Rothes

NJ24NE 5 2761 4849.

(NJ 2761 4849) Chapel (NR) (Site of)

OS 6"map, (1959)

'Connected with the Castle of Rothes was a chapel or religious house, whose site is a short distance from the castle on the south side, and is marked out by the remains of a burying ground, which are still seen though no longer used. The farm where this house was situated is known by the name of Chapel Hill'

NSA (written by Rev A McWatt - 1842) 1845.

The parish of Rothes was under the peculiar protection of St. Lawrence. Its church was a parsonage and Nicholas, one of its parsons, is mentioned as a charter witness in 1244.

It stood on the Chapel Hill to the south of the castle but all traces of it and its old burying-ground have long since disappeared.

It is alleged that the tombstone of Mr James Leslie, parson of Rothes in 1576, built into one of the enlcosed tombs in the later churchyard (NJ24NE 9) had been removed from the old church.

H B Mackintosh 1924.

There is considerable doubt regarding the site of this early chapel, which is on a steep wet slope, an impossible position for a building, although there may have been some landslip. The name Chapel Hill occurs at NJ 276 481, and applies to a featureless field. It is more likely that the chapel stood within the present graveyard at NJ 2742 4928 (See NJ24NE 9), because of the presence of the heavy 1576 tombstone and the proximity of St. Laurence's Well (See NJ24NE 10) and the castle.

Visited by OS (N K B) 27 January 1969.