St. Palladius Episcopal Church - Drumtochty, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Posted by: 
creg-ny-baa
N 56° 54.554 W 002° 28.939
30V E 531524 N 6307401
Small ornate church in the Glen of Drumtochty in the foothills of the eastern Grampian Mountains of Scotland.
Waymark Code: WMYYMJ
Location: Northern Scotland, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/12/2018
Views: 1
The church of St. Palladius is situated in the wooded valley of Drumtochty in southern Aberdeenshire, part of the old county of Kincardineshire. It lies on the north side of the narrow minor road that runs eastwards from the B974 Cairn o'Mount road through Strathfinella and the Glen of Drumtochty towards the village to Auchenblae which lies around two miles to the south-east of the church.
It was built in 1885 by Arthur Clyne of Pirie & Clyne, as an estate chapel for the Rev. J S Gammell who was at the time the owner of nearby Drumtochty Castle. Built in an early gothic style of rusticated sandstone blocks, it features a south-west porch, south transept, north vestry, a pencil towerlet, and sculpture of St. Palladius.
The southern elevation is the main focus of the church and faces the road to the south. The nave features twin three light pointed-arch windows with interlinking hoodmoulds. To the west is the gabled entrance porch with a deeply-recessed pointed-arch doorway with hoodmould. A small celtic cross finial adorns the apex. The south transept has long, narrow pointed-arch lancet windows on either side of a central buttress. Mounted on a plinth above is a large statue of St.Palladius dressed in robes and holding a staff, a cantilevered canopy lies above. On the east side is a narrow round pencil stairtower with slit windows and a very ornate arcaded gallery at the top with deeply-carved foliage capitals. Below the spire is a row of quatrefoil openings.
On the east side is a large semi-circular aspidal chancel with narrow lancet windows with stained glass, interlinking hoodmoulds, very small decorative quatrefoil openings below the windows and a small cornice at the wallhead.
The west gable has a pair of tre-foil headed windows with interlinking hoodmoulds. Above is a round rose window with deep moulding around the rim and stained glass panels. There are buttresses at each corner of the gable.
The north elevation, mainly unseen to the rear, has three pointed-arch windows matching those on the south side.
The roofs are slated, with decorative red tiles along the ridge lines.
The church is in full view from the road where there is a large lay-by. Between here there is a large lawn area with a few gravestones.
The church is still in use, with holy communion on the 2nd, 4th and 5th Sundays at 9.30am.