Chapter 2

The theory maintained in this paper regarding the last campaign of Agricola, and the site of the Battle of Mons Grampus was first broached in the Statistical Account of the parish of Bendochy, published in 1797. It has been since adopted by Skene in his classical work on Celtic Scotland, to which I desire in this place to acknowledge my great indebtedness. Other sites have been fixed upon, but there are none that can fairly be put in comparison with the neck of land at the junction of the Isla with the Tay. What may be called the traditional view of the site of the battle locates it at Ardoch, in the vicinity of the great camp. No doubt, good authorities can be quoted in favour of the correctness of the traditional view. But there are several reasons which render it highly improbable that the great battle was fought at Ardoch. The very name Mons Grampus implies the existence of some conspicuous eminence in the near neighbourhood. There is no such eminence near Ardoch. Further, we know that Agricola's scheme of operation embraced joint action on the part of the fleet and land forces. There could have been no such co-operation if the movement of the legions had been west of the Tay. And it is a fatal objection to the Ardoch site that there are not three stations corresponding to those which we have seen the three divisions of Agricola's force occupied on the night of the surprise. General Roy, indeed, has tried to turn the edge of this objection by placing the Ninth Legion at Dalginross, the main body under Agricola at Ardoch, and the other division at Strageath, overlooking and guarding the Earn. But it has been retorted upon him that Agricola could have made no worse disposition of his forces, from a strategic point of view, than to have stationed his weakest division at Comrie, nine miles distant from the main body, in the very heart of the enemy's country, close to the hills, from which they could rush down upon any favourable opportunity, and to which they could retreat in the event of a repulse.

Besides, help came from the main body in the course of a few hours--between night and morning. It would be a difficult task even now for a body of men to cover the ground between Ardoch and Comrie in the dead of night; and we must remember that in the time of Agricola the country was a pathless wild, rough with woods in the higher parts, and covered with treacherous morasses in the valleys. The Damnonii--within whose territories Ardoch, Comrie, and Strageath lay--were more highly civilised than the Caledonians beyond the Tay and the Grampian range. They had towns, as we have seen; they probably engaged to some extent in agriculture; their food did not altogether consist of fish, milk, and the produce of the chase. But their towns were few and far between, and the means of communication very imperfect. The native tribes were not road-makers, and the Romans had not been long enough in possession, nor had leisure been granted them to form the solid and straight lines of communication upon which, everywhere, their power was based. We have Roman roads in Strathearn, and I daresay a careful student of the district could walk every foot of the way from Ardoch to Perth along these roads--street-roads, they are called locally, as I discovered one night to my surprise on making inquiries as to the shortest route between the manses of Gask and Trinity-Gask. But these roads were not in existence when the Battle of Mons Grampus was fought. Much rough pioneering work had to be gone through ere it was possible to lay them down. Meantime, the respective positions of the Romans and Caledonians had changed somewhat. The tide of conquest did not remain at the high-water mark of Agricola's advance. The Roman garrisons were withdrawn from Strathearn and from Ardoch. The Wall of Hadrian, between the Solway and the Tyne, was substituted for the frontier chain of forts between the Forth and Clyde, and, in consequence, the native tribes kept pressing ever southward. Hadrian's Wall checked their progress, but their presence in ever-increasing numbers was a danger to the province. They had now come to be known as the Caledonii and the Meatae--the men of the hills and the men of the plains. At length the spirit of Rome revived in the Emperor Severus, who determined to revisit the scene of Agricola's early conquests. He came to Britain in 208 A.D., fully one hundred and twenty years after the Battle of Mons Grampus had been fought and won. He moved slowly, but did his work effectively. It was a costly process both in treasure and human life; but, from the point of view of permanent conquest, it was well done. Roads were formed, bridges built, and the habits of civilisation introduced into the wilds of Strathearn, and far away in the North. For, marching by way of Forfar, Kincardine, and Aberdeen, Severus reached the Moray Firth, and got from the Caledonians a cession of land to the north of the Tay. It has been conjectured that he returned south by way of Fortingall and Fendoch and Ardoch, where are Roman remains of a peculiar kind, of which no more satisfactory explanation can be given than that they mark the sites of his stations. Severus was borne on a litter in his northward march, frail and aged. He accomplished his purpose, but the undertaking was greater than his strength had warranted. He died at York in 211 A.D.

But to return to Agricola--to whom the honour belongs of opening up Strathearn. He had gone into winter quarters near Perth, after his autumn expedition to the Isla. All hesitation had vanished from the minds of his soldiers. They were impatient to try conclusions with the barbarian Caledonians; and so soon as the season permitted, the camp was broken up. They retraced their steps to the Isla, and found the enemy occupying the old position on the lower slopes of the Hill of Blair--battle-hill; probably so called in memory of the big fight now impending. It was a well-chosen position, showing no little military skill on the part of Galgacus, the Caledonian chief. From the foot of the hill a plain extended southward to the junction of the rivers. The Isla bounded the plain on the east, while a series of morasses, moors, and small lochs stretched to the west, in the direction of the Grampian range. Upon their defeat, the Caledonians made their escape this way. The Roman army boldly crossed the Isla this time, and began to throw up entrenchments. Traces of a rampart are to be seen extending from Meikleour on the Tay across country to the Isla. In connection with this a fort was constructed and a triangular bit of ground enclosed, capable of containing the whole force. The local name of the rampart is Cleaven Dykes, and all the while the Caledonians were gathering from all parts--from the distant Highlands and from the siege of the Strathearn forts. The Buzzard Dykes, on the lower slopes of the Hill of Blair, marks their position. At length they thought themselves strong enough to begin the attack. A defensive policy would have been wiser. But the concentrated power of a trained army--the very regularity of its motions always draws the attack of a less highly disciplined force. Probably the Caledonians deceived themselves into thinking that fear was the cause of the inaction of their opponents. It was not so. Agricola had come so far in order to fight, and his soldiers were impatient to be led against the enemy. They had gained confidence from the experience of the year before--they were hungry as wolves for the honour of victory. They knew that upon their valour depended the lives of their fellow-soldiers, who had been fighting for well nigh four years against tremendous odds away west in Strathearn. And when the Caledonians came on, Agricola promptly advanced to meet them, having 8000 auxiliaries in his first line, protected on the wings by 3000 cavalry. The legionaries were stationed behind these--veteran Roman soldiers, upon whose steadiness he could rely if there should come repulse and panic. The rampart at Meikleour was in the rear of the reserve force--to serve as a last defence if the worst happened. Agricola himself went to the front with the colours. As usual, the battle began with a discharge of missiles from a distance. The darts and stones flew thick, and all the while the Caledonians were edging away to right and left in the hope of surrounding the Romans. Agricola strained his thin line almost to breaking point, but his opponents had the advantage of numbers, and still pressed him. The danger of a gaping centre grew imminent. The crisis of the conflict came. Three Batavian and two Tungrian cohorts charged sword in hand. The issue was not long in doubt. The small shields and long swords of the Caledonians were ill-fitted to encounter the straight home-thrust of the finely-tempered blade, 19 inches in length, with which the Roman soldiers were armed. They wavered, and then the end came quickly. The whole line of the auxiliaries charged uphill and carried everything before them, and although the war chariots, armed with scythe-blades, were brought into action, they did more harm than good. The ground was rough, and unsuitable for the effective use of these murderous weapons of warfare. Their own men, now in hopeless confusion, were the chief sufferers from them. And although the Caledonian reserve succeeded in getting behind the Roman first line, they were promptly checked by a cavalry attack. It was never necessary to bring the Roman reserves of legionary soldiers into action. The fight was over, and the Caledonians sought safety in headlong flight among the morasses which stretched westward in the direction of the Grampian range.

Agricola did not push his advantage further. He was content with the victory he had gained, He could now hope that there would be peace in Strathearn, bringing with it the opportunity of extending the boundary of the Roman province to the Tay. His eager Roman spirit was planning other enterprises. He had seen the coast of Ireland from Kintyre, and doubtless courted the distinction of annexing it to the Empire. One can't help thinking what a pity it was that the opportunity of doing so was not given him. Had the distressful country got the benefit of the firm and civilising Roman rule, a happier history might have been hers. From his winter quarters behind the Firths of Forth and Clyde, Agricola sent his fleet to explore the distant northern parts. His sailors visited and took possession of the Orkney Islands--sighted a distant peak, which became the "Ultima Thule" of history; noted the peculiar feature of the West Coast of Scotland--the sea-lochs now so well known to the tourists of every land; circumnavigated the island till they reached the Trutulensian harbour--Dover, as we call it now; and then returned to their station in the Firth of Forth. It was not permitted to Agricola to turn the information thus acquired to practical use. His brilliant success in Scotland had excited the jealousy of the Emperor Domitian, and he was recalled under the pretence of appointing him to a higher command. The traces of him in Strathearn and elsewhere were speedily obliterated. The Roman province shrank to the wall of Hadrian between Tyne and Sol-way; civilisation was beaten back, and kept back for four generations.

CELTIC SAINTS AND

ANCIENT CHURCHES OF STRATHEARN

S. FILLAN, DUNDURN S. RONAN, STROWAN S. BEAN, KINKELL AND FOULIS S. SERF, DUNNING AND MONZIEVAIRD S. KESSOG, COMRIE AND AUCHTERARDER S. PATRICK, STROGEATH S. FERGUS, MUTHILL S. CATTAN, ABERUTHVEN S. BRIDE, ABERNETHY

CELTIC SAINTS AND ANCIENT CHURCHES OF STRATHEARN

By Rev. JAMES RANKIN, D.D., Muthill

The vale or strath of the Earn may best and simplest be said to extend from the head of Loch Earn along the course of the River Earn to its junction with the Tay, two and a quarter miles above Newburgh. The distance from top to bottom as the crow flies is about thirty-six miles, and the direction is very nearly due west and east. The valley may be sub-divided into four portions. The uppermost is Loch Earn itself, which is six and a half miles long and 306 feet above sea-level, so that the descent of the river in its thirty miles of course is not much. The surface of Loch Earn, James' Square in Crieff, and the Manse of Muthill, across the valley, are as nearly as possible on the same level. The Earn may be sectioned as follows:--From Loch Earn to the Bridge of Comrie; thence to the Bridge of Crieff; thence to the Bridge of Kinkell; thence to Bridge of Earn; thence to junction of Earn with Tay. For our present purpose we may stop near Forteviot, at the Earn boundary of the Presbytery of Auchterarder.

Before we can rightly appreciate the more or most ancient Christian history of the Strath, we require to lay aside, and partly reverse, certain modern associations as to lines of travel. We think of Strathearn as running westward from Auchterarder, which lies on both the turnpike and railway route from Stirling to Perth. But in the days of our early Christianity it was mainly the sea on each coast that joined north and south of Scotland; whereas the more frequented routes were across country from west to east, because the west was then the seat of government and source of culture. Our early Christianity came from Ireland, and the route was by the Firth of Clyde, where Kintyre, Arran, Cumbrae, Bute, Kilmun, Dumbarton, Luss, and Balquhidder were all already provided with places of worship. The Vale of Leven and Loch Lomond were the natural approaches from the west to the upper end of Loch Earn and Strathearn. Another route connecting Perthshire with Iona was by Loch Etive, Dalmally, Tyndrum, and Glendochart. But the Leven and Loch Lomond route, judging by the saints to whom the oldest churches were dedicated, was the actual one usually traversed in reaching the valley of the Earn.

The oldest settlement is that of S. Fillan, at Dundurn. His day in the Kalendar is June 22, and he died about 520 A.D. Dundurn=Dun d'Earn. In the martyrology of Donegal (for he was a pure Irish Celt) he is called of Rath Erann--_i.e._, the fort on the Earn. Besides the old chapel and burial-ground, a memorial of the Saint is in Dunfillan, where are his chair and well. A fine eye for the picturesque the good man must have had to select a hill of so striking aspect and commanding so charming a landscape as Dunfillan. A little later Dunfillan became a king's seat or fort. S. Fillan is called _an lobar_, leper, or perhaps stammerer, to distinguish him from S. Fillan the abbot, connected with Strathfillan and Killin, whose day is January 9, and who died about 703, nearly 200 years after his namesake the leper. He of Dundurn was of the race of AEngus, King of Munster, and was trained under S. Ailbe of Emly. Dr. Marshall, in his "Historic Scenes in Perthshire," in company with several other writers, mixes up the two S. Fillans. Bishop Forbes, in his "Kalendars of Scottish Saints," gives a clear account of each, mentioning that Aberdour, in Fife, is dedicated to him of Dundurn, as was also Cill or Kil-Faelin, in Leinster.

Tullichettle and Comrie may be taken together, the distance between them being only one mile; the former meaning "The Vale of Sleep," now known mainly by its little kirkyard, having once been the more important of the two. The proof of this is seen in an extract from the Register of Ministers and Readers in the Miscellany of the Wodrow Society. In 1574, where our Presbytery has now sixteen parishes, there were only four ministers and sixteen readers, thus grouped:--Auchterarder--Stipend, L100, and kirk-lands--had readers at Auchterardour, Kinkell, Abirruthven, and Dunnyng. Strogeith--L60, and kirk-lands--had readers at Strogeith, Muthill, and Strowane. Foulis--L80, and kirklands--had readers at Foulis, Madertie, Trinite-Gask, and Findo-Gask. Tullichettil--L100, and kirk-lands--had readers at Tullichettil, Cumrie, Monivaird, Monzie, and Crieff. The system of readers was a beggarly makeshift for the Christian ministry, and shows the sore straits to which the Reformed Church was reduced after what was supposed to be the grand victory of 1560. Then Tullichettle was more than Comrie, as Strageath was more than Muthill. The dedication of Tullichettle does not appear in any record that I have seen, but that of Comrie is evident from its fair, which bears the name of S. Kessog. There is also a Tom-na-chessaig, just behind the old Free Church, now a public hall. The old name has a modern recognition in a local Freemasons' Lodge of S. Kessack. What is known of the Saint is given further on under Auchterarder.

Downwards on Earn the next ancient riverside church is Strowan, which, being a small parish, was united to Monzievaird before 1662. The site is one of remarkable beauty and quiet, almost ideal as a place of worship and burial. Ronan or Rowan was a bishop and confessor under King Maldwin, Feb. 7, 737, according to Adam King's Kalendar. He was of Kilmaronen or Kilmaronoc, in Lennox. Other dedications to him are Kilroaronag, in Muckairn; Teampull Ronan of Ness, in Lewis; Port Ronan, in Iona. At his death in 737 A.D., S. Ronan was abbot of Kingarth, in Bute. Connected with the church of Strowan is a Ronan pool on the Earn, and a bell remains from the old days. An adjacent farm is called Carse of Trowan.

The old church of Monzievaird on the east avenue to Ochtertyre, and now the private burial-place of the Murrays, is dedicated to S. Serf. But his legend may be reserved till we reach Dunning, at the end of our narrative.

The next in order of the old Celtic Churches on the Earn is that at Strogeit, or usually Strageath. This church and churchyard are close on the Earn, at a very picturesque spot, where are two very old mills--one on each side of the river--and a mill-dam between, and serving for both. The church is dedicated to S. Patrick, of Ireland, and was planted by an Irish missionary called S. Fergus.

Patricius was bishop and confessor--his day of death and commemoration, March 17, 493. He was the son of Calphurnius, a Roman decurio or magistrate at Dumbarton, his mother being Conkessa, sister or niece of the great S. Martin of Tours. He was born at Kilpatrick, on the Clyde, and called Succat=Succoth, the name of a neighbouring estate. At sixteen, Patrick was carried off to Ireland by pirates, and sold to a chief, Michul of Antrim, where he served six years, when he escaped to Scotland. He then went to S. Germanus of Auxerre for forty (more probably four) years' study. After becoming monk with his uncle S. Martin, he visited Rome, and was sent to Ireland, where he laboured sixty years, consecrating 365 churches and bishops, and ordaining 300--some say 3000--presbyters. Writings of S. Patrick are his "Confessions"--"Hymn before Tara," called "Breastplate," in eleven verses, and "Letter to Caroticus, Caradoc, or Ceretic Guledig," from whom the kings of Alcluith, Patrick's birthland, were descended. (See Christian Classics--The Writings of Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland. Religious Tract Society, London.) S. Patrick's churches in Scotland are sixteen, of which three are in Muthill--viz., Strogeit, on the Earn; S. Patrick's, at Blairinroar; and S. Patrick's, at Struthill; each of the two latter having a S. Patrick's Well, anciently used in baptism. At Blairinroar, five miles west from Muthill, two or three cot-houses still bear the name S. Patrick's, but I don't know that the site of the original chapel is identifiable. At Struthill, two miles south of Muthill, both chapel walls and ancient burial-ground remained till about 50 years ago, when they were shamefully turned--the one into dyke material, and the consecrated soil and remains into top-dressing for corn land. The sacred well was also run off into a drain, and the site marked by a modern cattle trough. The burial-ground at Strageath is still in use, but the corner stones of the old church have been brutally abstracted for use in neighbouring buildings. These desecrations ill agree with what is truly stated by my predecessor in the New Statistical Account, that "the inhabitants of Muthill, until very lately (_i.e._, about 1835), held S. Patrick's name in so high veneration that on his day (March 17) neither the clap of the mill was heard nor the plough seen to move in the furrow." Across the Earn from Strageath is a farm called Dalpatrick, and a ford known as Dalpatrick Ford.

This well-deserved honour to the patron saint of Ireland is traceable here to the presence of one of his disciples and countrymen, S. Fergus, whose work, however, must have been about 150 years after S. Patrick's death. After his work of chapel building in Muthill, S. Fergus quitted his hermitage at Strageath and went northward to Caithness and Buchan, on the same gospel errand, where, after good work again, he moved southwards to Glamis, the scene of his death and burial. The churches dedicated to him are six--viz., Wick, Halkirk, S. Fergus or Lungley, Inverugy, S. Fergus, at Banff; Dyce. Glamis has S. Fergus' cave and well. There was a S. Fergus chapel in the church of Inchbrayock, at Montrose, and a chapel and well at Usan, three miles south-east of Montrose. His head was preserved at Scone in a silver casket, his arm in a silver casket at Aberdeen, and his staff, baculus or bachul, at S. Fergus, in Buchan. In 721, _Fergustus Epis. Scotiae Pictus_ signed at Rome canons as to irregular marriages. He belonged to the party that conformed to Rome as distinguished from the strict adherents of the old Celtic ritual.

About one mile below Strageath is the old Collegiate Church of Innerpeffray, dedicated to S. Mary, mentioned in 1342, and made collegiate in 1508 by the first Lord Drummond. But as this belongs to a later ecclesiastical system (1200-1560) it may be passed over for the present.

About two miles lower than Innerpeffray is Kinkell Church, dedicated to S. Bean. Here we come on a group of three, the next being Aberythven, three miles east of Kinkell, dedicated to S. Cathan; and Auchterarder, one mile south of Aberuthven, dedicated to S. Makessock. These three churches, along with Strageath and Madderty, have this in common at a later date--viz., 1200 A.D., that they were granted by Earl Gilbert of Strathearn and his Countess Matildis, as endowment to the newly-founded Abbey of Inchaffray. A few years later the Church of S. Bean of Foulis and the Church of the Holy Trinity of Gasc were added to the same endowment. Although now desolate, and appearing as a pendicle to an adjacent farm-steading, the old Kirk of Kinkell occupies a beautiful site in the valley, on a knoll, close by the river, and the kirkyard is still occasionally used. S. Bean, who was bishop and confessor, died about 920, and his day in the Kalendar is 26th October. He was uncle of S. Cadroe, who was taught at Armagh, and whose mission in Scotland marks the origin of the Culdees, strictly so-called, as is traced in Skene's Celtic Scotland, II., 346, in connection with Kinkell and Abernethy.