 St Blane's Church on Bute |  Inside the ruined St Blane's Church |
Today is St Blane's Day, but don't worry, this isn't about a religious pilgrimage. Being interested in the history of Dunblane I was intrigued recently to find two fascinating links to St Blane, founder of the town, while on holiday on the west coast of Scotland.
At the south end of the island of Bute at Kingarth is the original church of St Blane, with origins which go back over a thousand years. Tradition says that St Catan founded a monastery here in the late 6th century, and when his sister Ertha became pregnant by an unknown man, she and her newborn child, Blane, were cast adrift in a boat by the enraged Catan. They ended up in Ulster where Blane spent his first seven years before he eventually returned to Bute to be reunited with his uncle. In time, he succeeded Catan as abbot of the monastery and bishop of the surrounding area. As an adult, Blane set off for the Pictish mainland, travelling east untll he settled on a small hill next the Allan Water. Here he introduced Christianity and laid the foundations of what became Dunblane (Dun = hill). The religious community grew and the oldest parts of what is now Dunblane Cathedral were built in the 12th or 13th century.
After the Scottish Reformation of 1560, when the Church of Scotland reformed and became Protestant, the cathedral was drastically altered and the congregation met in the smaller part, the Choir. The Nave was neglected, the roof fell in, and it remained roofless for three hundred years until a great restoration project began in 1889. And that is where the next Dunblane connection comes in.
At the south end of the island of Bute at Kingarth is the original church of St Blane, with origins which go back over a thousand years. Tradition says that St Catan founded a monastery here in the late 6th century, and when his sister Ertha became pregnant by an unknown man, she and her newborn child, Blane, were cast adrift in a boat by the enraged Catan. They ended up in Ulster where Blane spent his first seven years before he eventually returned to Bute to be reunited with his uncle. In time, he succeeded Catan as abbot of the monastery and bishop of the surrounding area. As an adult, Blane set off for the Pictish mainland, travelling east untll he settled on a small hill next the Allan Water. Here he introduced Christianity and laid the foundations of what became Dunblane (Dun = hill). The religious community grew and the oldest parts of what is now Dunblane Cathedral were built in the 12th or 13th century.
After the Scottish Reformation of 1560, when the Church of Scotland reformed and became Protestant, the cathedral was drastically altered and the congregation met in the smaller part, the Choir. The Nave was neglected, the roof fell in, and it remained roofless for three hundred years until a great restoration project began in 1889. And that is where the next Dunblane connection comes in.
 Replacement carved windows at Dunblane Cathedral |  The Cathedral arch which now stands at Oatfield House |
At the end of the Kintyre peninsula, just south of Campbeltown, is Oatfield House, a lovely old Victorian country house which is now run as a B&B. I stayed a couple of nights there. Oatfield has a wealth of history, but most unusually in the garden it has a little folly formed from a 13th century Gothic stone arch, which was installed here at the end of the 19th century.
The then owner of Oatfield, Alexander Fleming, was somehow involved in the restoration of Dunblane Cathedral. He was a philanthropist so may have made a donation, although a likelier connection was through his work: he was a partner in the firm of William Baird & Co, as was David Wallace of Glassingall, whose widow Janet was the major benefactor of the restoration project. Anyway, the story goes that he took the arch as a souvenir after it was removed. It was not a theft, but an enterprising move as the medieval arches were so weathered that they could not be fitted with windows, and new stone arches were carved in the same style - as can be seen high up on the Cathedral today. The old arches were disposed of, and very likely they were broken up except for this one. Transporting the stone must have been quite a challenge but somehow, Fleming had it brought by land and sea to his home in Kintyre. He rebuilt the arch in his garden, where it has remained ever since.
The then owner of Oatfield, Alexander Fleming, was somehow involved in the restoration of Dunblane Cathedral. He was a philanthropist so may have made a donation, although a likelier connection was through his work: he was a partner in the firm of William Baird & Co, as was David Wallace of Glassingall, whose widow Janet was the major benefactor of the restoration project. Anyway, the story goes that he took the arch as a souvenir after it was removed. It was not a theft, but an enterprising move as the medieval arches were so weathered that they could not be fitted with windows, and new stone arches were carved in the same style - as can be seen high up on the Cathedral today. The old arches were disposed of, and very likely they were broken up except for this one. Transporting the stone must have been quite a challenge but somehow, Fleming had it brought by land and sea to his home in Kintyre. He rebuilt the arch in his garden, where it has remained ever since.
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