Foundations and Early History of Dunkeld Cathedral

Foundations and Early History.

The relics of St. Columba thus deposited in the church founded by Constantine I., and rebuilt by Kenneth MacAlpine, gave Dunkeld a peculiar and honourable position, even after the primacy was transferred to Abernethy. These relics afterwards became suspiciously abundant and were found in various parts of the country. Skene, the historian, says some were sent to Ireland for safety in 878, but were restored to Iona in 900 AD. However, Dunkeld retained its share until the Reformation. In the 11th century the Celtic Abbacy of Dunkeld had become an appanage of the Crown and subsequently descended to the Earls of Fife. In 1127, the Culdee Monastery or Church at Dunkeld was changed into a Cathedral Church by "St. David" or King David I., son of Malcolm III. and Margaret. The Book of Deer, preserved in Cambridge, shows the original charter granted by David to the Cathedral, and is a translation from the Latin into Gaelic, the language then of Scotland. The Culdee Corporation was constituted a body of secular clergy when Gregory, their Abbot, was made first Bishop of the remodelled See of Dunkeld, and the new Cathedral supplied with Augustinian Canons appointed by Rome. This Culdee Corporation existed side by side with the Canons Regular of St. Augustine for two centuries.

The nature or form of this first Cathedral Church is unknown, but part of the present edifice is reared on the site of the old. The stones were retained and are yet easily discernible in the eastern gable, forming an irregular reddish streak in the midst of preponderating grey.

Occupying a position of strategic importance combined with much natural beauty and ruled by a number of illustrious and distinguished prelates, members of influential Scottish families, Dunkeld Cathedral long held a prominent place in the annals of Scottish ecclesiastical history.

It stood on the borders of almost unknown ground to the Southern Scot, and was exposed to fierce assaults by men who cared for none of these things. In their pathless mountain fastnesses what recked the clansmen and their chiefs of monk, priest or bishop? They came down in their fury when they listed and even robbed the pilgrim to the sacred shrine of his offering. The marvel is that any part of the building is still standing to commemorate the piety of those who reared it. With little pretensions to size or architecture when compared with structures elsewhere, it yet remains a wonderful monument to the skill, patience and courage of the men of old. They chose a romantic, beautiful spot on the banks of a mighty river, and it is but fitting that reverence should be paid to their memory. The oldest part of the present building is the Choir, founded in 1318 by Bishop Sinclair. The revenues are said to have been considerable at that period. Holinshed has it, "There is a church in the same place where the said Castell of Calidon sometime stood, a church dedicated unto St. Colme, built of faire, square stones, being at this day a Bishop’s See, commonlie called Dunkeld, indowed with manie faire revenues and great possessions for the maintenance of the bishop and his cannons" .

The Bishops of Dunkeld were important personages in Scotland. In the Chapter House of Westminster there are seven of the Seals of Bishops of Dunkeld appended to documents preserved there. The oldest is attached to a parchment dated the 25 May, 1303. A description of another Seal is given by Henry Laing in his valuable work of seals, "The Seal of Causes of the Chapter of Dunkeld. A Round Seal of excellent work .... A figure of St. Columba, with nimbus, in pontifical vestments, sitting on a plain throne .... At each side . . . is a half-length figure of an angel waving

the thurible and the words S. Columba."

The Bishops had palaces or residences in Edinburgh, Perth, Clunie and Dunkeld. Clunie Castle still remains, but that in Dunkeld has vanished. In St. John’s Street, Perth. there was placed in 1920, a beautifully executed panel on the first floor of the business premises occupied by Messrs. Laing & Co. The inscription records that "The House of the Bishops of Dunkeld stood behind these buildings in a garden....This house was erected prior to 1461, and was demolished

in 1821 AD.

Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld (B. 1474, D. 1522)

In a barbarous age,

Gave to rude Scotland, Virgil’s page."

The Diocese included large sections of Perthshire and Forfarshire; such as the Cally District, near Blairgowrie, the burying ground at the Steps of Cally being attached to one of their chapels. In the Lothians, Preston, Bonkill, Aberlady, Abercorn, Cramond and Inchcolm were dominical lands of Dunkeld.

After the Choir, founded in 1318, the Nave followed. This was begun in 1406 by Bishop Cardney and finished in 1448 by Bishop Ralston, who began the Aisles. This latter bishop was so zealous in the cause that he himself carried, and made his visitors do likewise, stones from Gellyburn Quarry, six miles distant. These stones are all of small size, and the transport was very difficult, there being no proper road to the quarry, so that most of the stones were carried in creels on horseback.

The building thus founded and completed by various bishops at various dates gives evidence of this by its mixed architecture, Gothic and Norman. It consists of an aisleless Choir, a Nave with two aisles, towers and Chapterhouse. The latter has been converted into a Mausoleum for the Atholl family, and contains several Renaissance Monuments. It was founded or heightened by Bishop Lauder, and bears his arms, griffin, sergeant, carved. There is a wheel stair, a recessed tomb, carved stones and an 18th century Monument with 32 Coats of Arms.

The high Gothic open arch between Nave and Choir is built up. The main aisle is separated from the side ones by six round pillars of Norman design, the intervals terminating in sharp arches of the Second Style of Gothic. The windows lighting the aisles are all different, showing great diversity of design. The West Window has been formed in a very elaborate pattern, but a curious feature is its want of symmetry, the little florid cross which terminates the gable being away from the centre, showing an unusual and lop-sided appearance. The small rose window near is beautiful in design, and so also is the tower on the Southern Angle with its rose-carved mouldings and parapet, perforated by panelled quartrefoils.

The North-West Tower is 96 feet high, and is good and simple in design. The ground floor is vaulted and has been painted. In the outer wall was a curious zig-zag rent from top to bottom, alluded to by Pennant in his "Travels," 1772. It is now filled up. The Tower is entered from the Nave. Passing through a small door near the West Window, the ascent is made by a winding spiral stairway, lately put in thorough repair. The view from the top is of surpassing beauty. The spectator looks down upon a beautiful vale, through which rolls the River Tay, bordered by gardens, shrubberies, and verdant meads, and spanned by its picturesque Bridge. The great swelling parks are studded with magnificent trees, while Dunkeld and Birnam lie open to the gaze, at the base of sheltering guardian hills.

The basement of the Tower was formerly used for the Commissary Court, and in the top is a Chime of Bells placed. by the Atholl family. Bishop Brown is recorded to have placed four or five bells in the Steeple. On one was an inscription, but the bell was broken and cast anew in 1688, another inscription replacing it, mentioning Bishop Brown. The greater bell was named St. Colme. A window in the NorthWest corner of the Nave has this Bishop’s Coat of Arms—a chevron between three fleurs-de-lys—and is surmounted by a mitre. The inscriptions on a ribbon round the Arms is very minute.

A very full description with architectural details of this noble building is to be found in "Ecclesiastical Architecture" by Mac Gibbon and Boss; also in MacLean’s Guide to Dunkeld. Masonic Marks are said to have been found by the brethren on various parts.

Near the Cathedral to the South-West stood the Bishop’s Palace, which does not appear to have been of any special workmanship. It is said to have consisted of several long houses, two stories high with thatched roof, but a strong Castle was built near it by Bishop Cardney as a place of defence. In it was a great hall with vaulted granaries and larders beneath. This Castle has completely disappeared, but the site was long known as Castle Close. Men drilled there as late as the year 1716.

Subterranean passages, connecting Palace and Cathedral and residences of other clergy, existed, and traces of such were found not so very long ago.

The Anglicising process of the Scottish Church began in the 11th Century, when the Culdee gave way altogether to Rome, and the Orders of the Cathedral were copied from types in England. The Chapter of Dunkeld took Salisbury as guide, and consisted of Bishop, Deans, Prebendaries and other officials. At the request of Bishop Lauder (1462-75) James II. erected the lands of the Bishopric north of the Forth into a barony called the barony of Dunkeld (Dowden’s Bishops of Scotland) and in 1677, after the Reformation, James, Bishop of Dunkeld, appointed the Earl of Atholl and his heirs to the office of "heretable Baillerie" of the lands of the Barony of Dunkeld charging the salary of the post on the lands of "Eister and Wester Insheweyns and Ladiewell." This was done by the consent of Dean and Chapter.

The Columban relics, including the bones of the Saint, his books, staff and stone pillow, were kept in safe custody in the Cathedral, objects of much reverence, but at the Reformation they were carted off, some suppose by the Roman clergy, to Ireland, where, indeed, at this day, Columba’s bones are said to be.

This Anglicising or Romanising of the Culdee Church is offered as one of the reasons why the Celtic Bell in Little Dunkeld Church is not preserved in the Cathedral, which occupies the site of the original Culdee settlement. Little Dunkeld Church was the parish church of the district, Minor or Lesser Dunkeld; the City of Dunkeld with the Cathedral being Major or Meikle. The Parish Church, retaining the older associations, possibly thus retained the bell, for the Augustinian Canons regarded Culdeeism as heresy, refusing to venerate the relics or saints of that faith.

Dunkeld an Ancient City
Elizabeth Stewart
Dunkeld, 1926

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