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“Weep, thou father of Morar!
Weep; but thy son heareth thee not. Deep is the sleep of the dead; low their
pillow of dust. No more shall he hear thy voice, no more awake at thy call.
When shall it be morn in the grave, to bid the slumberer awake? Farewell,
thou bravest of men.” — Ossian’s Lament at the Tombs of Heroes.
TO voices of heroes long
vanished,
Ye live, overcoming the tomb,
While lingers the music of Ossian
Rund hills where the heather doth bloom.”
—Nicolson.
IN giving a few gleanings and
traditions gathered from various sources regarding the old church and
churchyard of Kingussie, it may not be out of place, by way of introduction,
to give a glimpse or two of the great missionary saint and Highland apostle,
by whom, according to popular tradition, the church was planted, and to whom
it was dedicated.
In the very interesting Life of St Columba by the elder Dr Norman
Macleod—the large-hearted, Highlander-loving minister for so many years of
St Columba’s Gaelic Church in Glasgow—it is related that Columba, with
twelve of his favourite disciples, left Ireland 563 a.d. in a little curach
built of wicker-work covered with hide, arriving on Whitsun Eve in that year
at the “ lonely, beautiful, and soft-aired Iona,” which subsequently
remained his home down to the date of his death in 597 a.d. The
Highlands—indeed the whole country north of the Forth and Clyde —were at
that time, we are told, like a vast wilderness, without way or road through
the thick dark woods-—the hills extensive and full of wild beasts. But in
spite of all this Columba persevered. During four-and-thirty years he never
rested nor wearied in the work of founding churches and spreading the Gospel
of Christ. In his day he established three hundred churches, besides
founding one hundred monasteries ; and as he penetrated in the course of his
mission so far north as Inverness, the probability undoubtedly is that the
old church of Kingussie was one of the number thus planted by him.
No traces remain of the buildings which he thus raised, but some particulars
of their general character have come down to us. “ There was an earthen
rampart which enclosed all the settlement. There was a mill-stream, a kiln,
a barn, a refectory. The church, with its sacristy, was of oak. The cells of
the brethren were surrounded by walls of clay held together by wattles.
Columba had his special cell in which he wrote and read; two brethren
stationed at the door waited his orders. He slept on the bare ground, with a
stone for his pillow. The members of the community were bound by solemn
vows. . . . Their dress was a white tunic, over which was worn a rough
mantle and hood of wool left its natural colour. They were shod with
sandals, which they took off at meals. Their food was simple, consisting
commonly of barley-bread, milk, fish, and eggs.” According to the evidence
of Adamnan, his successor and biographer, the foundation of Columba’s
preaching, and his great instrument in the conversion of the rude Highland
people of that early time, was the Word of God. “No fact,” says Dr MacGregor
of St Cuthbert’s, “could be more significant or prophetic. It was the pure
unadulterated religion of Jesus that was first offered to our forefathers,
and broke in upon the gloom of our ancient forests. The first strong
foundations of the Scottish Church were laid broad and deep, where they rest
to-day, on the solid rock of Scripture. It was with the Book that Columba
fought and won the battle with Paganism, Knox the battle with Popery,
Melville the first battle of Presbytery with Episcopacy —the three great
struggles which shaped the form and determined the fortunes of the Scottish
Church.”
The picture of the closing scene in the life of St Columba on 9th June 597
a.d., as given by Dr Boyd of St Andrews—the well-known “A. K. H. B.”—in his
eloquent lecture on “Early Christian Scotland,” is so beautiful and touching
that I cannot refrain from quoting it:—
“On Sunday, June 2, he was celebrating the Communion as usual, when the face
of the venerable man, as his eyes were raised to heaven, suddenly appeared
suffused with a ruddy glow. He had seen an angel hovering above the church,
and blessing it: an angel sent to bear away his soul. Columba knew that the
next Saturday was to be his last. The day came, and along with his
attendant, Diormit, he went to bless the barn. He blest it, and two heaps of
winnowed corn in it; saying thankfully that he rejoiced for his beloved
monks, for that, if he were obliged to depart from them, they would have
provision enough for the year. His attendant said, ‘ This year, at this
time, father, thou often vexest us, by so frequently making mention of thy
leaving us.’ For, like humbler folk drawing near to the great change, St
Columba could not but allude to it, more or less directly. Then, having
bound his attendant not to reveal to any before he should die what he now
said, he went on to speak more freely of his departure. ‘ This day,’ he
said, ‘ in the Holy Scriptures is called the Sabbath, which means Rest. And
this day is indeed a Sabbath to me, for it is the last day of my present
laborious life, and on it I rest after the fatigues of my labours; and this
night at midnight, which commenceth the solemn Lord’s Day, I shall go the
way of our fathers. For already my Lord Jesus Christ deigneth to invite me;
and to Him in the middle of this night I shall depart at His invitation. For
so it hath been revealed to me by the Lord Himself.’
“Diormit wept bitterly; and they two returned towards the monastery. Halfway
the aged saint sat down to rest at a spot afterwards marked with a cross;
and while here, a white pack-horse, that used to carry the milk-vessels from
the cowshed to the monastery, came to the saint, and laying its head on his
breast, began to shed human tears of distress. The good man, we are told,
blest his humble fellow-creature, and bade it farewell. Then ascending the
hill hard by he looked upon the monastery, and holding up both his hands,
breathed his last benediction upon the place he had ruled so well;
prophesying that Iona should be held in honour far and near. He went down to
his little hut, and pushed on at his task of transcribing the Psalter. The
last lines he wrote are very familiar in those of our churches where God’s
praise has its proper place; they contain the words of the beautiful anthem
which begins, ‘O taste and see how gracious the Lord is.’ He finished the
page; he wrote the words with which the anthem ends, ‘ They that seek the
Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good’; and laying down his pen
for the last time, he said, ‘Here at the end of the page I must stop; let
Baithene write what comes after.’
“Having written the words, he went into the church to the last service of
Saturday evening. When this was over, he returned to his chamber and lay
down on his bed. It was a bare flag, and his pillow was a stone, which was
afterwards set up beside his grave. Lying here he gave his last counsels to
his brethren, but only Diormit heard him. ‘These, O my children, are the
last words I say to you: that ye be at peace, and have unfeigned charity
among yourselves; and if, then, you follow the example of the holy fathers,
God, the Comforter of the good, will be your Helper: and I, abiding with
Him, will intercede for you, and He will not only give you sufficient to
supply the wants of this present life, but will also bestow on you the good
and eternal rewards which are laid up for those that keep His commandments.’
The hour of his departure drew near, and the saint was silent; but when the
bell rang at midnight, and the Lord’s Day began, he rose hastily and hurried
into the church faster than any could follow him. He entered alone, and
knelt before the altar. His attendant following, saw the whole church blaze
with a heavenly light; others of the brethren saw it also ; but as they
entered the light vanished, and the church was dark. When lights were
brought, the saint was lying before the altar : he was departing. The
brethren burst into lamentations. Columba could not speak; but he looked
eagerly to right and left with a countenance of wonderful joy and gladness,
seeing doubtless the shining ones that had come to bear him away. As well as
he was able he moved his right hand in blessing on his brethren, and thus
blessing them the wearied saint passed to his rest: St Columba was gone from
Iona. . . . There is but one account of his wonderful voice—wonderful for
power and sweetness. In church it did not sound louder than other voices;
but it could be heard perfectly a mile away. Diormit heard its last words j
the beautiful voice could not more worthily have ended its occupation. With
kindly thought of those he was leaving, with earnest care for them, with
simple promise to help them if he could where he was going, it was fit that
good St Columba should die.”
To quote the beautiful lines of the late Principal Shairp of St Andrews
—another warm-hearted friend, by the way, of the Highlands and Highland
people:—
“Centuries gone the saint from Erin
Hither came on Christ’s behest,
Taught and toiled, and when was ended
Life’s long labour, here found rest;
And all ages since have followed
To the ground his grave hath blessed.”
Little or no reliable information regarding the old church of Kingussie
earlier than the twelfth century has come down to us. About the middle of
that century Muriach, the historical parson of Kingussie, on the death of
his brother without issue, became head of his family, and succeeded to the
chiefship of Clan Chattan. Of Muriach and his five sons the following
account is given in ‘ Douglas’s Baronage of Scotland’:—
"Muriach or Murdoch, who being born a younger brother, was bred to the
Church, and was parson of Kingussie, then a large and honourable benefice;
but, upon the death of his elder brother without issue, he became head of
his family, and captain of the Clan Chattan.
“He thereupon obtained a dispensation from the Pope, anno 1173, and married
a daughter of the Thane of Calder, by whom he had five sons.
“1. Gillicattan, his heir.
“2. Eivan or Eugine Baan, of whom the present Duncan Macpherson, now of
Clunie, Esq., is lineally descended, as will be shown hereafter.
“3. Neill Cromb, so called from his stooping and round shoulders. He had a
rare mechanical genius, applied himself to the business of a smith, and made
and contrived several utensils of iron, of very curious workmanship ; is
said to have taken his surname from his trade, and was progenitor of all the
Smiths in Scotland.
“4. Ferquhard Gilliriach, or the Swift, of whom the Macgillivrays of Drum-naglash
in Inverness-shire, and those of Pennygoit in the Isle of Mull, &c., &c.,
are descended.
“5. David Dow, or the Black, from his swarthy complexion. Of him the old
Davidsons of Invernahaven, &c., &c., are said to be descended.
“Muriach died in the end of the reign of King William the Lion, and was
succeeded by his eldest son.”
Surnames about this time having become hereditary, Macpherson— that is, “Son
of the Parson”—became the distinguishing Clan appellation of the descendants
of Muriach’s second son, who, in consequence of the death of the eldest son
without issue, became the senior or principal branch of Muriach’s posterity.
Were the famous parson to appear again in the flesh, he would doubtless be
lost in utter amazement to find that the descendants of his third son, Neill
Cromb, had “multiplied and replenished the earth ” to such an extent that
all of the name of Smith in Scotland alone might now be reckoned almost as
the sands on the seashore in multitude.
A charter by William the Lion, of date 25th August 1203, concerning the
church of Kingussie, is in the following terms:—
“W., by the Grace of God, King of the Scots, to all good men throughout his
land greeting: Know that I have granted, and by this Charter confirmed, that
presentation which Gilbert de Kathern made to Bricius, Bishop of Moray, of
the Church of Kynguscy, with the Chapel of Benchory and all the other rights
appertaining thereto, to be held as liberally, peacefully, in munificence
and honour, as the Charter of the aforesaid Bricius testifies.”
A concession of Bishop Andrew de Moravia (who succeeded Bishop Bricius)
anent the prebends of Kingusy and Inche, dated in 1226, is in these terms :—
“In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen : I, Andrew, Bishop
of Moray, with the consent of the Chapter of Moray, in order to amplify
divine worship in our Cathedral Church—to wit, the Church of the Holy
Trinity at Elgin —appoint two prebends, and these I assign to the same
Church for ever, lawfully to be held and possessed as prebends or
canonries—one, namely, of the Churches of Kingusy and Inche with their
manses; the other of the Churches of Croyn and Lunyn with their manses. And
I will that whoever for the time being is my vicar in the Cathedral Church
should have these, and that he become the Canon of the same Church, to make
his abode in the same as my vicar,” &c.
Bishop Andrew “confirmed the gift of Bishop Bricius for eight canonries, and
to them he added the kirks of Rhynie, Dunbenan, Kynor, Inverkethny, Elethin
(now Elchies), and Buchary (now Botary), Crom-dale and Advyn, Kingusy and
Inch, Croyn and Lunyn (probably now Croy and Lundichty or Dunlichtie).”
An agreement between the same Bishop and Walter Cumyn, between the years
1224-33, runs as follows:—
“Let all who are likely to see or hear of this writing know that this is the
final peace and agreement made between Andrew, Bishop of Moray, on the one
side, and Walter Cumyn on the other—viz., that the aforesaid Bishop, with
the common consent of all his Chapter, renounced for himself and his
successors for all time, all those things which the bishops of Moray were
wont to receive or exact from the land of Badenoch yearly—viz., 4 marts, 6
pigs, 8 cogs of cheese, and 2^ chalders [of corn], and twenty shillings,
which the same Walter was bound to give to the bishops of Moray, for one
davach of land at Logykenny, and 12 pence, which the same paid for
Inverdrummyn. ... In consideration of which, the same Walter gave and
granted to the bishops of Moray for ever a davach of land in which the
Church of Logykenny is situated, and another davach at the Inch in which is
situated the Church of Inch, and 6 acres of land near the Church of Kingusy,
in which that Church is situated. Moreover, all the bishops of Moray shall
hold in pure and perpetual charity all these lands, with all privileges
justly appertaining to them—in forest and plain, in meadows and pastures, in
moors and marshes, in water-pools and grinding-mills, in wild beasts and
birds, in waters and fishes.”
By an ordination order of Bishop Andrew, between the Chapter of Moray and
the Prebendary of Kinguscy, of date 10th December 1253, it is declared that—
“To all the sons of the Holy Mother Church who may see or hear this writing,
Archibald], by divine permission Bishop of Moray, gives eternal greeting in
the Lord. Since the Chapter of the Church of Moray, on account of divers
causes and matters pertaining to the same Church, has been burdened with
debt, and for as much as, for the apparent advantage of the Church itself,
it has freely granted 10 marks annually to Master Mathew, a writer from the
City of our Lord the Pope —we, being anxious to provide for the alleviation
and security of the same, with the express wish and consent of William of
Elgin, Prebendary of Kinguscy, who has bound himself by oath to observe this
order of ours for himself and his successors, grant and ordain that the
aforesaid Chapter shall acquire and have every year at the feast of St John
the Baptist, during the whole life of the said Master Mathew, 20 marks from
the tithes of the crops of Kinguscy and the Inche, to be received through
the hands of the said William, or whoever is appointed prebendary in the
same prebend, or the agents of the same ; and also that the said William,
and prebendaries of Kinguscy succeeding the same, shall pay every year at
the above feast to the Procurator of the Chapter one mark sterling for
expenses incurred in connection with the sending of the said money to
Berwick.”
In 1380, Alexander Stewart, the notorious Wolf of Badenoch, cited the Bishop
of Moray of the time (Alexander Bur) to appear before him at the Standing
Stones of the Rathe of Easter Kingussie (“apud le standand stanys de le
Rathe de Kyngucy estir”), on the 10th October, to show his titles to the
lands held in the Wolfs lordship of Badenoch—viz., the lands of
Logachnacheny (Laggan), Ardinche (Balnespick, &c.), Kingucy, the lands of
the chapels of Rate and Nachtan, Kyncardyn, and also Gartinengally. The
bishop had protested, at a court held at Inverness, against the citation,
and urged that the said lands were held of the king direct. But the Wolf
held his court of the 10th October, and the bishop standing “extra curiam”—outside
the court, i.e., the Standing Stones— renewed his protest, but to no
purpose. But upon the next day before dinner, and in the great chamber
behind the hall in the castle of Ruthven, the Wolf annulled the proceedings
of the previous day, and gave the rolls of court to the bishop’s notary, who
certified that he put them in a large fire lighted in the said chamber,
which consumed them.2 In 1381 the Wolf formally quits claims on the
above-mentioned church-lands; but in *383 the bishop granted him the wide
domain of Rothiemurchus—
“Ratmorchus—viz., sex davatas terre quas habemus in Strathspe et le Badenach.”
“The Priory of Kingussie in Badenoch,” says Shaw, “was founded by George,
Earl of Huntly, about the year 1490. Of what Order the monks were, or what
were the revenues of the Priory, I have not learned. The Prior’s house and
the Cloysters of the Monks stood near the Church, where some remains of them
are to be seen. The few lands belonging to it were the donation of the
family of Huntley, and at the Reformation were justly reassumed by that
family.” That priory is supposed to have been built on the site of the old
church of St Columba, and the village of Kingussie is said to occupy its
precincts. In course of the improvements recently made in the churchyard a
portion of one of the gables was distinctly traced.
In the ‘Register of Moray’ the name of Gavin Lesly is mentioned as
“Prebendary of Kyngusy” in 1547, that of George Hepburne as prebendary in
1560, and that of Archibald Lyndesay as prebendary in 1567.
Mr Sinton, the esteemed minister of Dores, so well known as a collector of
the old folk-lore and songs of Badenoch, thus relates one of the most
ancient traditions which has survived in Badenoch in connection with St
Columba :—
“St Columba’s Fair, Feill Challiim-Chille, was held at midsummer, and to it
resorted great numbers of people from the surrounding parishes, and some
from distant towns who went to dispose of their wares in exchange for the
produce of the country. Once upon a time the plague or Black Death which
used to ravage Europe broke out among those who were assembled at Feill
Challum-Chille. Now this fair was held partly within the precincts
consecrated to St Callum and partly without, and so it happened that no one
who had the good fortune to be within was affected by the plague, while
among those without the sacred bounds it made terrible havoc. At the
Reformation a plank of bog-fir was fixed into St Columba’s Church from wall
to wall, and so divided the church. In the end which contained the altar the
priest was allowed to officiate, while the Protestant preacher occupied the
farther extremity.”
The example thus shown in such troublous times of the “unfeigned charity” so
touchingly inculcated by the good St Columba with his dying breath more than
a thousand years previously, reflects no little credit upon Badenoch, and it
does not appear that the cause of the Reformation suffered in that wide
district or was retarded in any way in consequence. “The sockets of the
plank,” adds Mr Sinton, “were long pointed out in the remains of the masonry
of the old church.” Unfortunately, when part of the north wall of the
churchyard was repaired nearly thirty years ago, these remains appear to
have been incorporated with the wall and almost entirely obliterated.
Here are some further reminiscences received from the late Mr MacRae, the
Procurator-fiscal at Kirkwall, a worthy and much-respected native of
Badenoch :—
“One of my earliest—indeed I may say my earliest recollection,” says Mr
MacRae, “is connected with this churchyard. I remember one hot summer
Sabbath afternoon—it must, I think, have been in the year 1845—sitting with
my father upon a tombstone in the churchyard listening, along with a crowd
of others, to a minister preaching from a tent. I cannot say who the
minister was, but I was at the time much impressed with his earnestness, and
with what, on reflection, I must now think was a most unusual command of the
Gaelic language and Gaelic idioms. In one of his most earnest and eloquent
periods he and the large congregation listening to him were startled by
seeing the head of a stag looking down over the dyke separating the
churchyard from the hill-road, which was used as a peat road, and which used
to be the short-cut by pedestrians to Inverness. The stag was tossing his
head about, evidently bellicose. The bulk of the congregation were from the
uplands of the parish—Strone, Newtonmore, Glen-banchor, &c.—and they by its
movements recognised the stag as a young stag that the worthy and
much-respected occupants of Ballachroan attempted to domesticate. They were
not in this attempt more successful than others; for the stag’s great
amusement was to watch from the uplands persons passing along the public
road, and then giving them, especially if they were females, a hot chase.
That Sabbath he had, as I subsequently learned, been in the west Kingussie
Moss amusing himself by overturning erections of peat set up to dry. Those
of the congregation who knew his dangerous propensities became very uneasy,
and in consequence the service was interrupted; but some of those present
managed to get him away, after which the service was proceeded with.
“I used to be very often in the churchyard. It had a great attraction for
all the youths in the west end of Kingussie. The ruins of the old church
engrossed our attention next to witnessing funerals. The walls of the church
were, when I first remember them, more perfect than they are at present. The
church consisted of a nave, rectangular, without a chancel. The east and
south walls were almost perfect. The west gable was away. The stones of the
north wall were partially removed, and used for repairing the north dyke of
the churchyard. There were traces of windows in the south wall, but whether
these windows were round, pointed, or square, could not be inferred from the
state of the walls.
“In the remains of the north wall there was—about 2 yards, I should say,
westward from the east gable—an aperture with a circular arch, which
interested us boys at the time very much. It was about 18 inches in length,
12 in height, and 5 in depth. We had many discussions in regard to it, some
of us contending that it was a receptacle for the Bible, others that it was
a canopy for a cross or an image; but it undoubtedly was a piscina where the
consecrated vessels—paten, chalice, &c.—used in celebrating Mass were kept
when not used during the celebration. The piscina is generally in the south
gable, and has a pipe for receiving the water used in cleaning the sacred
vessels. I will be able to show you a perfect piscina in one of the side
chapels of St Magnus Cathedral when you are next here. It was, however, not
unusual in northern or cisalpine churches, especially in those of an early
date, to have the piscina in the north gable without a pipe. You may depend
upon it that the church was of a very early date, probably of the earliest
type of Latin rural church architecture in Scotland. It may have been built
upon the site of an earlier Celtic church. You might probably ascertain this
by directing the workmen you have employed in putting the churchyard in
order to dig about 5 feet inwards from the eastern gable. If they should
find there any remains of the foundations of a cross gable, between the
north and south gables, you may safely conclude that there was a Celtic
church there, and that the Christian religion was taught in Badenoch before
the close of the tenth century.” |
