Fowlis Castle and Kirk

 

   The parish of Fowlis lies on the Braes of the Carse of Gowrie, part of the southern slopes of the Sidlaw Hills, several miles north-west of Dundee. Fowlis joined to the neighbouring parish of Lundie to the north in 1618 and is notable for its castle, kirk and the beauty spot called the Den o' Fowlis. 

   There has been confusion as to whether the parish was part of  Angus or Perthshire. It has been in Angus since late 19th century boundary changes, but was historically a part of Perthshire. (However, the barony of Fowlis included part of neighbouring Liff which has always been in Angus and the parish was also represented in the Synod of Angus and the Mearns.)

   Like many places the name of Fowlis is unclear and there are two in central Scotland, our example (sometimes called Fowlis Easter) and Fowlis Wester in Perthshire. One older theory states that the place-name derives from a Norman knight  - the Knight of Feuilles - who migrated from Kent who was granted the land by King Malcolm Canmore in the 11th century. Another suggestion says it gets its name from a Gaelic word signifying 'deep valley', referring to the narrow Den in the vicinity. David Dorward derives the name from fo ghlais, meaning 'sub stream' or 'tributary'.

   There are no very early dates regarding the ownership of the lands before the dubious Norman association but we know that King David I granted Fowlis along with other lands to William Maule following the Battle of the Standard in 1138. The Maules of course loom large as prominent gentry throughout the county through the centuries. One of Maule's daughters married Roger Mortimer, Sheriff of Perthshire, and Fowlis passed through this family for several centuries until the end of the 14th century when the heiress named Janet married Sir Andrew Gray, seventh baron of Broxmouth, who founded the line of the Grays of Fowlis. 

Fowlis Kirk

   The kirk may originally have been built in the 12th century, but the present building may be on the site of a 14th century foundation  by Sir Andrew Gray, later Lord Grey, in the 15th century.  This was done in 1453. Renovation was carried out in the late Victorian era. There is a record of an earlier kirk of Fowlis  in 1180, when William of Maule made a gift of the church and the titles of certain lands to his nephew, Thomas of Maule, out of which he was bound to pay a merk yearly to the Canons of St Andrews. 

   The kirk, dedicated to St Marnoch, is reckoned to be the finest surviving small medieval place of worship in Scotland. It was a collegiate establishment, served by a group of ecclesiastics (provost and prebends) rather than a single priest or establishment. This arrangement allowed the founder and sponsoring family to have an ongoing spiritual body on site employed to look after their everlasting souls.  The building has a sumptuous and surprisingly ornate interior which probably survived the wrath of the Reformation mobs of Dundee and Perth (who destroyed Coupar Angus Abbey among ot her ecclesiastical sites) due to the place's association with Lord Gray who was a staunch Protestant. There was an order by the Synod of Fife on 6th May 1612 to destroy the religious decoration:

Item, it is statute and ordained that the paintrie quhilk is upon the pulpitt and ruid-laft, being monumentes of idolatrie, sal be obliterate be laying it over with grein colour. The minister with diligens to see the same exped.

   Thankfully, there are surviving later medieval decorations still left in the kirk. There are many ancient features inside the building. Most significant perhaps is the oak panel painting of the Crucifixion. It details a crowd of figures (including St John, Salome, the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene), plus horses,  and measures 13 feet by 5 foot 3 inches. A centurion points to a scroll which reads, 'Truly this was the Son of God.' There is also the figure of a High Priest (or possibly Herod) and the souls of the two condemned thieves issuing through their mouths, with the trees and hills of Jesusalem in the background. The painting  has been dated to around 1480 and show the influence of Bohemian and Cologne schools.

   There is another panel painting which may originally have been the altarpiece. It portrays Christ with St Catherine on the left; John the Baptist on the right. Below is the scene of the body of Christ being lowered into the tomb. The centre of the painting has been damaged. Other panels include one which probably originally decorated the rood loft and portrays a number of saints and apostles. 

 Further treasures include the 15th century oak doors, which were part of the rood screen, plus the rood loft which would have accommodated musicians. There is also a German bronze alms dish (dated 1487) which shows a scene of the Garden of Eden, with a German inscription reading 'I bide the time in quietness.'  Rather less elegant are the jougs, the neck collar used to confine miscreants, hanging on the wall by the north door. There is also the aumbry, or sacrament house, where the sacred vessels were stored. This is one of the finest ancient examples in Scotland. It portrays Christ holding the cross and a globe, an angel with a cross, plus several other angels.

 

   

   

Fowlis Castle and the Gray Family

   Fowlis Castle stands at the south of the village, near the head of the Den of Fowlis.It was the principal residence of the Grays until 1452 when they moved to Castle Huntly several miles away in the Case of Gowrie. After several centuries of dereliction it was allegedly used as a tavern and then utilised to house farm labourers in the 19th century and more recently has been fully restored as a private residence. There is a date stone of 1862 in the building, commemorating rebuilding by Sir Patrick Keith Murray in the Victorian period. It was largely constructed in its present form in the 17th century and was abandoned when the owners constructed the nearby House of Gray. There is a tradition that the castle was used by the English invader General Monck in the 17th century as stables for a cavalry force. The Grays sold the estate in 1669 to Sir William Murray of Ochtertyre and the Murrays removed to Ochtertyre House, Perthshire, in 1780. The castle was occupied by Jacobite forces in both 1715 and 1745. The Grahams of Fintry are supposed to have tenanted the building for some time also.

   The existing structure is called the Lady's Tower and is four storeys in height. The surviving building may represent most of the ancient south-west portion of the castle.  The more modern wing is on the north side. It was evidently a forerunner of this stronghold which hosted King James IV in 1497N(when he paid 14 shillings to a harpar there) and his ancestor James I in 1448. The brother of Queen Anna, the Duke of Holstein, dined here with Lord Gray in May 1598. 

   Although the Gray family had a sometimes tumultuous history, there are no recorded violent events associated with the castle except for one local tradition attached to the winding staircase of the stronghold. This staircase in the tower was supposedly the site of a murder in the 13th century when the Mortimer owner dispatched his own mother there. The tale seems to have been founded on a corruption of the surname, or a play on it: Morte du Mere.

The House of Gray

   The House of Gray stands rather forlornly several miles away from Fowlis Castle, in the parish of Benvie, where the Grays purchased land in 1713. It has been boarded up and semi-derelict for many decades. Plans to turn it into a hotel and various other things have been drawn up over the years, without result, though there is a current scheme to divide them building into dwellings. The mansion was built on the plans of Alexander McGill by John, 12th Lord Gray (b. 1716. Another source states it was begun by the 10th Lord Gray.). The principal dwelling of the family transferred to Kinfauns Castle at the western end of the Carse of Gowrie, which was built by Francis, 15th Lord Gray. 

   Invergowrie House, not far off, was the home of a son of the main Gray family. The new Dykes of Gray village has been built on the estate of the House of Gray.

   

   The estate was sold to John Ogilvie at the end of the First World War and he lived there until he died in 1936. The large house seems to have served as an orphanage for a short period subsequently before being left vacant. By the mid 1970s it was being used to house raspberries and cans associated with fruit growing.

The House of Gray