Tullibody Old Kirk & Maiden’s Grave Stone – Tullibody, Clackmannanshire

The roofless ruin of this Old Kirk in Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, is now a scheduled monument. It was founded in 1149, however, various sources note there were earlier churches on this site and it’s thought that there was a Kirk here from the end of the fourth century. This existing structure has been rebuilt a couple of times, first in the 16th century then again in 1760.

French troops removed the roof of the Kirk to build a bridge over the River Devon after Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange destroyed the Tullibody Bridge to prevent them from retreating to Stirling at the end of 1560. Sir William was a Scottish Politician and Soldier who initially fought for the Scottish Reformation. He eventually vowed his allegiance to Mary Queen of Scots, became her champion during times of need and held Edinburgh Castle on her behalf from 1568 to 1573. Following the abdication of the Queen, the Marian Civil War ensued and Edinburgh Castle was eventually surrendered by the ‘Queens Men’ on May 28th 1573 when Kirkcaldy was taken prisoner and held at Holyroodhouse. Great efforts were made to save him from reprisal of his enemies, but they were all in vain. John Knox had prophesied that he would be hanged and so Sir William was taken and hanged at the Cross in Edinburgh on 3rd August 1573.

As it had become dilapidated, the Old Kirk was again renovated in 1760 with the bellcote being added in 1772, then latterly, the western windows and a south porch in the 1800’s. In 1904, St Serf’s Parish Church was built to the north of the Old Kirk which sadly thereafter, became disused.

There are many interesting grave stones and slabs to look at and ponder within the grounds of Tullibody Old Kirk but none more so than the ‘Maiden’s Stone’ and the story of forbidden love and tragedy woven around it.

The ‘Stone’ is an ancient sarcophagus, topped with what remains of a coping stone lid. It’s said that this is was the coffin of Martha Wishart, the maid of Myretoun. In 1450, Martha, a beautiful maiden and only daughter of wealthy landowner, the Laird of Myretoun, fell prey to the young and very handsome local priest, Peter Beaton. He seduced her while she fell in love with him. On hearing the news she was pregnant, Beaton abandoned her to her shame. The unscrupulous and ambitious priest had toyed with her heart for access to her family connections. His sights were on rising through the ranks of the community and the church. Martha kept her pregnancy secret from those outside the family, languishing and dying of a broken heart before her child was born. On her deathbed, she requested her parents place her grave by the door of the Kirk so each time the priest entered he would be required to walk past her. Beaton blocked up the Kirk’s north door following Martha’s internment, establishing a new entryway through a south door in order to avoid passing her grave. Soon, the locals knew the truth and Beaton was shunned by the community he’d contrived to become such a lofty member off. The Abbot of Cambuskenneth heard of Beaton’s transgressions and it’s said that the news of his errant behaviour reached as far as the Vatican. One day however, Beaton simply disappeared, a story circulating that he had wandered off, a madman. Or, had he instead met vengeance in the form of a grieving Father?

19th Aug 2025 0

The Eleanor Cross – Kenmore, Perthshire

I’d parked overnight in a layby at the east end of Loch Tay at Kenmore and took a swim in the morning sunshine alongside several other morning dippers. Slipping into the cool, clear water of the still loch was a refreshing way to wash away the remnants of sleep. Meanwhile, Millie danced around at the waters’ edge desperate for me to come out. She’s a paddler not a swimmer.

I’d brought my Children camping to Kenmore over the years so it evoked happy memories to be visiting again. There are lovely walks around this area and so Millie and I set off on a jaunt through the woods to take in the Eleanor Cross and onward towards Aberfeldy. The pathway starts by the bridge at the mouth of the Loch and meanders along the north side of the river for a while then heads up the hill through the woods. The Cross was commissioned in 1831 by Lord Breadalbane in tribute to his beloved wife Mary. At that time it would have had a view of the hills and down along the valley with beautiful vistas of the River & Loch Tay. In all these many years however the woodland has grown up high into beautiful mature trees with birdsong echoing through them.

Eleanor Cross is built on the site of an old summer house known as Maxwell’s House. It stands 30 feet tall with a 9 step octagonal base encircling it, a cruciform mid section and a square pinnacle top surmounted with a cross. Delightfully, a door on its south side opens to a spiral stairway. This leads to a small open-air arched gallery surrounding the structure. Climbing up the steps, it feels like a childhood adventure to reach the platform and look through the trees at height. Sadly the interior has been sprayed with graffiti: evidence of bored minds and idle hands.

A brass plaque acclaims – This Building is Dedicated to my Faithful Friend and Fellow-Labourer, MARY, COUNTESS OF BREADALBANE, whose maternal care has been extended to all around this place. anno domini, 1831.

I’ve been as yet unable to ascertain why this particular monument was named ‘Eleanor Cross’ so for the moment will surmise that the reason was purely a romantic gesture in keeping with Breadalbane’s status and the era. (The Victorians were fond of building ornamental ‘follies’ and they can be found throughout Scotland in beautiful rural settings.) NB: King Edward I of England had twelve Eleanor Crosses erected as markers built along the funeral route taken by his wife Queen Eleanor of Castile. They marked the nightly resting places of her coffin procession from Lincoln to Westminster Abbey in 1290.

12th Jul 2025 0

Ravenscraig Castle, Dysart – Fife

Now ruinous, Ravenscraig Castle belonged to one of the most powerful women in Scottish history, Queen Mary of Guelders, wife of James II. Mary was descended from one of Europe’s most prominent families and had been raised at the court of her great-uncle, The Duke of Burgundy. She arrived in Scotland in June 1449, first visiting the Isle of May to pray at the shrine of St Adrian before making her way to Leith and staying at the Convent of St Anthony. On her wedding day, on 3 July 1449, crowds of commoners and nobles lined the streets of Edinburgh to watch her make her way to Holyrood Abbey for her marriage to King James II of Scotland. She was 14 and he was 18.

In 1460 King James gave his wife the land here at Dysart to build a castle but he was killed just a few months later. James had witness the introduction of gunpowder and was fascinated with artillery so the Duke Of Burgundy gifted him Mons Meg (this still sits on the parapet of Edinburgh Castle to this day). Mons Meg is a massive, iron cannon which took a team of oxen to move, constantly became stuck because of its enormous weight and could travel no farther than 5km a day. As Roxburgh Castle had long been held by the English, King James ordered some special new cannons from Flanders to ensure success in his bid to retrieve Roxburgh. During the siege, he stood proudly beside one of his new cannons, The Lion, and ordered it to be fired. One of the cannons iron rings had worked loose during transportation and it exploded, sending a piece of iron slicing through the King’s thigh, cutting it in half. He bled out quickly and was dead within minutes. King James was 29 years old. Roxburgh castle fell to James’ forces a few days later.

The death of King James left Mary to rule over the Kingdom as regent, on behalf of their young son James III. She was only in her mid-twenties when she took over governance of Scotland and ordered the construction of Ravenscraig Castle. Ravenscraig was built as a fortress to guard the Firth of Forth and the first in Scotland erected to withstand return artillery fire. The Castle consists of two D-plan towers with 3.5m thick walls, linked by a two-storey block with a broad parapet and gun loops for safely firing upon attackers. The courtyard is cut off from the surrounding area by a very deep ditch and could be reached only by drawbridge. Building this Castle was a huge undertaking and the Queen employed master of works, David Boys, to lead a team that included master carpenter, Andrew Lesouris, and master mason Henry Merlzioun. Between 1461 & 1462 more than £600 had been spent. The construction, however, was interrupted when Mary died at Ravenscraig, just three years after her husband in 1463.

King James III wasn’t interested in Ravenscraig so made William Sinclair, who at the time was 1st Earl of Caithness and Norse Earl of Orkney, exchange his fiefdom of Kirkwall Castle on Orkney for Ravenscraig Castle in Dysart in 1470. At that time, only three storeys of the east tower and the foundations of the adjacent hall were complete. Sinclair continued the building, altering the original design and had a gun platform constructed where Queen Mary’s great hall had been planned. It was to be a self contained residence with a bedroom on the top floor, the great hall below, then public areas, a bakery and other outbuildings filled the promontory. The gun platform was located between the two towers with cellars underneath. Ravenscraig Castle is known to have protected Merchant Ships from pirates who were based on the Isle of May in the outer part of the Forth Estuary.

Built eastward along the shore from Ravenscraig, high walls protected against would-be invaders. A watchtower is built into the wall from which guards would have seen vessels coming & going from all directions. A gateway through the wall would have allowed for the delivery of goods, although this originally had a secure iron gate. A beehive dovecot from the 16th century also remains. The pigeons housed within would have been an important source of meat and eggs during tough winter months. The land around the castle is now parkland, ‘Ravenscraig Park’, once known as ‘Three Trees Park’. Legend tells that three brothers of the Sinclair family mistook each other as robbers one dark night and shot each other dead. Trees were planted over their graves.

Ravenscraig Castle remained in the Sinclair family until 1898 when it was sold to local linoleum manufacturer, Sir Michael Nairn, then finally taken into State care in 1955 due to its decayed and dangerous condition. Some parts of the Castle are still accessible to visitors but, disappointingly, the stairway to the remaining upper level is now locked behind an iron gate. Millie & I scrambled around trying to take photos but they don’t do justice to the size and might of this once proud Castle, built here in this prominent position overlooking the Firth of Forth.

NB: Notably, William Sinclair also had Rosslyn Chapel built.

20th Mar 2025 1

Holy Well, Scotlandwell – Fife

The natural spring water that bubbles up from deep underground and through the sand in the cistern of this well has a history mingled with folklore. It has been renowned for its curative properties for centuries and was first named ‘Fons Scotiae’ (Well of Scotland) by the Romans who passed through this area in 1^st century AD.

The widespread assertion that the water had healing powers meant that Scotlandwell became a significant place of pilgrimage throughout the Medieval period.

Around 1250, the Trinitarian Friars (aka Red Friars) moved here to establish a hospice, using the healing waters from the holy well for patients in their new hospital of St Mary. It’s said that in the early 14^th century, King Robert the Bruce came here in the hope of a cure for his leprosy and records show that Charles II travelled from his Palace in Dunfermline to take the ‘curative’. Mary Queen of Scots is also known to have visited the well to partake of its exquisite water.

The lovely, ornamental structure which now houses this ancient well is built from local sandstone, put in place and completed in 1858 by mason, Thomas Hay, and the wooden canopy constructed by joiner, Alexander Kelloch of Lindores. The reconstruction of the well, building of an adjacent wash house and drying green was benefacted to the local community by landowner, Thomas Bruce of Arnot and his wife Henrietta Dorin, at a cost of £154. Quite a tidy sum at the time.

I stop by here often to sit in the peacefulness of this place, drink the water and listen to the cascading of the water as it streams out of the well spout….if it’s not drowned out by the squawking of hundreds of crows that live in nearby sycamore trees.

1st Mar 2025 0

Earl’s Palace, Birsay – Orkney

The Palace was built in the 1570’s – 1580’s for the notorious Earl Robert Steward, half brother of Mary Queen of Scots. Mary had 13 siblings and Robert was an illegitimate son of King James V and noblewoman Euphimia Elphinstone. After Mary’s forced abdication, Robert remained in the good graces of her son, the young James VI so that in 1581, he was elevated to Earl (Sheriff) of Orkney. Robert considered himself absolute ruler of Orkney and Shetland and this Renaissance style palace was a bold statement of his wealth and power. An inscription in Latin above the palace’s main entrance read – ‘Lord Robert Stewart, son of King James V, King of Scots, commissioned this building’. While Robert clung to his Royal connection, his coat of arms required the Scottish Royal Arms to bear a ribbon through the middle, a symbol of his illegitimacy, while the 2nd and 3rd quarters show the arms of the Earldom of Orkney.

Despite being a luxurious home, defence was still a major consideration. The palace was built around three sides of a courtyard with projecting towers at 3 of its 4 corners and a wall enclosing the north side. There were entrances to the south and west. To mitigate any security risk, only the upper floors had large windows while the ground floors had small openings and an array of gun loops from which artillerymen could cover every side of the building. Despite the many gun holes, the palace was still a place of grandeur and elegance. A single long gallery with views out to sea ran along the west wing and the building had fine panelling and painted ceilings in all the rooms that were needed to keep the Earl living in style. There were kitchens, a ‘girnel’ (granary), brewhouse and ample cellars for supplies. The palace was also equipped for sport and exercise, having archery butts, and a bowling green.

Earl Robert died in 1593 and his son Patrick succeeded him to also become Earl. Patrick was known as ‘Black Patie’ with a reputation for violence and a taste for luxury he couldn’t afford. In 1609 Patrick was imprisoned for ‘monyfauld wrongis’, including theft of lands and funds, oppression of local people, kidnapping, torture and murder. While incarcerated in Dumbarton, Patrick orchestrated a rising in Orkney however it failed and he was summarily beheaded for treason. By the time the Palace was taken over for use by Cromwell’s troops in 1653, most traces of Earl Robert’s extravagant lifestyle were gone and the kitchen contained ‘nothing, but mukk and filth!’ Thereafter the palace was used occasionally by later earls of Orkney but by 1700 it had fallen into decay.

It was such a beautiful, sunny day when we visited and although now in ruin, the palace still exudes an air of its previous magnificence. Definitely worth taking the time stop by.

16th Feb 2025 0