Dunkeld in the Early Stages of the Reformation

The type of worship for which the cathedral had been designed as the setting was formally brought to an end in 1560 by the Reformation Parliament. On 12 August of that year a commission was sent to the lairds of Arntilly and Kinvaid to purge Dunkeld Cathedral of what had come to be considered as monuments of idolatory, although instructions were given that doors, windows and essential furnishings were not to be damaged.

It seems, however, that there were those who were prepared to take advantage of the situation, and soon afterwards the laird of Cardeny removed the roof of the nave. There may also have been damage to the roof of the eastern limb around the same time, since in 1600 we hear of Stewart of Ladywell repairing and re-roofing that part.

The precise situation in the confusing years around the time of the Reformation is far from clear, but at some stage the local community began to use the eastern limb alone for their worship. The same was also to happen at Dunblane Cathedral. This was presumably because in both cases the aisle-less rectangular shape of the eastern limb was more easily adapted than the nave to the newer forms of worship, in which it was intended that preaching should play a particularly prominent part.

Yet, as had been the case in the twelfth century, the existing order could not be changed immediately in all respects, and in many ways the Scottish Reformation was a less traumatic event than had been the case in England. Initially there was considerable difficulty in finding sufficient ministers who were both qualified and able to preach new doctrines. Beyond this there was no way of dislodging those of the old clergy who did not wish either to conform or to go, and it was only by around 1574 that most of the parishes within the diocese of Dunkeld had come to be served by reformed ministers.

At first it was accepted that the reformed Church should continue to be ruled by bishops, even if the title of superintendent was preferred for them by some of the leading reformers. The bishop of Dunkeld at the time of the Reformation, Robert Crichton (1543—71 and 84—5), was particularly determined to resist the new ways. Alone amongst the bishops, he met the pope’s emissary Nicholas de Gouda when he came to Scotland in 1562, although he eventually modified his views and was restored to his diocese in 1584.