Corriehoul, St Machar's Chapel And Well

Corriehoul may once have been the centre of religious activity for the wider Corgarff area, and indeed a church and graveyard still exist here today. It may also have been the site of an earlier chapel, and a nearby well, known as St Machar's Well, is thought to have been a place of pilgrimage.

Historical research, carried out in the mid-twentieth century, was unable to find any documentation regarding the chapel, and field survey did not find any physical remains, other than the well.

Text prepared by RCAHMS as part of the Accessing Scotland's Past project

NJ20NE 2 2832 0848 and 2810 0860

(NJ 2832 0848) Site of St. Machar's Chapel (NR)

(NJ 2810 0860) Tobar Machar (NR)

OS 6" map, Aberdeen, 1st ed., (1867) and 2nd ed., (1903).

Tobar Machar ... a natural spring.

OS Name Book 1867.

'Corriehoul has always been the ecclesiastical centre of the district of Corgaff (no evidence given), with the site of St. Machar's Chapel and well, and the graveyard still in use as the cemetery of Corgaff... I have met with no old documents illustrating the history of this chapel'.

W D Simpson 1949.

'near the chapel was a well still known as Tobar Machar, or St. Machar's Well. It was a place of pilgrimage. On 13th June, 1613, the Kirk of Session of Elgin decreed 'that all merchants and others leave off to gang to the Well of Strathdon callit Michell - Machar? - 'under pain of 10 merks each time' (Records of Elgin, ii, 134).

H Scott (Fasti Eccles Scot) 1915-61.

There is no trace of St. Machar's Chapel. The well, as decribed above, is still known locally as 'St. Machar's Well'.

Visited by OS (R L), 6 December 1966.

No remains of this chapel and well could be identified in this area of low-lying pasture.

Visited by RCAHMS (RJCM, JRS), 29 July 1997.