Dunkeld Cathedral

Dunkeld Cathedral stands on the north bank of the River Tay, its grey sandstone walls part ruin and part living church. Building began in 1260 on the site of an earlier Culdee monastery and went on in stages until 1501, and that long span shows: Gothic and Norman forms sit side by side across the structure. Stone from the monastic church survives as a reddish streak in the eastern gable, a reminder that Dunkeld had been a religious centre of Alba since the ninth century, when Saint Columba’s relics were said to be kept here. Much of the building was left roofless after the Reformation, when those relics were removed to Ireland. The choir, however, was repaired and serves today as the Church of Scotland parish church, while the nave and tower remain open to the sky. Among those buried within is Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan — the notorious Wolf of Badenoch — who died in 1394. The cathedral also witnessed the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689, fought around its walls between Jacobite Highlanders and government troops. Now a scheduled monument in the care of Historic Environment Scotland, it keeps a small museum of medieval and monastic pieces in its chapter house.