Fortrose Cathedral

 










(Note: Blog moving to new site: http://northscotland.blogspot.co.uk/) Fortrose Cathedral is a Medieval building which was founded in the 13th Century, possibly on the site of a n older monastic community. It was the seat (cathedra) of the Bishop of Ross until the Scottish Reformation in 1689. This photograph does not actually show the cathedral as such: this is only the chapterhouse: a small remnant of a once vast building. The building was not so much devastated by Protestant zeal as it decayed due to indifference. This indifference began during the reign of the Catholic Stuart monarchy. The building is made from Old Red Sandstone, which owes its distinctive colour to iron oxide. This rock once formed the floor of a giant arid plain. The Cathedral is surrounded by Yew Trees (taxus) which have long been associated with death and the underworld in Gaelic myth.

St Columba's Church

The building in the centre of this photograph is St Columba’s Free High Church. Not a ‘High Church’ in the sense of being ‘Catholic’ but named after the mound it’s built on. This building was constructed between 1851 and 1852 to designs by James Mathews (1819-1898) and Thomas Mackenzie (1814-54). Both of these men had their roots in the North East and studied with Archibald Simpson. MacKenzie designed a lot of buildings between Moray and Perthshire, but designed a few in Ross-Shire and Inverness as well. Perhaps due to his longer life-span, Mathews designed a considerably amount of buildings in Inverness-shire, Ross-shire and even further afield. John Rhind later modified their plans and St Columba’s was damaged in a fire and restored between 1948 and 1951 by Leslie Graham Thomson (later known as Leslie Graham McDougall). St Columba’s is interesting and unusual for a Highland Calvinist building for its inclusion of gargoyles. These add some variation to the line of Protestant churches on Inverness river bank. Seeing their vicious yet harmless sandstone faces amidst the pretty yet deadly petals of the foxglove (digitalis) that grows on the masonry is an ironically beautiful sight.

Dingwall Free Church

Greetings and thanks to my two followers sticking with this site during a fallow period. Anyway, this is a photograph of Dingwall Free Church, which was designed by John Rhind (1836-89) and built between 1867 and 1870. It is an attractive, if austere, building. The material is undoubtedly the Old Red Sandstone of Easter-Ross. Architecturally, its octagonal dome and pilarets make it stand out in Highland architecture. Dingwall played a large part in the Easter Ross Evangelical revival of the 18th century and subsequently had a healthy Free Church congregation. Rhind was born in Banffshire in 1836 and his father was the Inverness-based architect George. In common with Alexander Ross, he designed many gothic buildings. Rhind was elected to the town council in 1880 and worked strenuously until his death in 1889.