Brechin

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For other uses, see Brechin (disambiguation).

Brechin
Breichin or Brichin (Gaelic)
Brechin (Scots)


OS grid reference:	NO600600



Population:	7,200



Council area:	Angus
Constituent country:	Scotland
Sovereign state:	United Kingdom

Police force:	Tayside Police
Lieutenancy area:	Angus
Former county:	Forfarshire (Angus)

Post town:	BRECHIN
Postal:	DD9
Telephone:	01356


Scottish Parliament:	North Tayside
UK Parliament:	Angus
European Parliament:	Scotland

Brechin is a town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. The town is well known for its eleventh century round tower (Historic Scotland), one of only two of these Irish-style monuments surviving in Scotland. The tower was originally free-standing, but is now incorporated in Brechin Cathedral. The cathedral has been much altered, but still contains medieval work of the 13th and 14th centuries, notable a handsome western tower and processional door. Traditionally Brechin has been considered a city because of its status as the seat of a pre-Reformation Roman Catholic diocese (which continues today as an episcopal seat of the Scottish Episcopal Church), although the burgh lacks a city charter. The football club is still known as Brechin City. The 2001 census recorded Brechin's population as 7,199. Brechin was the birthplace of Robert Watson-Watt, an important pioneer in the early development of radar.

Also in or near the burgh is the Pictavia centre (covering Pictish culture and displaying several carved stones), a small museum in the former Town House, and a station on the Caledonian Railway (Brechin). Along with the cathedral and round tower, part of the chapel of Brechin's Maison Dieu or hospital survives from the Middle Ages (Historic Scotland).

1 Brechin Cathedral
2 Round Tower
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Brechin Cathedral

The Cathedral and Round Tower.

Brechin owes its origins to the mediaeval Cathedral, the oldest building in the Burgh, and the Celtic monastery which preceded it.

The first recorded reference to a church in Brechin is King Kenneth II of Scotland (971-995) giving ‘the great city [ie. monastery] of Brechin to the Lord’, endowing the monastic community with lands and having a church built. Brechin was the mother church of the provinces of Angus and Mearns, a centre from which the Culdee monks went out to minister to the local communities. The Cathedral houses an important collection of early medieval sculpture created for this early monastic community. The St Mary’s Stone, dug up in a garden near the Cathedral in the 18th century, is one of very few Scottish scultures of early date with a Latin inscription. It shows St Mary and the infant Christ surrounded by figures of the Evangelists. The extraordinary hogback, of unique form, found re-used in the Cathedral graveyard, has ornament in the Norse Ringerike style. Both these stones may be 11th century in date, as is the Round Tower, whose masonry, and elaborately carved doorway, are among the finest of any of this class of monument.

The cathedral also has some later sculpture, including several medieval graveslabs and a Romanesque font.

The present cathedral had its origin in the founding of the Diocese of Brechin by the appointment of Bishop Samson by King David I in the mid 12th century. A new church or alterations in the Norman style were made to an existing church and it was not until from about 1225 that the Culdees and their Prior were replaced by a chapter of Canons and a small Cathedral built in the Gothic style. This, the present building, was completed over the next few centuries with the major work done in the 13th and 14th centuries. After the reformation the building was neglected but it is generally agreed that even greater damage was done during the reconstruction of 1806. At this time the chancel, being unused, had fallen into disrepair and side chapels were demolished. A ceiling was put in the nave and galleries formed to house more worshippers. This latter problem was resolved when the building was restored to almost its original state (1900-1902). The cathedral was originally dedicated to the Holy Trinity and this is commemorated in the Coat of Arms of the town which has a gold shield with three red rays converging at a point near the base.

[edit] Round Tower

Historical view from 1727

The Round Tower represents remains of a Culdee college of the Celtic Church established here around 990 AD. The main group (around eighty) of these towers is in Ireland (with one on the Isle of Man), but the example at Brechin is the best preserved of the two on the Scottish mainland, the other being at Abernethy. This is one of the most elaborate of the whole series, and was probably built with an accompanying detached stone church by Irish masons in the 11th century. The Cathedral now incorporates the Round Tower at its southwest corner.

The Brechin Tower is 86 feet high and 15 feet wide at the base, tapering slightly upwards. Originally it would have had a conical cap but in the Middle Ages the present octagonal spire was added, adding another 20 feet to the height. It appears to have had six floors linked by wooden stairs, has the typical elevated doorway to the west and windows at the top facing the four cardinal points.

It was once thought these towers were built for defence; however it is now generally considered that this was not the case, as they would have been very vulnerable to being burned. As they were generally built in the vicinity of a church or monastery, it is more likely they would be built for religious purposes to call people to prayer through the ringing of hand bells. It would also have been used for the storage of manuscripts and religious relics with refuge or a lookout point as a secondary purpose.