St Fillan’s Church
Next door to Aberdour Castle is St Fillan’s Church. He was a 7th century abbot of Pittenweem. Coincidentally, I visited Pittenweem last year as noted in Part 134 of this blog. As with all the early Saints, their back-story is scant and surrounded in myth. According to the guide book, St Fillan’s left arm would glow while he wrote. I have no idea how this legend came about, but as a writer I have certainly felt the pain and imagined my own arm glowing when drafting novels! Another story revolves around St Fillan persuading a wolf to take the place of his ox that the wolf had just killed. Apparently, an arm-bone bone believed to belong to St Fillan, was placed in a silver casket and was carried at Bannockburn at the head the army led by Robert the Bruce in 1314. While writing this blog, I’ve discovered that the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh has St Fillan’s Crozier on display. This is a crook or head that was fixed on top of a staff. It had been encased in a protective case called a Coigreach (or Quigrich). From my reading, it suggests this was also taken onto the field at Bannockburn along with the bone relic which is now lost. I will do some more research and also visit the museum to see what more I can find out.
St Fillan’s Church was built about 1140 by the de Mortimers, who owned Aberdour Castle at this time. It is one of the earliest surviving churches in Scotland and is still used to this day. Outside the walled garden of Aberdour Castle, there is a poster on the wall recommending folk visit the church, noting the entrance is on the south side down some steps. This poster also has the headline, ‘Probably is the oldest church in Scotland.’ It probably is.
For those who make a point of spending time in graveyards, the church is surrounded by many headstones from the 1700’s. These are carved with images of mortality and resurrection, along with a note of the trade the deceased made their living from.
If in the area, it’s worth taking a walk down to the beach and looking out over the Firth of Forth. Takes around fifteen minutes and if it’s a clear day you can see all the way to Edinburgh.
The Fiction Factory 