Balquhidder, Old Parish Church

NN52SW 1.00 53572 20919

NN52SW 1.01 53570 20912 Churchyard

NN52SW 1.02 53777 20926 Manse

NN52SW 25 53568 20951 Balquhidder Parish Church (new)

(NN 5357 2094) Church (NAT) (NN 5357 2092) Church (NR) (In Ruins)

OS 6" map, Perthshire, 2nd ed., (1901)

The present parish church is the third structure on the site. The first, now gone, is associated with an incident when the head of Drummond-Earnoch was exhibited on the altar. The second, built in 1631 (Hay 1957) is now a ruin; a stone in the floor is said to cover the grave of St Angus. Outside the ruin are the graves of Rob Roy and his family, a considerable tourist attraction.

G A F Knight 1914; G Hay 1957.

The stone on the grave of Rob Roy (died 28 December 1734) has a rudely chiselled sword cut on it suggesting that it is an earlier stone re-used.

A H Miller 1884.

The remains of the '1631' church are to the S of the present church. The building measures 21.8m by 7.6m externally and is of rubble masonry. The E wall and gable survive intact but the other walls are fragmentary.

The earliest church dated perhaps to the 13th century and was built over partly by the 17th century church (Information from church leaflet). Walls of the earliest church are said to be visible outside the E end of the latter but although a few stones can be seen protruding through the turf, they could not positively be identified as foundations.

The stone of St Angus, which originally lay beside the altar of the ancient parish church, was moved into the present church in 1917 (information from inscription on St Angus' stone). It is an incised slab of unknown date.

Visited by OS (W D J) 29 November 1968.

Rob Roy's grave, as described, is at NN 5359 2091.

No change to previous field report.

Visited by OS (B S) 20 March 1979.

A number of sculptured stones of medieval or Dark Ages date are recorded in the churchyard:

(a) in railings 6m E of church;'Rob Roy's Grave'; slab with figure,sword,animals,interlace?,16th-17th century [St3;Dr2; TSES:Greenhill rubbing in NMRS].

(b) next to (a) on S; slab bearing sword with crosslet hilt [St6; Dr1].

(c) 1m S of (b);slab with equal armed cross in relief.

(d) 1.5m E of E door of church ; very worn slab, 1.69m by 0.52m, with traces of outline ?equal-armed cross.

(e) 3m S of SE angle of church; slab, 1.84m by 0.58m, with relief Latin cross and shears[Dr3].

(f) 7m S / 2m W; slab, more than 1.7m long (ends buried) by 0.42m, sword with pear-shaped pommel and inclined quillons, within 50mm margin [St5; Dr4].

(g) 11m S/ 7m W;slab, 1.59 by 0.41m, with sunken Latin cross having wedge-shaped arms and spike at foot of shaft [photos by N Robertson in NMRS].

[The slab next to (g) on N has a deep channel along one edge].

(h) 6m S / 10m W; irregular worn slab, 1.42 by 0.57m, with small sword at top right, incised cross (0.21 by 0.25m)and two circles in lower half.

(j) 4m S / 14m W; very worn slab, 1.81m by 0.63m,bearing Latin cross in low relief, at least 0.54m high by 0.35m span; top arm about 100mm thick and high, side-arms 80mm high [St8].

(k) 9m / 18m W; slab, 1.76 by 0.56m, with incised Latin cross-crosslet having expanded foot and spike; lower 0.6m cut back to lower level [St4 Dr5].

(l) sill of old church, S window (10m from SE angle); incised crosslet.

(m) fixed to N wall of parish church (formerly near altar of old church), 'St Angus's Stone';tapered slab, 1.18m by 0.65m, with incised figure of cleric holding chalice, ?galley incised on lower on part of figure (formerly interpreted as part of vestments),both feet turned to left [St2;, TSES; Greenhill rubbing and K A Steer comment on possible galley,in NMRS].

Information from I Fisher, 2 December 1996.

NN 5358 2091 As part of the Scheduled Monument Consent for the levelling-up of several recumbent gravestones in the immediate vicinity of Rob Roy's grave and associated footpath works, a watching brief was undertaken. Human remains were identified immediately below one of the gravestones but were not disturbed by the work which was undertaken to investigate the sources of the geophysical anomalies. The work was carried out during July and September 1999, by students from the Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow.

The report will be submitted to the NMRS.

Sponsors: Historic Scotland, University of Glasgow - Dept of Archaeology.

L Main 1999

NMRS REFERENCE:

ARCHITECT: David Bryce 1855.

NMRS Print Room

W Schomberg Scott Photograph Collection, View of the gable end with bellcote, Acc No 1997/39