The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Dunkeld (medieval)
Augustinian house, former
The extensive ruins of the abbey on the island of Inchcolm, in the Firth of Forth, preserves only a few carved features of the Romanesque church and priory, in particular parts of the nave exterior and the W doorway. The 12th-century church was built with a simple, aisleless nave and rectangular east end. There were no transepts. This was extended to the E, in the later 12th century, with a new rectangular chancel, the original chancel then built into a tower. During the 13th century, a new cloister was built, with a new doorway into the church from the E walk. The W end of the church had a later-medieval porch built onto it, apparently at the same time that the nave and tower were re-configured in the 14th century to form a new upper level, possibly as housing for the Abbot. Alongside this there appears to have been a reconstruction and re-organisation of the cloister buildings. A small building W of the abbey church has often been thought to have been built before the priory was founded. The proposals have suggested that the main part of the cell was constructed in the 11th century, with changes made in later centuries. Suggestions for dates for the building vary, with some as late as the 16th century. There are no carved decorations within the structure or any other features which would allow for a definitive construction date to be given. A few surviving pre-Romanesque carved stones are displayed in the on-site museum. The abbey was an important religious site within the diocese of Dunkeld. A few churches on the mainland were gifted to the canons of Inchcolm and these were also part of the diocese of Dunkeld.
Parish church
Built into the eastern end of the exterior S nave wall is an arch decorated with sawtooth. No early record of where this comes from has been found, but MacGibbon and Ross (1897) state that it formed part of the S doorway of the nave, which was later blocked up when a new doorway just E of it was built. The exterior base of the eastern wall, which comes from the medieval church, survives, but other parts of the church have been changed at various times, particularly during the later-18th century.The present parish church of Forgandenny appears first to have been built as a plain rectangle in plan. Later, a south extension was added and a north extension (taken down but known through excavations). Still later, a porch was built onto the west end. A major restoration took place in 1902-3. A more modern, heraldic memorial plaque has been inserted into the S exterior of the church, just below the medieval sawtooth arch. This refers to the Oliphant of Condie family.
Parish church
The south doorway is the only major carved work of the Romanesque building still in its 12thc. position, but several loose Romanesque carved stones also remain, these kept in the E end of the church and in the on-site museum. What appears to have originally been a two-cell church was rebuilt in 1579 and has extensive later additions on the N and S sides. In 1851, the Rev’d John Sime drew a plan of the church as it existed at that time. In 1893, the church was extended at the W end and a new aisle was built along the N side of the nave, at which time the so-called ‘Duddingston Aisle’ on the N side of the nave was taken down.
Parish church
Just south of the present church is a small building orientated north-south, the north entrance of which is built using several reused medieval stones. This doorway, which is segmental headed, has two orders and a label. Decorative features include two broadleaf capitals, dogtooth and filleted-roll voussoirs. The parish church at Clunie, in the district of Stormont, was rebuilt in 1840, replacing a church reportedly built “about the time of the Reformation” which had, itself, been repaired in 1788. This earlier church was said to have “neither comeliness nor proportion” (McRitchie, 1793 Statistical Account). It is unknown for certain the original location of the medieval, re-used stones, but it is assumed that they were part of a previous church on the site, although the possibility of their coming from the former castle cannot be discounted.
Cathedral, former
A medieval coped grave stone at Dunkeld is kept in the ground-floor space of the W tower of the former cathedral church. On one side of the stone a tesselated pattern has been cut in, while carved on the other side is a stepped, Calvary base and a section of shaft for a cross (the top of the cross no longer exists). The stone seems to have been moved from the graveyard into the tower (Simpson, p. 20), but nothing appears to be known about it prior to its removal. Within the actual building fabric of the church, nothing earlier than the 13th century survives. After the Reformation, the church was allowed to fall into ruin, except for the chancel which was used as the parish church. In 1689 most of the town was destroyed and burned. At the same time, Bishops of the cathedral were abolished. Repairs were made to the eastern end of the church in 1691 and again in 1792. In 1814-15, the former cathedral church received extensive restoration work. More restoration work was carried out in 1908.