Fortingall Kirkyard - Perth & Kinross, Scotland - Churchyard Cemeteries on Waymarking.com

The tiny village of Fortingall is situated at the foot of Glen Lyon in the highland part of Perthshire in the geographical centre of the Scottish mainland. It is famous as the site of the ancient yew tree, thought to be over 5,000 years old and the oldest living thing in Europe. As a result of the tree, the site has been steeped in Christianity since the 7th century when Adomnán, Abbot of Iona from 679 to 704AD visited the area. An early monastery was replaced by a parish church which was a wooden building initially before being replaced by a medieval stone building.

Some gravestones from the era still survive, including the church's minister James Ross from 1636 against the south wall, as well as stones from even earlier, most of the stones however date from the 18th century onwards up until the end of the 19th century when the Laird, Sir Donald Currie, ordered his architects, William Dunn and Robert Watson to build a new church on the foundations of the medieval building, which had fallen into disrepair. The new building was built in an art & crafts style in white harling

The kirkyard is set out to the west and south of the church, with the yew tree close to the west gable. The Rev. Duncan Macara, for 50 years the minister of the church in the 18th century, is buried beneath the tree, which once had a girth of 56 feet, before souvenir hunters and fires being lit under it caused the trunk to develop an arch which funeral processions used to travel underneath.

To the north west of the kirkyard is the Currie Enclosure, and to the south-west the Chesthill Enclosure which contains the original bellcote from the medieval church. The war memorial stands just outside the kirkyard to the south of the entrance at the western end.

The featured stone, on the southern edge of the kirkyard, reads as follows:

'ERECTED
BY
ALLAN MCDOUGALL
AUSTRALIA
IN MEMORY OF HIS FATHER
HUGH MACDOUGALL
LATE FARMER KINGHALLIAN
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE THE
6th APRIL 1852 AGED 28 YEARS
ALSO
OF HIS SISTER
MARGARET
WHO DIED AT KINGHALLIAN
11th AUGUST 1856 AGED 28 YEARS
THOUGH ROLLING SEAS BETWEEN US ROAR
WE HOPE TO MEET ON CANAANS SHORE
ALSO
OF HIS MOTHER
JANET MCDOUGALL
WHO DIED AT KINGHALLIAN
1st MARCH 1876 AGED 84 YEARS'

(MAP)

Name of church or churchyard: KIrk of Fortingall Approximate Size: Large (100+)

Visit Instructions:
VISIT LOGS

1. The waymark coordinates must be personally visited.
2. Give the date and a description of your visit
3. Post at least one photo taken at the time of your visit

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.