Fortingall

Fortingall is a small village in highland Perthshire, Scotland, in the glen (or valley) of the River Lyon. Place-name Gaelic "Fartairchill", 'church at the foot' (ie. of the hill slope behind the village). Its nearest sizable neighbours are Aberfeldy and Kenmore.

According to legend it was the birthplace of Pontius Pilate. This is unsubstantiated and unlikely, as the Roman conquest of Britain only took place some years after Pilate's time. A number of other locations, including villages in Spain and Germany, make similar claims.

The Fortingall Yew is an ancient tree in its own walled enclosure within the village churchyard, its age is estimated to be between 3000-5000 years, and it may be the oldest living tree in Europe. Place-name and archaeological evidence hint at an Iron Age cult centre at Fortingall, which may have had this tree as its focus. The site was christianised during the Dark Ages, perhaps because it was already a sacred place.

The parish church is on an early Christian site, dedicated to Coeddi, bishop of Iona (d. 712), probably founded about 700 AD from Iona itself as a daughter monastery. Though undocumented, crop-marks of surrounding ditched enclosures have been identified from the air, and the church's unusual dedication and fragments of several finely-carved cross-slabs preserved in the church all point to an early origin as a major church site. Also preserved in an alcove in the church is an early hand-bell in Irish style (iron with bronze coating), dating from the 7th-8th centuries, one of several to have survived in Highland Perthshire. Several slabs with simple incised crosses (best paralleled at Iona and other west of Scotland sites) and a massive early font are to be seen in the churchyard. The attractive white-harled parish church (built 1901-02), notable for its fine woodwork, is open in summer. Its 'arts and crafts' style was designed to harmonise with the rest of the village. A permanent display on the cross-slabs and the early church was recently installed in the building. Fortingall has one of the largest collections of early medieval sculpture in Scotland.

The attractive village of Fortingall, with its large hotel adjoining the churchyard, was built 1890-91 by shipowner and Unionist MP, Sir Donald Currie (1825-1909), who bought the Glenlyon Estate, including the village, in 1885. It was designed by the architect James M MacLaren (1853-90). The thatched cottages are notable examples of a planned village built in vernacular style (here combining both Lowland Scottish and English influences, notably from Devon) and are increasingly appreciated as one of the most important examples of 'arts and crafts' vernacular style in Scotland. The Fortingall Hotel, currently (2006-07) under restoration to its original appearance, is an important example of Scottish vernacular revival, based on the tower-houses and burgh architecture of the 16th-17th centuries, in a modern idiom which anticipates the buildings of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, whose work MacLaren influenced.

Glenlyon House, and its adjoining Farm and steading, west of the village, were also designed, or largely rebuilt, to MacLaren's designs.

The area immediately surrounding Fortingall has one of the richest concentrations of prehistoric archaeological sites in Scotland. Fortingall also has 'Carn na Marbh' a re-used bronze Age tumulus, that was used as a burial ground in the 14th century, and a focus for the villages Samhain festival.

Fortingall parish (now linked with Glenlyon) is one of the largest on Scotland, and takes in Glen Lyon, notable for its mountain scenery and many archaeological sites, the country's longest enclosed glen or valley.

Further reading

* Fraser, D 1973 "Highland Perthshire", Standard Press, Montrose.
* Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust 2003 "Fortingall Church and Village", Perth.
* Robertson, N M 1997 'The Carved Stones of Fortingall' "in" Henry, D (ed) "The worm, the germ and the thorn: Pictish and related studies presented to Isabel Henderson", The Pinkfoot Press, Balgavies, Angus, 133-48.
* Stewart, Alexander "A Highland Parish or The History of Fortingall", A Maclaren and Co, Glasgow, 1928

External links

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