Kirkton, St Fillan's Priory
Priory (Medieval)
Site Name Kirkton, St Fillan's Priory
Classification Priory (Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) St Fillan's Church; Strathfillan Priory
Canmore ID 23842
Site Number NN32NE 1
NGR NN 35941 28426
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/23842
- Council Stirling
- Parish Killin
- Former Region Central
- Former District Stirling
- Former County Perthshire
NN32NE 1.00 35920 28410
(NN 3592 2841) St. Fillan's Chapel (NR) (Ruins of).
OS 6" map, Perthshire, 2nd ed., (1900).
NN32NE 1.01 NN 359 284 Strathfillan Priory, handbell
See also NN32NE 3.
Strathfillan - a priorty of Augustinian Canons, founded 1317/8 by Robert I. when the church or chapel of St Fillan in Glendochart was bestowed upon Inchaffray Abbey. Priors are recorded from 1498. The priory was dissolved in 1607.
An Abbot of "Glendochir (or Glendocheroch)" is mentioned temp. William the Lion (1165 - 1214) but there is no record of a monastery, Celtic or otherwise, in Glendochart during this period.
D E Easson 1957.
The traditional site of the original monastic church is in the neighbourhood of St. Fillan's Pool, further up the river. The present ruins compose parts of the original north and south walls of the church, built of hammer dressed stone and lime mortar four feet thick. The remains of a building on the end of the church may have been the prior's house and the apsidal end may suggest a round tower.
T S Robertson 1898.
The walls of the church are of mortar bound rubble and rise to a maximum height of 3.0m. The NW corner is completely destroyed and at the SE end the walls are a tumble of stone.
Outside the church to the SE, are traces of other structures now represented by stony banks. The plan of one room only can be traced. There are now remains that can be identified as the claustral buildings of the priory. There are no remains and no local knowledge of the traditional site of the monastery at St. Fillan's Pool (NN32NE 5).
Visited by OS (R D L) 5 May 1962.
No change.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (R D) 30 April 1969.
NN 3595 2839 As a condition of Scheduled Monument Consent a watching brief was undertaken on the excavation of two post-holes being dug in connection with the erection of a signboard for the West Highland Way at St Fillan's Priory. No archaeological deposits were disturbed.
Sponsor: Stirling Council.
L Main 1999.
NMRS REFERENCE
Architect: Thomas Clark, Dunkeld - builder c.1744
Field Visit (June 1977)
Strathfillan Priory NN 359 284 NN32NE 1
Fragments of the walls of the church are all that remain of the Augustinian Priory of Strathfillan. It was founded in 1317 /18 although a church was already in existence at that date. An early cross-slab bearing three incised crosses lies in the burial ground (NN 32 NE 3) immediately to the N of the church.
RCAHMS 1979, visited June 1977
(Robertson 1898; Lacaille 1924, 124-5; Cowan and Easson 1976, 98)
