Strath of Saints

The history of the Church in the Great Glen - the area around Loch Ness begins in Romano - British times. St. Ninian is reputed to have reached Glen Urqhart, the glen which connects the Great Glen and Loch Ness to Strathglass.

It is likely the Picts of Strathglass had heard rumours of the new religion by the time St. Columba of Iona sailed up Loch Ness to negotiate with King Brude at Inverness.

St. Columba in the Great Glen

It is a matter of speculation as to whether St. Ninian's Christian community in nearby Glen Urqhart had survived when Columba reached the shores of the Ness. Adamnan tells us that the saint encountered a man who had been attacked by the 'water horse' from the sea Loch. Columba had a word with him - and Nessie has been shy and retiring ever since! In Inverness, the saint converted the Pictish king and opened the way for the Strathglass mission.

Saint Baithene at Clachan Comar

Local tradition, borne out by field names, would lead us to reconstruct the following scenario. Columba left his cousin, St. Bean (Baithene, Ban, Bain), to bring the faith to the Picts of Strathglass. The Columban monk set himself up at the local Druid sacred site and holy well, now known as St. Bean's well. From the 6th to the 14c. St. Bean’s work was carried on, although St. Bean himself was called back to Iona, where he was elected Abbot after Columba’s death.

The Valliscaulian Heritage in the Glens

The Valliscaulians were introduced to Scotland by Malvoisin, Bishop of St. Andrews. He considered the Order - an offshoot of the Carthusians, founded by a Carthusian lay brother, who combined eremitical life with manual labour - to be the ideal religious life for the Highlands. The ‘working hermits’ came to Beauly.

The medieval church at Clachan Comar, of which only one wall remains, was built in the late 14c. and served from the monastery at Beauly, becoming a parish church in 1576.

The Auld Religion in Glen Cannich

The last Catholic parish priest of Comar was hunted down: he ran from the church to the river, where he was hung on the public gallows. The laird, Thomas Chisholm died in prison, a confessor to his faith.

In 1618 the parish of Comar was abolished - which meant the parishioners, left to fend for themselves, remained largely Catholic. Catholics met at the Mass stone in Lower Glassburn. They were called by the pipes playing a piece known as the Three Springs which referred to the Holy Trinity.

The Strathglass mission

Around 1670 Fr. Robert Munro, to be known as the Apostle of Strathglass, was appointed to the Highland mission. The second son of the Chisholm was also actively involved in setting up mass centres in the area. The Jesuits took over when Munro was captured. Most famous of these was John Farquaharson, who collected Gaelic poetry. After the '45 he hid up the Glen baptising the locals in the clach-a-bastaidh - now outside Marydale church door.

Eskadale & Marydale Churches

Bishops John and Aeneas Chisholm - the 'fair brothers'- were priests in Strathglass at the time when the area was dubbed 'a nursery of priests.' After the Catholic Restoration, the church at Eskadale was built as the family church of the Frasers, in Upper Strathglass, and soon afterwards Marydale was built on Chisholm land in Lower Strathglass. Both churches were designed by Joseph Hansom, a Gothic Revival architect and colleague of Pugin.