caithness-1911/05_196

Transcription

INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS, ETC., IN COUNTY OF CAITHNESS. [Page] 113

PARISH OF THURSO.

tower. One is forced to conclude from the plan that it has been
evolved during a long period to meet the requirements of different ages.
The apsidal cell, square on the outside, has more affinity to a
structure of the 12th century, such as St Margaret's Chapel in
Edinburgh Castle, than to a building of the 16th or 17th century, to
which period the nave and transepts belong. The dedication of the

[Drawing inserted]
FIG. 24. - St Peter's Church, Thurso : S. window from the exterior (No. 418).

church to St Peter suggests an early date. It is stated that Gilbert
Murray, Bishop of Caithness (d. 1245) founded a church in Thurso,
which was a prebend of the Bishop of that See.
The church and the churchyard are in a neglected condition.
The walls of the church are practically entire, but the structure is
now quite roofless and is rapidly falling into ruins. It was occupied
as the Parish Church down to 1832, and early in the 18th century
part of it appears to have been used as a court-house and prison.
See Cast. and Dom. Arch., v. p. 188 (plans and illus.) ; The Ancient
Church of Scotland (Walcott), p. 131 ; Macfarlane's Geog. Coll., i. p. 170.
O.S.M., CAITH., v. Visited, 8th August 1910.

Sepulchral Monuments.

419. In the W. wall of the burying ground is a tablet carved in
high relief with the date 1357 and the letters T W and G C. The
character of the lettering, however, as well as of the numerals,
belongs to a much later period, probably to the 16th century.

420. Lying in the nave beside the E. wall is a flat inscribed slab,
in part obliterated. It bears to be the tomb of Adam Davidson,
Burgess of Inverness, indweller in Thurso, "quha departed in June
1587 being 66, " and of his spouse Katherine Sinclair "quha departed

[Stamp] Royal Commn.
Anc. Mons. Scot.