St Mary's Chapel (known also as "the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin") is a late 12th/early 13th century

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

found in Rattray,

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It was built by

William Comyn, jure uxoris Earl of Buchan William Comyn was Lord of Badenoch and Earl of Buchan. He was one of the seven children of Richard Comyn, Justiciar of Lothian, and Hextilda of Tynedale. He was born in Scotland, in Altyre, Moray in 1163 and died in Buchan in 1233 where he is b ...

during the same period as the

Castle of Rattray The Castle of Rattray was a medieval Scottish castle, with multiple variations on its structure over approximately six centuries. Originally built as a ''"late 12th- or early 13th century defensive motte"'' it provided protection for Starny K ...

and was ''"private chapel for the castle"'' and its residents. ''"Dedicated to the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

"'' it was possibly constructed after the ''"drowning of a"...'' nknown''"son of Comyn in the well near by."'' There is some controversy as to the date of the chapel's construction. There is a wall plaque with the date 911, but this is certainly a fake as the style of the church and its windows did not appear in Scotland until the late 12th century, which coincides with an account that states it ''"probably dates back to the late 1100s."'' William Comyn did not inherit the Earldom of Buchan until 1212, so the chapel's construction almost certainly did not begin prior to this date. William Comyn is recorded as giving the chapel ''"a gift of wax"'' on a yearly basis ''"between 1214 and 1233"'' so it must have at least been under construction as early as 1214. The gift ''"derived from bees"'' had a weight of ''"two stones"'' (approx. 10.8 kg)Historically a

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

of wax was equal to 12 pounds (not 14 as is standard in today's imperial measurements), so it would likely (but not certainly) have been approximately 10.8

kilograms The kilogram (also kilogramme) is the unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), having the unit symbol kg. It is a widely used measure in science, engineering and commerce worldwide, and is often simply called a kilo colloquially ...

in modern weight. and was the full amount that Comyn received from ''"Cospatric Macmadethyn"... "at

Whitsunday Whitsun (also Whitsunday or Whit Sunday) is the name used in Britain, and other countries among Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian High Holy Day of Pentecost. It is the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the H ...

yearly"'' for the rent of the ''"lands and mill of Stratheyn and Kyndrochet"''. One account gives the specific date of construction as 1220.

References

External links

* St Mary's Chapel images on

Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and professional ...

. Two sets of pictures tagged
"oldrattray"
an
"oldkirkofrattray"
{{coord, 57.610521, N, 1.853857, W, display=title Chapels in Scotland Churches in Aberdeenshire