Saints in Scottish Place-Names
Funded by a Leverhulme Trust Project Grant
St Kessog's Chapel, Muthill
Grid reference
NN 855 153 (assumed location)
Six-figure easting & northing
285500 715300
Latitude
56.316332425531485
Longitude
-3.8513339404712754
County
Perthshire
Nearby places
Lady's Well, Muthill (1.15 miles)
Muthill, parish (1.29 miles)
St Cattan's Well, Muthill (1.33 miles)
St James's Church, Episcopal Muthill (1.33 miles)
Culwhattock, settlement, Muthill (2.31 miles)
Object Classification
Ecclesiastical
Is linear feature?
No
Notes
In 1542 the chapel and holy bell of St Kessog appear in a grant to David Lord Drummond, associated with Cultezaldych (= OS Culticheldoch NN8415) Struhill (= OS Struthill NN8515) and the now lost Barneclis, which may represent Gaelic 'barr na h-eaglaise' (hill of the church). There is a chapel at the NGR given, close to Struthill ande Culticheldoch, and this has been assumed to be the chapel of St Kessog mentioned in 1542 (RMS iii no. 2825). The recurrence of the grouping Struthill, Barnacles and the chapel and holy bell of St Kessog in several documents over a long period is notable. Some modern commentators have suggested that the chapel at this site was dedicated to St Patrick, but this suggestion depends on layers of confusion (see Norval Smith, forthcoming). NMRS records a chapel here, ordered to be destroyed in 1650, which was supposed to be 'effectual in curing madness' (Canmore ID: 25329). A. L. Rankin, Chronicles of Strathearn (1896) protested at the treatment of this chapel: '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.' In the eighteenth century we find the following remarks (Geog. Coll. i, 132): About a mile southwest from Muthill, upon the south side of the water of Mahiny is ane old ruinous popish Cheaple, where the supersticious people used to bind distracted persons, upon a large stone in the middle of it, and it has been reported that they have been loos'd and restored to their right wits against (sic) the next morning. But there are none living that can give certain accounts of its having such effects. Near unto this Cheaple is a well, which the ignorant and supersticious people pay a great respect unto and from which they expect cures to be wrought upon themselves and upon their beasts. And their custome is to leave something at it, as a penny, a clout, a parte of the beasts hair or any such trifle as ane offering to the Sainct. But ministers especially since the Revolution have spoken so much against it, and the supersticions used at it, that few dare now avowedly frequent it. To put a stop to the abominable supersticions used at this Chappell the Presbytery of Auchterarder about the year 1650 ordered the wals of it to be thrown down so that ever since there is no more there but a heap of stones, yet it was long after that frequented by the ignorant and superstitious.'
Names
1 head-name linked to this place ?Capella Sancti Kessogi
Head name
Capella Sancti Kessogi
Place
St Kessog's Chapel, Muthill
Certainty that this name applies to this place
Certain
The status of this name is
Obsolete
Is this a current OS form? ?
No
Is this the original referent of the place?
Yes
Is the association of this name to this object hypothetical?
No
Capella Sancti Kessogi 1539, RMS
Historic formCapella Sancti Kessogi Head nameCapella Sancti Kessogi PlaceSt Kessog's Chapel, Muthill Certainty that this name applies to this placeCertain SourceRMS, iii no. 1895 Date of citation1539 x 1539 Feature named in sourcecapella Notes on the context of this place-nameReprinted 1984 |
Source code
RMS
Source title
Registrum Magni Sigilli (Register of the Great Seal)
Editors
J.M.Thomson et al.
Volume
1-11
Year
1882-1914
Notes
Reprinted 1984
Capella Sancti Kassogy 1542, RMS
Historic formCapella Sancti Kassogy Head nameCapella Sancti Kessogi PlaceSt Kessog's Chapel, Muthill Certainty that this name applies to this placeCertain SourceRMS, iii no. 2825 Date of citation1542 x 1542 Feature named in sourcecapella Notes on the context of this place-nameReprinted 1984 |
Source code
RMS
Source title
Registrum Magni Sigilli (Register of the Great Seal)
Editors
J.M.Thomson et al.
Volume
1-11
Year
1882-1914
Notes
Reprinted 1984
Saints in this place-name
Kessog, Mo Chessóc (ns) (certain)
Kessog (certain)