Brechin Cathedral

Brechin Cathedral
The Cathedral and Round Tower
Location	Brechin
Denomination	Church of Scotland
Churchmanship	Reformed
Website	http://www.brechincathedral.org
Administration
Presbytery	Presbytery of Angus
Clergy
Minister(s)	Rev Roderick Grahame
Laity
Organist(s)	Ian Robertson

Brechin Cathedral dates from the 13th century. As a congregation of the Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian, the church is not technically a cathedral, in spite of its name.

It is in the Pointed style, but suffered maltreatment in 1806 at the hands of restorers, whose work was subsequently removed during the restoration completed in 1902. The western gable with its flamboyant window, Gothic door and massive square tower, parts of the (much truncated) choir, and the nave pillars and clerestory are all that is left of the original edifice. The modern stained glass in the chancel is reckoned amongst the finest in Scotland.

Round Tower

Immediately adjoining the cathedral to the southwest stands the Round Tower, built about 1000 A.D. It is 86 ft.(26.21 m) high, has at the base a circumference of 50 ft.(15.3 m) and a diameter of 16 ft.(4.9 m), and is capped with a hexagonal spire of 18 ft.(5.5 m), added in the 14th century. This type of structure is somewhat common in Ireland, but the only Scottish examples are those at Brechin and Abernethy in Perthshire.

The quality of the masonry is superior to all but a very few of the Irish examples. The narrow single doorway, raised some feet above ground level in a manner common in these buildings, is also exceptionally fine. The door-surround is enriched with two bands of pellets, and the monolithic arch has a well-preserved representation of the Crucifixion. The slightly splayed sides of the doorway (also monolithic) have relief sculptures of ecclesiastics, one of them holding a crosier, the other a Tau-shaped staff.

Two monuments preserved within the cathedral, the so-called 'Brechin hogback', and a cross-slab, 'St. Mary's Stone' are further rare and important examples of Scottish 11th century stone sculpture. The hogback combines Celtic and Scandinavian motifs, and is the most complex known stone sculpture in the Ringerike style in Scotland. The inscribed St Mary's Stone has a circular border round the central motif of the Virgin and Child which echoes that on the Round Tower.

Gallery

• Brechin Cathedral 20090616 The crucifixion (1902, Henry Holiday).jpg

  Stained glass: The crucifixion (1902, Henry Holiday)

• Stained Glass Window, Brechin Cathedral - geograph.org.uk - 828307.jpg

  Stained glass window

• Pieter van der Aa Brechin 1727.jpg

  Historical view in 1727

• Brechin Cathedral - geograph.org.uk - 828296.jpg

  Interior

• Brechin Cathedral 20090616 hogback.jpg

  The Brechin Hogback

• Doorway, Brechin Cathedral - geograph.org.uk - 828210.jpg

  Doorway

• Brechin Cathedral with Round Tower Behind - geograph.org.uk - 111247.jpg

  Exterior

• Jacobite broadside - Brechin Cathedral.jpg

  Historic view

See also

• Bishop of Brechin
• Brechin

References

• Brechin Cathedral and Round Tower, Lumina Technologies, July, 2005

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 

External links

• Brechin Cathedral
• Brechin Cathedral Round Tower
• Brechin Round Tower
• Brechin Cathedral WebSite