Old St Peters Church
Brief History of Old St Peter’s Church, ThursoThis ruined, roofless church is a Scheduled Monument of national importance.It is the oldest building in Thurso, with a medieval, 12th century core, which includes the nave, the vaulted apse and an unusual offset tower. A second storey was added to the tower to accommodate a courtroom with a prison below.It was the Head Kirk linked to Orkney in Norse times and was subsequently brought under the Scottish Crown. Some of the Bishops met an untimely end, so the cathedral was built at Dornoch instead of Thurso. Bishop John’s tongue was cut off at Scrabster with a knife, which was then thrust into his eyes. Bishop Adam raised the teinds payable by Caithness farmers and in 1222, they descended on his residence near Halkirk and burned down the house with the bishop inside. The popular version is that the bishop was thrown onto his kitchen fire or even boiled in butter for imposing a butter tax. So the next bishop, Gilbert Murray left Caithness and built his cathedral in Dornoch. When Dornoch Cathedral was reduced to ruins in the early 1600s, by the Sinclairs and the Mackays, Thurso became the principal church of a diocese which stretched from the Pentland Firth to Dornoch. The church was enlarged in the early 17th century to incorporate the north, or Town Aisle and also a south aisle, which has a magnificent window opening with stone tracery and mullions. These aisles are offset to one another, which is a curiosity. The church fell into disrepair and was abandoned for a new parish church in the New Town, with the opening in 1833. It was a much larger church for a growing population and is still the parish church to this day. Two Runic stones, grave markers with inscriptions, were found indicating a Christian burial ground existed before the Medieval core and possibly an earlier church too. One of these stones can be seen in Caithness Horizons, Thurso’s museum.
Previous Page
|
Main Menu
Master Page 72
Photo 6
Photo 7
Photo 8
Photo 9
Photo 10
Photo 11
Photo 12
Photo 13
Photo14
Photo 15
Photo 16
Photo 17
Page 0
Home
Menu
Peter 1
Peter 2
Google
Contact
Events
Thurso
Events 2
Photo 3
Photo 4
Photo 5
Photo 1
Photo 2
Page 30
Thurso Info 2
Page 33
Page 34
Page 35
Page 36
Photo 18
Page 37
Photo 19
Page 38
Photo 20
Page 39
Page 40
Page 41
Page 42
Page 43
Page 44
Page 45
Page 46
Page 47
Page 48
Page 49
Page 50
Page 51
Page 52
Page 53
Page 54
Page 55
Page 56
Page 57
Page 58
Page 59
Page 60
Page 61
Article Page
Page 63
Page 64
Page 65
Page 66
Page 67
Page 68
Page 69
Page 70
Links
Page 71
