Field Visit
Date February 1982
Event ID 1138635
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1138635
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)
