Brechin, like that other early beacon of Christianity,
Abernethy in Perthshire, has a distinctive and rare round tower that is
evidence of its importance to the Celtic Church. It also gives a clue to the origins or at
least overt influence of the clerics who operated here, as there are a large
number of such towers in Ireland (76 at one reckoning) and just these two
examples in Scotland. Brechin’s tower,
which was said to sway like a reed in the wind according to local tradition, is
now joined on to the cathedral, though originally it was free standing. Its elasticity was tested during storms by
some locals who used to insert knives into the gaps in the stonework, and when
they retrieved them the blades had been snapped by the movement of the
building. (You had to make your own
entertainment in those days!)
Another clue as to the importance of the site in early
medieval times is that it is recorded as having a settlement of those shadowy
Christian clerics called the celi de, or Culdees, servants of God. Although famous in Celtic studies partly
because of the mystery about exactly who and what they were, there were
actually few recorded Culdee settlements in early times, ranging from places of
importance like Dunkeld, Lochleven, Monymusk and St Andrews, as far south as
York. The fact that there were two known
monastic Culdees foundations in Angus – Brechin and Monifieth – is intriguing
to say the least.
The round tower at
Brechin escaped the vandalising renovation which was inflicted on the adjacent
cathedral in the 19th century, though plans to have it demolished in
1807 and have the masonry incorporated into the cathedral were thankfully
scuppered, largely through the intervention of Lord Panmure and Mr Skene of
Careston. The architect’s plans were
rebuffed, with an addition threat that the first man who touched a stone of the
tower in the wrong fashion would promptly be hanged from it. Even before this date the tower had been
subject to attack – usually from the elements.
Although the tower is roughly 85 feet (26 m) high it is topped off with
a relatively modern spire. This again
may have been the result of damage recorded in the kirk session records under
the date 5th November 1683:
‘The head of the Litl Steeple, blowen over.’ The tower may have been originally built probably
in the 11th century, several hundred years before the adjacent
cathedral. The theory that such towers
were originally constructed as places of refuge from rampaging Vikings is not
proven.
Another indication
of Irish influence is in the name of Brechin itself, which may derive from an
Irish personal name, Brachan. There is
however no specific mention of the place until the reign of King Kenneth II
(971-995): ‘Hic est qui tribuit magnam
civatem Brechne Domino,’ signifying that the monarch gave the large city of
Brechin to the Church. There is no
further substantial trace of this important ecclesiastic settlement until the
reign of David I (1124-1153), when the Episcopal office was revived or at least
modernised and a charter records rights given to ‘the Bishops and Keledei of
Brechin’. The continued recognition of
the Culdees as an entity continues throughout that century, with local
Episcopal grants being witnessed by members of the order such as ‘Bricius,
prior Keledeorum de Brechin,’ ‘Gillefali, Kelde,’ ‘Mathalan, Kelde,’ and ‘Mallebryd, prior
Keledeorum nostorum’. By the mid 13th
century the Culdees had fallen away and they were replaced by ‘regular’ church
offices like deacons and archdeacons.
Many of the Culdees appear to have married and their role was
hereditary, but in decline the abbot and others of the old order became a
second-rate layman, and a fourth-rate member of society’ [The Culdees of the
British Isles, William Reeves, Dublin, 1864.].
By the 13th century
the ecclesiastical power at Brechin was vested in individuals like Albin or
Albinus (who died in 1269). He is
recorded as being the first precentor of Brechin Cathedral and later became the
bishop here. This was despite the fact
that he was the bastard son of a bastard of David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother
of King William the Lion. His father was
in fact Henry de Brechin, Lord of Brechin.
It was during his episcopate that a bull of Pope Innocent IV recorded
(18th February 1250) that, ‘The brethren who have been wont to be in
the church of Brechin were called Keledei and now by change of name are styled
canons.’ Another sign that times were
changing in Brechin was Albin’s introduction of a certain English monk named
Egbert, a Carmetite, who was an expert in Arabic. Although some of the priests and deans of
Brechinst still maintained ‘native’ Gaelic names, another mark of the widening
of the clerical horizon is in the name of the extremely obscure local martyr St
Stolbrand, who sounds as if he would have been more at home in Germany than the
Celtic kingdom of Alba.
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