Auchenblae, St Palladius's Chapel
Chapel (Medieval)
Site Name Auchenblae, St Palladius's Chapel
Classification Chapel (Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Fordoun Parish Churchyard, Saint Palladius' Chapel; Auchenblae Village
Canmore ID 36456
Site Number NO77NW 3
NGR NO 72616 78417
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/36456
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Fordoun
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Kincardineshire
NO77NW 3.00 72616 78417
NO77NW 3.01 NO 7261 7841 Cup-markings
NO77NW 3.02 NO 7261 7841 Pictish cross-slab ('Fordoun Stone' in Fordoun parish church)
NO77NW 3.03 NO 7260 7833 St Palladius' Well
For Fordoun parish church (NO 7261 7845) and (surrounding) churchyard, see NO77NW 93.
OS 1:10,000 map, (1978)
St. Palladius's Chapel, as described, was de-roofed about 1928 (information from Rev K T Thomson, The Manse, Auchenblae).
Revised at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (R L) 6 December 1967.
Class II symbol stone (St. Palladius' Stone).Cross face shows a hunting scene with a double-disc and Z-rod below the cross.Above the cross is an inscription in Hiberno-Saxon script.
A Mack 1997.
Scheduled as St Palladius's Chapel... the remains of a late medieval church.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 21 May 2002.
Field Visit (February 1982)
St Palladius' Chapel, Burial-ground and Cross-slab NO 726 784 NO77NW 3
This site is traditionally associated with St Palladius, who is reputed to have died at Fordoun in the 5th century, but the existing chapel of that name, restored in 1872 but now roofless and delapidated, appears to date mainly from the later Middle Ages. It stands 20m to the S of the present parish church of 1830, which itself replaced two successive earlier churches on or near the same site.
It is described by Jervise (1875) as a plain, one-storey building about 38 by 18ft and 8ft high. The E gable, probably of late 15th century date, appears to be the oldest part; the aumbry at the N door is probably the next oldest part, dating from the first half of the 17th century. There is a recess at the E end of the chapel, where according to tradition a shrine containing the bones of St Palladius was placed. It is more probable that this is a recess tomb. A grave-slab, probably of 15th century date, was found used as a lintel in the N doorway in 1872 (Jervise 1875).
RCAHMS 1982; A Jervise 1875.
RCAHMS 1982, visited February 1982
(Stuart 1822, 318-20; NSA, xi, Kincardine, 66-7; Jervise 1874; MacGibbon and Ross 1896-7, iii, 468-9; Rhys 1898, 347-8; Allen and Anderson 1903, iii, 201-3; Macfarlane 1906-8, i, 267; Cowan 1967, 68)
