Brechin Cathedral
Brechin Cathedral
Brechin Cathedral is a Category A former Church of Scotland cathedral on Church Lane, Brechin, Angus, adjoined to a rare Irish-style round tower that is a scheduled monument in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.
- Location
- Brechin, Tayside
- Country
- Scotland
- County
- Tayside
- City / town
- Brechin
- Address
- Maison Dieu Lane, Brechin, Tayside, DD9 6JA
- Postcode
- DD9 6JA
- Built
- C12 onwards; west front and tower C13–C14; stone spire C15; restored 1899–1902
- Architect
- John Honeyman (1899–1902 restoration)
- Denomination
- Church of Scotland
- Dedication
- Holy Trinity
- Parish
- Brechin
- Grade
- A
- Style
- Gothic
- Grid reference
- NO 596 600
- Opening hours
- The cathedral Is open daily From 9.30am to 5pm (Summer) and 4pm (Winter).
- Access
- Accessible toilets in church. Accessible toilets nearby. Level access to the main areas. Non-accessible toilets in church
Overview
The statutory list records main fabric from the twelfth century onwards: an aisleless first-pointed Gothic choir; a west front and 70-foot tower begun in the thirteenth century and completed in the fourteenth; and a 58-foot stone spire added in the fifteenth century. A five-bay nave has octagonal piers on the south and mixed octagonal and clustered piers on the north. In 1806 the nave was re-roofed, the aisles rebuilt in a single span and the original transepts demolished; the free-standing round tower was attached at the same date. John Honeyman of Glasgow restored the building in 1899–1902, rebuilding the south aisle and transept, adding a north aisle and porch, shortening the restored chancel and adding the Queen’s Aisle. Stained glass includes work by Henry Holiday and William Wilson.
Scotland’s Churches Trust notes a Culdee monastery here by the 970s and a bishopric by the late eleventh or twelfth century. The round tower, about 86 feet high and built around 1100 (HES allows a date a century earlier), has a raised Romanesque doorway with a crucified Christ, saints and beasts. It is one of only two such towers in Scotland (the other at Abernethy). Historic Environment Scotland lists the cathedral as LB22439 (Category A, 11 June 1971); the tower is scheduled as SM90041. Wikipedia records closure of the cathedral for worship in 2021.