A. . 1 7 4 pening , but with the date in the West Wall

under the belfry as a Fact , Fancy can picture the De dicatio n -in- by the Bishop of the Diocese , the priest charge ,

Mr . Robertson , and doubtless a goodly number of those

who contributed money, material , and labour , who now with one mind and one mouth glorify God for their

freedom of worship without fear of pains and penalties .

It will be of interest here to insert a few dates and MSS . sent me as to Persons and Places in that glad New

Century .

- — in . First , as to the Priest charge We conclude he

was the Rev . John Robertson , mentioned in the plan , D ercu lich Of as residing at Middleton , one or two whose

letters we copy from the Lude papers . He was at this Strathta and Strathtu mmel time in charge of y , and our

‘ own ChlI rch . He came every third Sunday to each

AD 1 808 . place , and was made Dean of the Diocese , D 829 A. . 1 He died , and was buried in Logierait Church

‘

yard , the following inscription appearing on his tomb

stone Erected to the Memory of the Rev . John Strathta Robertson , late Episcopal Clergyman in y, who 4th 1 829 departed this life on the day of October , , aged — “ And on the back of the stone Au divi Vo cem e co elo D i centem mo rtu i mihi , Scribe , Beati ab hoc tempore ” qu 1 I n domino mo riu ntur.

The following letters written by him speak of an

accident he met with , which may have shattered his health and hastened his end K ILMAVEONAI G REBUILT

PI TCAS’I‘ LE 1 9 h t an. 1 8 , j , 26. 3 The unlucky accident that happened to me in going last to Athole has ever since confined me to my room, and I am sorry to say still does . The swelling is d consi erably abated , but the pain still remains that I cannot walk through the room without the help of a staff, so that you cannot expect me on Sunday . I wish I were in a Situation to do duty the first Sunday in the

Strathtay Chapel . Please God to spare me and be in u such a state that I can safely vent re from home , I propose and shall endeavour to be at K ilmaveo nai g

Sunday first come three weeks , and with good wishes to Go d all my friends , and prayers to for their health and happiness , both here and hereafter . u I remain , Yo rs sincerely, i (S gned) JOHN ROBERTSON .

PI TCASTLE sth Feb . 1 826. , y , OH J N , The u nlucky accident I met with in going to D ecr 3 1 . Athole , has confined me ever Since to my room . I certainl y thought when I wrote you last that I would be able to be at K ilmaveo naig Sunday first the 1 2th

Feb r . y . , but that I cannot think of About two weeks ago I ventured out about a mile , and I returned home li h rather worse than I was ; indeed , so m c so , that my servants had to assist me into the house so that as I cannot venture to the Chapel here as yet , I cannot fix K ilmaveo nai Go d a day to go to g, but please to enable a l i me , I Sh l endeavour to be w th you Sunday first come three weeks, and l - I remain , Your We l wisher,

(Signed) JOHN ROBERTSON. ‘ M GLASH AN To Mr . , Wheelwright o i K ilmave na g. 96 FACTS do FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

TH E OLD EG STE R b e R I must now referred to , being

the quarry whence I got the first materials for my book , and which rou sed me to further search for precious

lore , hidden elsewhere . It was the Minute Book of 1 739 the Jacobite Congregation in Perth from to 1 746, S and contains the ignature of Robert Lyon , who was

. w colleague of the Rev Laurence Drummond he, alas , as

executed at Penrith for following Prince Charlie . Dean

Farquhar refers to this in his interesting book , Epis ” copal History of Perth .

This Register , we know not how, got into the pos

o f . 1 81 2 830 session Mr Robertson , who from to 1 used it as a Register for the Baptisms and Confirmations of the three districts which he shepherded (which Register I published last year in a separate book) there were from 1 6 to 24 Baptisms every year and perhaps half that i number confirmed , which is a striking w tness to the vigour 1 9 U nfo r of our Church life early in the th century . t natel f 830 hi Old u y no entries were made a ter 1 . T s

book has many things copied into it by Mr . W . Atkinson , Pitlo chri e Churchwarden and Vestry Clerk of Holy Trinity, , ’ after Dr . Howard s death . The Register has at one end the Perth minutes I have

referred to , while at the other end appear lists of the sums paid by the congregation for the minister ’ s income 7 6 aco b ites in 1 8 . Apparently the persecuted J began to forsee better times , and again were venturing to meet

Openly for worship . We append the notes of the last meeting at which Robert Lyon was present .

E RTH 29th 1 74 5 . P , Tuesday , January ,

The Ministers and other Managers of the Episcopal - u Meeting Ho se having this day inspected James Bayne , your Treasurer ’ s accompts for the last year find the Charges amount to seventy-eight pounds nine pence and

9 8 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

at Drummond , and appeared as such the Meeting , Nov . 1 5 1 739 , , having been ordained Priest .

In his ministry he shewed himself to be one Of the ”

i . e. Usagers , , the Catholic party , there being then , as

ever since the Reformation , those who held the Catholic

Faith , and those who protested against it becau se they held it to be tainted with the errors and superstitions of the Roman Communion . He was engaged to be married o to Miss Stewart R se , daughter of the Bishop of Fife ; a al s the marriage never took place, owing to his loyal w and avo ed attachment to the Stuart cause . Mr . Erskine “ 25 1 74 4 r in a letter dated Sept . , , w ote from Perth , What ” I hear bodes little good to Robert Lyon . When Prince

Charles Edward entered Perth , Robert Lyon illuminated

his house , and was outspoken in the loyalty of his welcome . He accompanied the Prince ’ s army to Prestonpans as

a chaplain . He had enemies watching him , and when 1 7 4 6 the Duke of Cumberland came to Perth in , Robert 77 Lyon was imprisoned in Carlisle with others , and

was sentenced to death . A ring in the possession of

D emmarl es . Miss Bruce of , bears the inscription Mr

28th 3 6 1 74 6. Robert Lyon , E . S . P October , atat

hOO wi l The ring is a gold p , set th a piece of rock crysta — covering a little hair we presume the hair of the martyred

priest . On the outside it is enamelled in black with the

inscription in raised gold letters , at the end of which e l th re is the figure of a Sku l , also in raised gold , and inside ” et . is an incised inscription , Pro Rege Patria Trucidato

W. S . Mr . James Bruce , , of Edinburgh , has kindly had the

ring photographed for me .

This is one more proof, of which history is full , that

tho se who , for conscience sake , and in loyalty to their

c s i i au e, shed their blood , do thereby enshr ne their memor es was in the hearts of generations to come , and it well that

a E cclesia Sco ti anze Presb ter. i . y D rinking Cap us e d b y the J aco b ites

’ — when dr i nk i ng P ri n ce Cha rli e s hea lth s ee page 76

’ if emo nal R in o R o b e rt L o n l g f y .

1 00 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAIG

Fo r h o I - u t r nner Ci rcle. Col . Townley, Sir J . Weder burn , Sir A . Primrose , F . Buchannan , Esq . , J . Hamilton,

Esq .

On other side

Fi — rst or Outer Ci rcle. E udswo rth , Sparks , Horn , ‘ ‘ . . . M K . enz ie D Morgan , Esq , C Gorden , S , J . M Clan, ‘ M s . i Gen . T , J Tompson , Murry, Mayne , Stevenson , ‘ M D o nald , Dempsey , Conolly .

Second i r — C cle P. Keir , J . Read , The Revd . T .

. . . . s Coppock , T Park , A Blyde , P Taylor , P Lind ey, A . M‘ . Gre o r Kennedy, J g , A . Parker .

Thi rd i —J C r le. . c . . w Berwick , Ja Bradshaw , J Da son ,

T . Deacon , T . Syddall , T . Chadwick , G . Fletcher .

F ou rth o r I nner Ci rcle — Earl Kilmarnock , Earl

. n Ld Ld . . Derwentwater, Lovat , Balmeri o n In a note to the Dying Declaration of Mr . Lyo , contained in copies of the Dying Declarations of Jaco b ites

1 750 . n reprinted at Edinburgh, , Mr Lyon is desig ed Priest of the persecuted and afflicted Church of Scot ” “ land . The note reads thus : As Mr . Lyon frequently administered the Holy Eucharist to his fellow-prisoners in Carlisle Castle , so particularly upon Wednesday, the 1 5 1 746 th of October , , he had the happiness to communi cate above fifty of them among which were Mr . Coppock , f i . O Ar the Engl sh Clergyman , and Mr Buchannan nprior, U 26th 22md and pon the of the same month , being the

Sunday after Trinity, he also administered the Holy Sacrament of the Lord ’ s Supper to a great number of - Communicants , his fellow prisoners , using the Liturgy which had been procl aimed at the Market Cross by order of Charles I .

9 We here resume the Church notes from page 4 .

D . 1 820 . A. This was a year which brought many K I LMAVEONAI G RE BUILT

changes to us . General Robertson sold his property McI nro at Lude to Mr . y, the grandfather of the present d Lair . The house was some years after rebuilt , a new road with a lodge was made to approach it from the 1 820 west , after the present high road was made in , and the Old military road running past the church was a discontinued . New cott ges were built on the road ,

Balli nto ul now known by the name of , so that gradually the Old village was allowed to fall into decay .

o 1 833 1 834 The village st od here until or , the school house to the east of the Church remaining for a time after the houses were removed . There was also a forge,

and a service was held by the Baptists here for some years . ‘ M Glashan Old l Charles , and other people ately passed

away, told me that they worshipped in the Church in their youth . A man , called Seaton , who was much Tu ldunie injured by a fall over the rocks at , taught here . Also from the cow-path at Lude came down the rammer from the cannon when firing a salute , and an accident Of occurred , causing death to one man and the loss an ” arm to another. The following list (obtained from the Laird ’ s sister) K ilmaveo nai 1 820 of Custodians of g from about , is

interesting , as shewing the links we then had with the ’ n people Of the soil . Sandy a thi g what a com prehensive title for a Storekeeper

’ Alexr. Stewart , Sandy a thing, Merchant , New Bridge

of Tilt .

exr. Al , his son , who retired from the shop to the farm of

' tlo chrie Strathg ro y ; his widownow lives in Pi .

’ r s e . Alex . Nephew, John Campb ll , who farmed for Mrs

Strath ro . Stewart , and died at g y

‘ M Glashan Ballinto ul wh K ilmaveo nai Neil , ( o lived at g

until the Houses were removed) . 1 02 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K ILMAVEONAI G

h d His Sons , Jo n , Peter, and Neil , had all Office connecte The with the Chapel . last survivor of the three E sin al brothers died at g .

‘ M Glashan Balinto ul U m John , , who brought p his Fa ily K ilmaveo nai at the Village of g . Charles (who seems to have been confirmed in his Son B l n ul still lives in the old home at a i to .

‘ M Glash n lr a Ba o b ie . Donald , late Farmer,

K incrai ie Angus Stewart , g .

Duncan Stewart , Fender Bridge .

and Robert Robertson , for many years Miller at Lude ,

t 2 3 c . af erwards in Pitlochry , died or years sin e

E sin al . John Robertson , Keeper, g

U rra d . His Son the Family now live at Craig r , Pitlochry

D A . 82 1 5 . . The following is an extract from a letter sent me by Miss Keir about the village

O d n 1 2 l Duff said that whe he was a lad about , there were Six or seven small cottages in which small farmers lived . He was working with them and going to school , which was a little way to the west Of the Church (about 1 20 Ardenlea scholars) and James Seaton and Mr . Stewart , , were on the roll with him .

o There was a Baptist congregation and Mr . Tull ch was the name of the minister . He never heard of any h c the one being immersed there . T ey had a pla e in ” river for that .

e Mr . Tulloch is an instanc of what can be done by a s the man of trong religious conviction . He came to 8t t neighbourhood towards the end of the 1 h cen ury , and r c his preaching evidently bore fru it . It is well to co re t here a popular misrepresentation of the Church ’ s teaching

as regards I mmersi on which is recognised by her as - the right form Of administering the Sacrament (see Rubric

1 04 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

MacMillan 1 834 he Mr . left for Dunkeld in , and before

‘ went away he gave to the Church a Prayer-Book and

Bible , a bound copy of the Scottish Liturgy , beginning as usual with the Exhortation , and a small oak Table for the Altar, with an inscription as follows This Altar is dedicated without reserve to the public Celebration of the Eucharist in the Scots Epis i copal Church , and is subject , with th s sole

limitation to the disposal of the Rev . William I ncu m Cowper Augustine Maclaurin , present K ilmaveo nai bent of g , in the Parish of Blair s Athole , Perthshire , or in case of his decea e, to the disposal of such person or persons ‘ as

he may appoint , Sept .

I t This Altar I found in the vestry, and taking to be a w common table , was going to put a dra er to it , when the

o I ner e . j , on turning it up found the abov inscription

’

I then had it encased in oak , and it now stands in the vestry of the Church , fit for use if that should ever be used as a Side Chapel .

He was succeeded by the Rev . William C . A . Mac a 1 834 1 840 l urin, who remained six years , to , and had - 1 840 he quite a well filled Church . In went to Elgin and un was succeeded by the Rev . Thomas Walker, who , u fortunately, grad ally alienated his congregation and

d 1 856 . eclining to retire , the Bishop in locked the Church r and Mr . Walker must have been a man of some pa ts , was very musical . Canon Meredith sent me interesting evidence of 1 837 our recognised congregational life in , as follows ’ end r 2nd VOL At the of Lawson s Histo y, , is an appendix giving information from evidence given to (and accepted e by , I pr sume) the Commissioners appointed by Parlia

m t . Of ent o enquire into the state Religious Instruction , KI LMAVEONAI G REBUILT

whose first report was ordered by the House of Com 837 -I mons to be printed in 1 . should think that it might be quoted for our side in case of any dispute about K ilmaveo nai the rights to the Church of g. — Bl ai r Athole Established Shortly after the R evo lu

tion . The congregation assembles for public worship in a chapel which was rebuilt about 1 7 97 at K ilmaveo naig ;

cost not ascertained . No person has any right over the

Church but the clergyman for the time being . It is applied to no other purpose: Number of sittings about

200 . £3 0 The stipend is , chiefly derived from the Scottish

Episcopal Church Society . Divine service performed r twice eve y Sunday , Christmas Day, Good Friday , and

Ascension Day, and once at least six other days throughout ' ’ — W A M ‘ i . E ide e b R . . . . aur n the year v nc y the ev C L , M A . . , R ector at thi s date.

Amid the many and divers notes with which the story of K ilmaveo naig in the first century of her newly-regained n freedom is strown , it is pleasa t to find an Aberdonian , from the city of Bon Accord (t he father-in-law of the present Dean of Edinburgh) , wending his way up Strath

Garry , from Dunkeld , where perhaps the Rector, Mr . ” K ilmaveo nai and Macmillan , had told him of dear g, when he had realised it embosomed among the mountains the n and half circled by the Tilt and Garry , he retur s to d — —O f Old Dunkel , and musing maybe , by the fireside the n church estling under the hill , he forecasts the winter tempests rushing down from snow-cappe d Ben-y-Gloe (as i 1 883 and ndeed they did in March , , November, and the waters of the Tilt and the Garry in spate , and his poetic ” fire kindles into verse Ye winds , he cries , blow soft , ’ ye waters of Atholl ne er depart from your banks , lest ’ a r sadness ye c r y on the place of my heart . The verses below are very descriptive of the beauties of the Strath 1 06 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

MAVEONA K I L I G.

Li nes wri tten at D u nkeld o n retu rni ng f ro m a vi si t to Blai r Athol e i n Se tembe 1 4 1 p r, 8 .

D ear K ilmaveo nai th b raes are re o s n g, y p i g ’ On Ath o le s b ro a b o so m so s u nn and still d , y , I gri eve th at the windi ng Strathgarry i s clo s ing eir li t ro m m v isio n with o rest and ill Th gh f y f h .

' ’ O er ill and o er o res t b istance ecreas i n h f , y d d g , Schi eh alli o n heaves pro u dl y t o vi ew th ee b elo w ’ ’ O er ill and o er to rrent th a s , t ru es u nceas ing h h , L o ok s o wn ro m his lo nel ei t ran Ben- - o e d f y h gh g d y Gl .

’ Lik e i ants o erwatchi n an i n ant i n slu mb er g g f , Th e Old mi t mo u ntains stan Silent aro u n gh y d d , Whil e so n s ro m th e streams flo win b wi h o g , g t u t numb er f y , At no o nti e and mi ni t th l u ll ab so u n d d gh y y d .

Ye waters o f t o le the ilt and the Garr A h , T y , ’ Oh ne er ro m th e b ank s th at emb race o u e rt f y d pa , L est danger and ru in and s adness ye carry On K ilmaveo nai the la o m ce f ea rt . g, p y h

Y e win s t at i n len and i n co rri e are s welli n d h g g , Blo w s o t as e cro ss it o r arml ess i f s h rill f y , h , , Bu t ch asin th e b li ht ro m the l ea o r is elli n g g f f , d p g Th e clo u wit i s em e o a o l t t st r mis ts t t w u l c il . d h p , h d h

And I if mis o rt u ne b e all no t to wit er , f f h Th e e elin s th at s ri n as i ts b eau t I raise f g p g y p , Ma o ten b e o u rne i n o u ll thi th er y f j y g j yf y , ith a ea t a a h e o its b raes W h rt h t is fres h s t e gr en f . N E . CLYN .

A D 8 6 l 1 5 . . . . On the departure of Mr Wa ker this year regular services were impossible, and the Church for feited - t and the income i had drawn from the Society , it c s c a has never been re overed . Thi was , of ourse , fat l to our r m retaining the cong egation , and many at this ti e went the r to Presbyterian service , and neve came back to r us . But church life , if it dies down in one place , sp ings to ff up in another , and it is interesting record the e orts made at this time to start a Congregation in Pitlochri e . s s r and Among t the chief mover were Mr . John T oup H a the Colonel Drummond y. Mr . Robson was clergy h the n man who ministered to t e congregation , and o ly

1 08 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

a n h nds it is now , has it let alo g with the house to which

it is attached , and it is now used as a part of a Lodging u House . He wo ld have given me a room in a new building b u t which he is adding to the Inn , there are neither floors nor windows in it as yet , but after searching about through the village , I had almost despaired of finding any place ’ u se car ert er s for service , but at last have got the of a p n is shop . The ow er a member of the Free Church , who

had formerly lent Mr . Walker a room in his house for r and se vice , he was most ready and willing to give his ’ shop , and as Miss Murray happily remarked , a carpenter s ” far Shop was from a bad omen as a beginning . We had a space cleared out at one end and fitted up with some u r de benches and a few chairs , and yesterday we made i on the whole a very successful beginning . In the morn ng 1 4 we had a congregation of adults and three children, r and all members of the Church except one (my se vant) ,

all visitors , except Miss Susan Murray and her two servants and one party of four staying at the I nn

another party of three ladies , Mrs . Forbes (wife of Professor n Forbes , Edinburgh) and three children , and a you g

gentleman, unattached . I was pleasantly surprised at

the numbers , as the season is only beginning here , and I was not aware that any of the present visitors were mem

bers of the Church . They all joined very heartily in the

service, and in a Psalm which we sang . In the evening

a number of the villagers attended , and the congregation 3 9 amounted to , besides some children , who all behaved

very reverently . Eleven of these were Church people , and the heartiness of their responses quite enlivened the

service . There is this advantage for the Evening Service

that the Parish Church is a mile off, and there is only a

- mid day service there . On the whole I consider this

commencement under the circumstances , most satis am to t factory . I unable say what prospec of support w who there ould be from the neighbouring proprietors , are K I LMAVEONAI G REBUILT

supposed to be members of the Church , as they are all - - . in absent just now Captain Jack Murray , of Croft loan , is engaged upon a revenue situation , and has let his place for a year to a Mr . Cowan , Edinburgh . Colonel Drum ” n mond of the Guards has been I the Crimea . 1 858 The Church was consecrated in August , , and it is a matter Of great thankfulness to see ho w Holy

Trinity Church has grown under the present Rector,

Canon Cooke , to such proportions , having a Roll of about 0 1 7 members .

’ During the period of the ten years vacancy , those interested in K ilmaveo naig (as is shown by the followi ng

paper , in the possession of Mr . Robertson at the Union Bank) met to arrange for the repair of the wall of the 1 861 w churchyard (Nov . ) and some trees were cut do n , a

committee being formed for the purpose . The following paper gives the list of names and subscriptions A Committee of those having right of burial in the K ilmaveo nai g Church Yard , consisting of the following Gentlemen

‘ M Glash an Balinto u l Messrs . Niel , ‘ M Glashan Balro b l e Donald , r K incriai e Angus Stewa t, g

Duncan Stewart , Bridge of Fender

‘ ‘ Balinto u l Charles M Glashan , Of Alex . Stewart , Bridge Tilt

Robt . Robertson , Old Bridge of Tilt

. 1 861 met in the Bridge of Tilt Hotel , Nov , and it was unanimously agreed upon that a Subscription List should be opened among the Members having the right

of burial for the p urpose of repairing its wall , which had

been found in a very dilapidated condition . At the same time a motion had been proposed and carried that several of the trees growing within that place of ' interment should be removed and disposed of b y public 1 1 0 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

sale , the proceeds of which will be found in the list of

Subscribers , for the purpose of gaining more space , as well as contributing much to its symmetry and effective c appearan e . Accordingly a suitable mason (Mr . Donald Seaton) was selected to reconstruct all the breaches in n a the buildi g , and carefully apply coating of lime to such portions of it as too evidently evinced the rapid progress

Of decay . The sum expended on masonry amounted to

4 0 . £ 1 / stg , and a handsome Iron Gate was fitted up , the value of which along with othermatters of expenditure b will e seen in the list of expenses .

SUBSCRIPTION LIST .

‘ MGlashan Balinto u l C O Q Neil , , ‘ M Glashan Balro b ie O Q O Donald , , K incrai ie O Q Q Angus Stewart , g , O O Duncan Stewart , Bridge of Fender, ‘ M Glashan Balinto ul C O Charles , ,

) 4—. l p N O Alexander Stewart , Bridge of Ti t , 0

o P- O Balu aine s John Robertson , ,

b Middl eb rid e o O Q Mrs . D . Robertson , g , Ai rd u alick o O James Seaton , q , x E idtean o q O Neil Forbes , , ‘ M I nt re tro wan o w O Donald y , S , Of o a Q Robert Robertson , Old Bridge Tilt , o s O Peter Fraser , Glen Tilt , o O Alexander Seaton , Bridge of Earn , c q O Mrs . Fisken , Perth , o s Q Donald Seaton , Bridge of Tilt, o m Q William Reid , Bridge of Tilt, Strath ro o m O James Stewart , g y, Marrach c m Q John Shaw, Dhu , G o s O John Stewart , lanmore, Aldclu ne o w O Donald Menzies , , Aldclu ne o m C Alex . Stewart , , e Aldclune c m Q William Forb s , ,

K I LMAVEONAI G REBUILT

Ald irn ai James Seaton , g g, I nvercro sk ie Donald Forbes ,

John Campbell , Dundee , Aldandulach Robert Stewart, ,

Donald Stewart , Kirkton of Lude , e Al xander Robertson , Seek , ‘ M Lean To mnab rack John , , ‘ M Lean Hector , ‘ M I nt re James y , Calb ru ar James Robertson , , D alnab o a Neil Stewart , ,

Archibald Seaton , t Strath ro Alexander Stewar , g y , I nvervack Donald Forbes , ,

J R . Menzies , Scone or Perth , Navie- r Mrs . Hill , dale , Suthe land , E asan ael John Robertson , g , R unmo re Peter Stewart , ,

Duncan Robertson , Bridge of Ti lt , d Robert Robertson , Old Bri ge of Tilt

(see before) .

John Campbell , Bridge of Tilt , Ald irnai James Seaton , g g, w Mrs . Anne Stewart , Ding all , Ross 0 4 shire , 6 — 3 l st 1 864 9 July , a Glentilt J mes Cameron , , Belfast , 0 0 Ireland , 5

A. D . 1 866 . The appointment of the Rev . Henry i St . John Howard to the Church at Pitlo chr e once more Old gave the Church a fresh start . The following notes of the re pairs and restoration

. 1 866 and 1 874 which Dr Howard did between , are in his own handwriting 1 1 2 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

When I was appointed to the Incumbency of Pit lo chrie in 1 866 I found this Chapel at K ilmaveo naig in a shocking state of neglect and internal unrepair—the flooring had almost all rotted away, exposing the bare earth ; the passage was flagged with large undres sed flags full of deep inequalities ; there was a descent of several inches at the door from the Churchyard into the ‘ Chapel the walls were mo stly green with damp between the two large windows there was a pulpit nearly as high Of as the gallery, and in front it a small table covered - e with a moth eaten pi ce of green baize, which was in tended for an Altar .

- 86 —I 1 866 1 9 . burnt the pulpit , placing a decent Wooden Altar—raised on steps and on a foot pace—where reflo o red it had stood ; removed the narrow pews , the - Chapel , took up the flag stones and laid down tiles placed chairs for seats . 0 — 1 87 . Took away the old stairs which were built against the outside for ascending into the gallery , and substituted a wooden one , the former being a conductor of damp repaired roofs and placed rain spouts . 8 — - 1 7 1 . Built a porch and coal cellar ; erected a stove in the former repaired the Vestry within and without .

1 872 STE R — , EA The mice having eaten holes in the

1 866 . Cun n covering of the Altar I had given in , Mrs y g hame (K indro chet) presented a handsome green cloth one with red super-frontal and a green dossal with a worked i cross thereon . The flower vases were also her g ft . — i 1 873 . Small stove in Vestry in l eu of wide grate .

87 4 - 85 1 . Brass Alms dish bought from Hardman

£2 . Co . , with a Baptismal fee of from Mr . Wm Atkinson .

D . 1 870 . r A. The Church was in use for Divine Se vice , and the following notice appeared in the Sco ttish ,

. 1 s t Guardian , Oct

1 1 4 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

held in the Bridge of Tilt Hotel , Blair Athole , on Saturday, 3 1 st 1 883 the March , , at

Present.

Clu nemo re John Stewart , . ‘ M Glashan Bali nto u l Charles , . n Du can Robertson , Bridge of Tilt .

Alexander Robertson , Miller, Pitlochry . l Aldclu n Wi liam Robertson , Carpenter , e . ‘ M I nt re Setto ch John y , .

Garr side . Peter Stewart , y

Duncan Stewart , Fender Bridge . ‘ M lashan Balro b b ie G . William , hier l s t S a s . Robert Rober son , g

Crai u rrard r . James Robertson , g , Pitloch y

Strath ro . John Campbell , g y

James Reid , New Bridge of Tilt .

. lu nemo re C . Mr John Stewart , , was appointed Chairman

PPO T E E A IN M N T OF COMMITTE .

The Meeting appointed all the above-named as a Commi ttee for the purpose of looking after the interests - of all parties having a right to the Burying Ground , and also to see that the Burying-Ground boundary wall and and approach thereto are put into proper order, thereafter kept in aneat and ornate condition under their supervision .

I G- D KE LLS BUR Y N GROUN DY WA .

The Chairman called the attention Of the Meeting to l the dilapidated and ruinous state of parts of the wal , m and , after consideration of the atter, they unanimously agreed to get the same restored and put into thorough eu repair . Mr . Duncan Stewart , Fender Bridge , was i trusted with the work , w th instructions to proceed therewith as soon as the weather would permit . The attention of the Meeting was also directed to a large

1 1 6 K I LMAVEON FACTS FANCIES ABOUT AI G.

Present.

mo r Clu ne e . John Stewart , Aldclu ne Wm . Robertson , .

Alex . Robertson , Pitlochry .

. Shier lass Robt Robertson , g .

Strath ro . John Campbell , g y

Duncan Stewart , Fender Bridge .

Garr side . Peter Stewart , y

Dun . Robertson , Bridge of Tilt . ‘ M I nt re tto ch Se . John y , a J s . Reid , Bridge of Tilt .

Jas . Robertson , Pitlochry .

n mo r . Clu e e a Mr John Stewart , , was appointed Ch irman .

The Minutes of last Meeting were read and approved of.

- D N B UR YIN G GROUN A D WALLS .

The Clerk reported that , as instructed at last meeting , the Walls and Gate Of the Burying-Ground had now been put in a thorough state of repair, that the ash tree had c been cut and put up in lots and sold by publi roup , and s 4 - realised £4 l 6 d . The Burying Ground had also been cleaned and rows of ornamental and other trees had been planted round the wall , where considered necessary .

D B Y I N - R O D ROA WAY To uR c G UN .

The Clerk reported that Mr . Stewart , the Tenant of Bridge of Tilt , still continues to cart his farm produce , etc . , and drive his cattle on the road leading to the Burying

Ground , and that the road was still in a very muddy state and very disagreeable for Funeral Parties going to the - Burying Ground . The Clerk was instructed to communi cate with Mr . Stewart , with a view of getting him com elled p to keep the road in proper order, otherwise not to use the same in connection with his Farm . K I LMAVEONAI G REBUILT

L R H R H BE F Y o r C U C . The Meeting then proceeded to consider whether they should restore the Bell in the Belfry of the Church , or

tree * and Whether they should hang it in a , after full consideration of the matter, they unanimously resolved to rebuild the Belfry , as formerly , and hang the Bell therein , and they instruct the Clerk to get in offers for the work and proceed with it at once .

LE R K CCO TS C A UN . The Clerk laid before the Meeting a statement of his

Accounts , shewing a Balance due to him of which c the Meeting found orrect , and are to subscribe at a future meeting . The above 1 3 satisfactory proof that the lay members of the Church took some care of the building when there do his was no Cure to part .

A. D 89 Of 1 1 . . . In the Spring the year , Dr Howard died , and having helped him for a few weeks in the 1 888 1 889 Summer of and , the Vestry asked me to succeed 1 891 him as Rector, and early in June, , I came to the rectory . I had become much interested in the old Church —where I took a morning service and Celebration of the 1 889 Holy Eucharist in , when Miss Forbes kindly played h the armonium , a service which gave me great pleasure , little thinking that I should soon become Rector and in a position to restore and beautify the ancient H o u se of God— and it was not long before I saw my way to go on with the work begun and carried on at some self-sacrifice and toil by my predecessor . The accompanying View , produced from photographs taken by Miss Forbes , gives

an Of . idea , but course imperfect , of the interior There l n were three gal eries , the North one joi ed to the East and the West , that at the East being over the Vault where the Rob ertsons had been buried ; the Altar was 1 1 8 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

i at the South side , between two w ndows , as seen in the engraving . There were some pews of common wood , -o f which with some chairs faced different ways . A coat arms on the East gallery (now removed to the West) had the motto—somewhat full of omen as to trouble that arose in 1 898 about disturbed bones Dinna wauken ’ le s e in . p dogs The Vestry , entered by a door under the C North gallery , with a coal cellar in the orner , was damp and dungeon like . An old motto , Mens sana in corpore sano suggested a New Vestry. I was very fortunate in having kind helpers in the tenants at Lude . Mr . Low - 1 891 2 . was tenant in , and Mrs Low gave me a subscription , which she continued for a time after she left . Mr . T ntesfield Anthony Gibbs , of y , came the next year , £ 0 and he gave me the generous donation of 5 . With £1 30 t this I soon raised about , pulled down the Nor h gallery, and entirely rebuilt the Vestry and put in stone mullions into the centre one of the three South windows , as shewn in the small photograph . I had the great Of help the Rev . Edward Sugden , Rector of Coupar

Angus , who trained as an architect before he took Holy Orders the men that worked under him testified to his accuracy and good judgment in all that he did , and to him I feel that much of the interior dignity and good taste ue f of the Church is d . A ter this I kept in view a fuller

Su d en restoration . Mr . g said a new roof would soon be necessary . I printed a short appeal for funds , and sent a copy to the families mentioned on the tablets and to others , o whom I hoped would favour the g od work , and I received many subscriptions , often with affectionate remembrance k of services in the Chu rch in days gone by . I also ban ed the surplus of the alms at the extra summer service at ’ 0 A D 1 898 e 1 o clock . In . . I f lt I could undertake the desired work . (I hope before the Summer is over to be n able to print a list of the sums give ) . Suffice it now to 28 1 898 da n say that on July , (the y after the An iversary

1 20 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

always gratefully remember the goodwill of the Laird

in the matter , and his courtesy and willingness to meet

my wishes with regard to the Auld Kirk , whose resto ra

tion has been to me a labour of love . re-O The Church was pened on Thursday, July 28 ,

by the Bishop of the Diocese (Bishop Wilkinson , after

wards Primus) , who celebrated the Holy Eucharist at m 8 a . . m a . . u , and at , the Clergy , d ly vested , who h ad come for the occasion , preceded the Bishop and his

Chaplain , the Rev . A . E . Davies , up the road leading 2 1 5 ’ to the Church , singing hymn , The Church s One ” Foundation . The Clergy present were the Revs . Canon

Hunter, Edward Sugden , Charles E . Cooke , G . E . W .

Holmes , John Harrison , G . D . Philip , John Stevenson , Tevio tdale Francis Burdon , and E . J . S . (Dundee) , E . A . Ommanne -in- y (Southsea) , and the Priest Charge . We

u PS . entered the Ch rch chanting xxiv . The service appointed for use at the restoration of a Church was e 3 97 h us d , the hymn for the Restoration of a Churc being

sung . The Bishop gave an impressive address on Rev . ! ” iv I looked and lo a door opened in Heaven . Before the end of the service the Bishop committed the

restored House of God to my care . With the singing of

and 85 . 379 the Te Deum hymn (A . M ) we ended the

service in praise to God for His many mercies . A large w congregation filled the Church , among whom ere the ‘ M I nro Laird and Mrs . y, their family , and many friends h from Pitlo c ri e . Our festal morning ended with a gathering of the Clergy and friends at the Tilt Hotel . Of £1 00 r The sum about , which was required to clea the Church of debt was nearly realised by a Sale of Work

(in my new house , finished but not furnished) the week - after the R e dedication . Four rooms were filled with s Guernsey Cans , Worcester China , and the many gift

b . sent for sale y kind friends Miss Forbes , Miss More s Tu tti ett head , Mi s , Miss Brook , Miss Nevill (and other 6he D o o r o the Ne w Po rch A D 1 8 f , . . 99 ,

wal k the L and s Pl ace o Bu i a l i n the back ro u nd f r g .

K ILMAVEONAI G REBUILT

s n visito rs) presi ded in the room assig ed to them , and the sum of £90 in two days was the happy result . The fo llo wing gifts were dedicated by the Bishop at — the b egi nmng of the service The Altar of Oak , in memory of a beloved sister whose body was laid to rest in Pitl o chrie 1 7 1 894 Holy Trinity Churchyard , , October , 1 4 a Silver Paten and Chalice of a th century pattern , ri given by Miss Morehead , who afterwards en ched the

Chalice with some topaz and cairngorm stones . The - Vessels were the work of Miss Meta Napier Brown , of - v R e . Edinburgh , who also car ed the table The next year the Porch , designed by Mr . Sugden , was added at the cost

£1 50 . of , to make room for a Font Over the Porch is an inscription in the stone, as follows To the Glory Bh K ilmaveo nai 1 899 . of God , g Restored , , , l A. D . 1 900 In , a beautifu Font of Purbeck

Marble , a reduced copy of one in Galway Parish Church , w s b v a . with old Celtic car ing, given y Miss Molyneux The following year a Lichgate was put up at a cost of £35 , partly given by those who had laid loved ones to

. r 7 rest in the Churchyard The g eat gale of Nov . 1 , 893 1 , had broken off a large branch of the tree close I by , and this had injured the iron gate which bought and put up at my house . In the course of the next few years an Oak Lectern was given by Mrs . Inglis , two a Banners by Miss Morehead , also a Lit ny Desk by the sons and daughters of Mrs . Evans , who died at the Bridge of Tilt, where she had spent her honeymoon . The

Brass Altar Cross was given by Mr . Baxter and other visitors at the Tilt Hotel , and the Altar Lights by Rev . C .

L . Broun when the Reredos was put up , these , with the consent of the principal donors , were sent to Chanda . A beautiful Stained-Glass Window (not ready for dedi 1 898 Tuttiett cation , ) by Clayton Bell , was given by Miss , itlo chrie in memory of her father, who resided in P after a n he resigned the ch rge of S . A drews . The three Lights 1 22 FACTS FANCIES ABOUT K I LMAVEONAI G

ai a cont n figures of S . Ninian , S . Columba , nd Queen

Margaret . A new Sanctuary Floor was laid of oak to replace was the one of common wood , and on it placed an Altar base made of Cyprus with three Crosses of Ebony and

Rosewood inlaid . An Aumbry was also placed on the south side of the Sanctuary (taking the place of a stone slab removed to the north side near the Robertson Tablet) .

The Aumbry was given by Miss M . Anderson in memory of her nephew . On a Memorial Brass are these words :

Beati Mundi Corde In piam Memoriam Findlay T . M . “

1 2 1 903 1 7 . Anderson , at Rest Sept . , , aetat With ” a Me in Par dise . Miss Anderson also gave New Oak - Altar rails . The Diocesan Guild gave us two Prayer c Desks , Mr . and Mrs . Richardson, a Creden e Table ;

n . and Miss Nevill (now gone to her rest) , a Sa ctuary Chair We also received the following gifts of Needlework - l . Pressli e A beautifu green Stole , worked by Mrs Smith, e the first wife of the Dean of Argyll and the Isl s , also i k g fts from Miss K . Campbell , Miss Wil ie, and Miss

Wilkinson . A D 906—I t s r . . 1 . was decided to enlarge the Ve t y so as to enable the gallery to be entered from it by a staircase (the iron Spiral one in the Church being very ’ — a inconveni ent) . The work including small Priest s u i n —co chamber, usef l for quiet read ng or sleepi g st

Mrs . £ 0 £1 5 . nearly 1 0 . A donation of from Mr and and e Penton of Goring , the proceeds of two or three Sal s u b and o got p y Miss Morehead , Miss Barbara Peddie, ther e kind help rs , gradually reduced the debt, and one of the

Mrs . last items was given by Farquhar , who gave the proceeds of one of her attractive entertainments , where the kind fairies helped a Poor Highland Shepherd in his need . A D 908 r . . 1 . A gene ous donor gave the three c and n e Altar Panels (the Agnus Dei in the entre, A g ls

K ILMAVEONAI G REBUILT

in the two side Panels) . The work was well executed h l a by Messrs . Bridgeman of Lic field , who a so m de the s mall Pulpit which fills the North corner, close by the

Memorial Cross , and is a decided improvement . The -Arnmer au Processional Cross was made in Ober g , and was subscribed for by a few friends who desired that there

s e . a hould be some m morial to Dr Howard , to whose c re and diligence we owe the House of God , rescued from the unrepair in which he found it . The beautiful hymn 397 ( ) we sign every anniversary, well voices our praise for the Repai r that has been continued since 1 866:

When the years had wrought the changes , o wn u n He, our nchangi g God , h T ought on this , His habitation ,

Looked on His decayed Abode, and the last verse lifts our hearts in holy aspiration to — our God who is building u s if our wills respond to His as living stones into one Holy Temple acceptable for Him to dwell in .

Threefold Power of Grac e and Wisdom o ut Moulding of sinful clay, Living stones for that true Temple

Which shall never know decay.

he T Bishop (the successor of Bishop Wilkinson , s 907 and Primu in 1 ) dedicated these gifts , preached in the new Pulpit at Evensong on our Patronal Festival r v (Sept . Befo e the ser ice we had a Recital of Sacred Music reall y beautifully rendered by some kind friends

and visitors .

A. D . 1 91 2 Then , on the Thursday in Whitsun Week Ma ( y th—e Bishop again came to dedicate the crown of o ur efforts the beautiful Reredos and the Oak Panelling in n as of the Sanctuary . This had often b een my mi d 1 2 4 FACTS 85 FANCIES ABOUT K ILMAVEONAI G

a a s desir ble , p rtly becau e the colour wash on the walls needed to be done again and again , and the fund had a £20 re ched about , when Miss Hamilton Beattie , who £50 had come as an invalid visitor, died and left us in A D . 1 91 0 her will , . ; this seemed to make the Reredos ’ r l possible , and while I was in charge of S . Ad ian s , Gul ane ,

I met Mr . Robert Lorimer (since then knighted) , who very kindly gave me the benefit of his valuable advice , the result being the Sanctuary as seen in the photograph . -Ammer au The Crucifix was ordered from Ober g . On either side of it we see an angel holding a cup (the artists’ design as I have been told being to receive the dro ps of precious Blood) ; at either end is an Angel with a

Trumpet , and near the base of the Reredos are the words , ” Rex Ecce Homo , Ecce , the third Ecce Agnus

Dei being in the Altar Panel . Looking down upon this is the representation of our Lord enthroned in Glory . o ak The whole of the work , except the Crucifix, is of , ’ done under Sir Robert Lorimer s direction in Edinburgh . This description will give our readers some idea of what ’ has been done to beautify Go d s Sanct uary and the Hi s Mercy Seat, over which the King communes with

Ps . . People . The Bishop based his address on lxxii ” u a The Mo nt ins shall bring Peace, and helpfully linked the mountains round us and those at Ober-Ammergau i with that of Calvary . Since the dedicat on , two Olive

Wood Candlesticks , carved in Jerusalem, which I gave the order for when in Jerusalem in the Easter of last year, re- have been placed at each end of the table, suggestive both of Christ as the Light of the World and also as sending

The Holy Spirit , by Whose Anointing we know all things . And now our journey together to the Holy Mount and back is ended . We have traversed Highways ,

B ewa s . r h y y , and Waterways We have lea nt muc at least I have—and I have not failed in my purpose if I e a d Fanc s e n have interested you with som F cts an ie , ve

LI ST OF ILLUSTRATI ONS .

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