The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Brechin (medieval)
Cathedral, former
A round tower is the earliest structure surviving from Brechin cathedral. It was originally detached, but was integrated into the church in 1807 when a doorway on the N side of it was inserted. This doorway was subsequently blocked about 40 years later. Nothing of the 12th-c church remains within the church structure itself, the earliest work dating from the 13th-c rebuilding. However, during the building work undertaken at the beginning of the 20thc, a number of carved Romanesque stones were found re-used in the foundations. These were photographed in place and a few have been preserved inside the church.
There is also inside the church the upper part of a medieval baptismal font, almost certainly carved in the 12thc. Some damage and evidence of weathering suggest it was outside for a period of time before being taken back into the church. The present shaft and base date from 1902.
Work was undertaken on the nave in 1806-7, which caused large changes to it, including the destruction of the transepts, while the choir was left in ruins. Then, in 1900-2 the choir was rebuilt, using as much of the surviving medieval stonework as possible, and restoration work was carried out on the other parts in an effort to make the church look more medieval.