900 years of Sunday worship ends this month at Birnie Church in Moray
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Nearly 900 years of Sunday worship at Birnie Church will come to an end later this month.
The small church, four miles south of Elgin, is thought to have been in constant use for longer than any other religious building in Scotland.
However, cutbacks reluctantly being made by the Church of Scotland mean that its last ever Sunday service will take place on November 19.
It will be an emotional day for its congregation.
One of those is Ann Stonach, who lives nearby and is an historian.
A firm believer in the importance of preserving the past, Ann has researched the role played by Birnie Church in shaping Moray over the centuries.
The current church acted as the original cathedral, pre-dating Elgin Cathedral by over a century.
But Ann says the full story of the site dates back even further still.
She writes:
The Early Church
Fairly recent archaeological evidence by Dr Fraser Hunter and his team from the Scottish Natural Museum shows that Birnie was very likely to have been a power centre from the time of the Romans to around 700-800 AD.
Consequently, it is almost certain to have been an important pre-Christian settlement inhabited by pagan Pictish people.
As well as the settlement Dr Hunter’s team found a foundry and two substantial hoards of Roman coins. These were most probably bribery money, which was common at this time. The Romans had not conquered Scotland, but they needed to keep our ancestors peaceful and quiet!
Birnie was a site of high status from pagan times to the foundation of the first Christian Church, and beyond. Clearly the Celtic missionaries had no objections to the Druid Pagan site.
Christian missionary monks from Ireland, principally St Columba of Iona fame and St Ninian came to south west Scotland, the Western Isles and Orkney and Shetland. However not until 600/700AD did their Celtic Christian message reach the north east and us.
The first Christian missionaries here landed on the coast of Banff under the leadership of the far-travelled St Brendan the Navigator.
St Brendan is thought by some to have ‘discovered’ America long before Columbus. Unlikely I think! However he and his fellow monks may have reached Greenland and possibly Newfoundland.
The first church on this very site here at Birnie would have been of wattle, wooden and turf construction and little or no physical evidence of it remains. However, it is thought to have been dedicated to St Brendan who died in 577AD back home in Ireland.
Birnie’s much admired relic from the early church is the Ronnel bell which is thought to be about a thousand years old. It's said by some that it was blessed by the Pope of the day.
There are several of these iron Ronnel bells in Scotland, but only Birnie’s has remained here from its initial blessing till today, where it should be, at its one and only home. The actual bell can be seen behind glass in the chancel.
This first church remained until the 12th Century when, under Gregory’s Bishopric, a second came into being.
The Medieval Church
The building is one of ten stone churches, built about 900 years ago.
Where Birnie differs from the others is that, until last month, it's been in continuous use since around 1140, probably longer than any church building in Scotland. Unfortunately many of the ten others are now ruins.
The stonework is very high quality, both inside and outside. Excepting the west wall, which was rebuilt in the 1700s, the stonework is a type known as Ashlar.
Such high quality work is most likely due to the fact that Birnie became the first acting cathedral in Moray and the see of its first four bishops – Gregory, William, Felix and Simon de Tonei.
These four had their home about one mile east at a site known as Castlehill. Although foundations of the palace were discovered sometimes in the 1700s the site remains to be properly examined by archaeologist.
Bishop Simon de Tonei is thought to have been interred beneath the church floor at Birnie.
Certainly, when it was being relaid, tradesmen did discover a number of human bones scattered there. These were gathered and reburied, still somewhere under the floor! So some of them may well be Bishop Simon’s remains.
Since the required skill was unlikely to be present locally in the 1100s, stonemasons would have travelled from England, possibly from Durham, to do the work. High on the wall of the chancel a name or initials have been chiselled. Perhaps by one of those masons?
High on a wall outside is an attractive small sundial.
On a far darker note, there's an iron ring which is set just beside the south door.
Most onlookers would understandably imagine this was where the laird or clergy tied up their horses.
But, no, this is where the 'jougs' were attached – a metal collar placed around the necks of nagging wives in order to publicly humiliate and punish them.
And if the walls had ears they would have heard quite a few languages – Gaelic, Scots, Doric, English, possibly French and, of course, Latin.
Birnie suffered damage during the Reformation in the 1560s when "all Popish accoutrements" were removed.
Further changes have also occurred over the years, including the enlargement of the south-facing windows.
But essentially the Birnie Church remains as it was in 1140.
Birnie Church's last Sunday Service will take place from 10.30am on November 19.
It's hoped that, from January onwards, the church will have services every other Wednesday.
