A Corpus of Scottish Medieval
Parish Churches

Historical outline

There are few medieval records of the church of Stracathro.  The earliest surviving reference to it dates from 1274 when, it Bagimond’s Roll, it was noted that the parsonage was annexed to the chantorship or precentory of Brechin as the prebend of that dignitary, while the cure, valued at 3 merks 2 shillings 2 pence, was a vicarage perpetual.(1) 

A sole moment of historical significance occurred in summer 1296 when on 7 July King John Balliol renounced the Scottish alliance with France in the kirkyard of Stracathro as part of the process leading up to his surrender of his kingship to Edward I of England at Montrose.(2)  A single pre-Reformation reference to a named perpetual vicar – Robert Wyllie – occurs in 1394.(3)  The parsonage remained annexed to the precentor’s prebend at the Reformation with the vicarage perpetual, valued at £20, being served by Mr John Guthrie.(4)

Notes

1. SHS Misc, vi, 52.

2. Stevenson (ed.), Documents Illustrative of the History of Scotland, ii, no.372.

3. CPL, Benedict XIII, 29.

4. Kirk (ed), Book of Assumptions of Thirds of Benefices, 380.

Summary of relevant documentation

Medieval

Synopsis of Cowan’s Parishes: Church annexed to the chantership of Brechin before 1274, parsonage remained so annexed with cure at Reformation a vicarage perpetual.(1)

According to Mackinley the church was dedicated to St Regulus (a well could be found in the new parish).(2)

1394 Petition on behalf of Robert Wyly for the perpetual vicarage of Stracathro by William, Lord of Seton.(3)

Post-medieval

Books of assumption of thirds of benefices and Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices: The Parish church Post-medieval

Books of assumption of thirds of benefices and Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices: The Parish church parsonage vicarage held by John Guthrie, overall value £20, but with pasche fines etc yearly income is only 24 marks.(4)

Account of Collectors of Thirds of Benefices (G. Donaldson): Third of vicarage £5 6s 8d.(5)

1583 Complaint by the reader of Stracathro that he has insufficient funds following the death of the later vicar Paul Fraser.(6)

1642 (18 Aug) Visitation of the church by the Presbytery of Brechin.(7) [no details]

1649 Visitation of the province of the Angus and Mearns led to findings against George Fogo, minister of Stracathro, having found the said George playing cards and dice and several accusations of drunkenness - George found guilty and suspended, announcement made on 14 October in the church of Stracathro.(8)

Statistical Account of Scotland (Rev Robert Hannah, 1791): [Stracathro and Dunlappie united in 1618] ‘The church is little better than a heap of ruins and has all the hall marks of great antiquity’.(9)

New Statistical Account of Scotland (Rev William Gerard, 1843):‘The church was erected in 1799 and lately under repair’.(10) [no reference to remains of earlier building]

Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches (George Hay): 1799; renovated 1849.(11)

Notes

1. Cowan, The parishes of medieval Scotland, 180.

2. Mackinley, Non-Scriptural Dedications, p. 475.

3. CPP, 590.

4. Kirk, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, 380.

5. Donaldson, Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices, 9.

6. Registrum Brechinensis, ii, no. 235.

7. NRS Presbytery of Brechin, Minutes, 1639-1661, CH2/40/1, fol. 42.

8. Extracts from the Records of the Presbytery of Brechin, p. 10.

9. Statistical Account of Scotland, (1791),  iv, 213.

10. New Statistical Account of Scotland, (1843), xi, 668.

11. Hay, The Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches, p. 246.

Bibliography

NRS Presbytery of Brechin, Minutes, 1639-1661, CH2/40/1.

Calendar of entries in the Papal registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland; Papal Petitions, 1893-, ed. W.H. Bliss, London.

Cowan, I.B., 1967, The parishes of medieval Scotland, (Scottish Record Society), Edinburgh.

Donaldson, G., 1949, Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices, (Scottish History Society), Edinburgh.

Extracts from the Records of the Presbytery of Brechin from 1639-60, 1877, ed. W. M. Ogilvie, Dundee.

Hay, G., 1957, The Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches, 1560-1843, Oxford.

Kirk, J., 1995, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, (British Academy) Oxford.

Mackinley, J.M, 1914, Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland. Non-Scriptural Dedications, Edinburgh.

New Statistical Account of Scotland, 1834-45, Edinburgh and London.

Registrum Episcopatus Brechinensis, 1856, ed. C. Innes (Bannatyne Club), Edinburgh, i.

Statistical Account of Scotland, 1791-9, ed. J. Sinclair, Edinburgh.

Architectural description

Stracathro is on a site of great antiquity, being within the area of a fort of the Flavian period, which is assumed to be ‘the most northerly fort in the Roman Empire’.(1) Intriguingly, the axis of the church, running from north-east to south-west, is aligned with that of the fort, perhaps suggesting that some feature within the fort had conditioned that axis.

At an uncertain date before 1274, the parish was annexed to the chantership of Brechin Cathedral. The cure was subsequently a vicarage perpetual.(2)

Following the Reformation, at a date given variously as 1612 or 1618, the parish was united with that of Dunlappie,(3) and the latter fell out of use. By 1791 the church was described as ‘little better than a heap of ruins’ and as having ‘all the hallmarks of great antiquity’.(4)

It was rebuilt almost immediately after that account was written, though there is some confusion over the date. Several writers have followed the New Statistical Account in giving the date as 1799;(5) The Ordnance Gazetteer, however, gives the date 1791,(6) which appears to be correct, since that is  the date inscribed on the east gable.

It was said in 1843 to have been lately under repair,(7) though it is also said to have been repaired in 1849.(8) More extensive works were carried out in 1883-4.(9)

The core of the church is a compact rectangle of pink sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings. There is a birdcage bellcote on the west gable, and the south front is lit by a pair of Y-traceried pointed-arched windows. The works of 1883-4 involved the addition of an aisle at the centre of the north side, which gave the church a T-plan, and a small porch was added at each end.

No pre-Reformation work is visible in the upstanding fabric.

Notes

1. Lawrence Keppie, Scotland’s Roman Remains, Edinburgh, 1986, pp. 164-165.

2. Ian B. Cowan, The Parishes of Medieval Scotland (Scottish Record Society), 1967, p. 189.

3. The Statistical Account of Scotland (1791-9, vol. 4, p. 209) gives the later date, but the New Statistical Account of Scotland (1834-45, vol. 11, p. 662) gives the earlier date.

4. Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. 4, p. 213.

5. New Statistical Account of Scotland, 1834-45, vol. 11, p. 668.

6. Francis H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, Edinburgh, vol. 6, 1885.

7. New Statistical Account of Scotland, 1834-45, vol. 11, p. 668.

8. Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, ed. John Marius Wilson, London and Edinburgh, 1865, vol. 2, p. 769.

9. John Gifford, The Buildings of Scotland, Dundee and Angus, New Haven and London, 2012, p. 670.