Research by Ken Bruce
Between Perth and Crieff, there was once a rich and historically important abbey. Nowadays, very few know of its existence, far less its history and how the Abbot Maurice played a seminal role in Scotland’s war with the English at Bannockburn. All that remains are some walls and an earth mound.
How it met its end was not like many other abbeys during the Reformation, following John Knox’s preaching in St John’s Kirk in Perth on 11 May 1559. The final demise of Inchaffray Abbey came much later and in rather a gruesome way.
The land that lies along Strathearn was not as fertile and well-drained as it is today. The Gask Ridge, where the Romans had their wooden forts and look-out towers, was more valuable as a safe defence line than you may have thought. It was never intended to stop an army of rampaging Highlanders who had just come down the Sma’ Glen. The Romans did not fear the Highlanders attacking them; they were pretty safe up on the ridge. They knew that they would have had plenty of time to call up reinforcements from their principal forts and encampments. Down below the Gask Ridge, looking towards Glenalmond, it was wet, marshy bogland running almost all the way along Strathearn. No rampaging army, even the best, was going to be able to cross over quickly and attack the Romans. They would have needed to find safe single-file paths through the bog to cross through the valley, except perhaps when it was solidly iced over in the winter.
This marshland area had a burn running through it called the Pow Water (also known as the Pow of Inchaffrey). The Pow water is in two parts, roughly from the Methven Moss, it goes west to the River Earn, just above Innerpeffray Library. To the east, it goes to the River Almond at Lochty/Almondbank. There was talk at one time of making the west part into a canal to service the Abbey.
The Pow water was so important that it was the subject of two parliamentary orders, one Scottish Parliament (pre-union) and another at Westminster. The basic premise was to ensure the landowners in the area maintained and improved the water drainage. Parliamentary charters over the years have resulted in the Pow Water being dug even deeper so that the surrounding area could be drained for farming. Even after completion, the water in the Pow could still rise to 7 feet during times of flooding. The water was drained away to the East into the River Earn and to the West into the River Almond at Lochty.
The Abbey itself was built on the Isles of the Masses (Insula Missarum) at Madderty, about halfway between Perth and Crieff. Masses, means offerings, not a large group of people. This religious site was predated by other groups by more than a few centuries. The site was initially occupied by “brethren” of the old Celtic Church or the Church of the Culdees. It was then run by the brethren of St John of Strathearn, the head of whom was designated in some records as the “Hermit “. The Pow provided well for the monks, including a ‘lovely’ diet of fresh eels from the Pow.
The Abbey was founded and built at Inchaffray around 1200. It was initially funded by the Earl of Strathearn (Abercairny, just east of Crieff). Inchaffray comes from the Gaelic, innis abh reidh (island of the smooth water). It may have been linked to Iona at one time as well. Later, it came under the Augustinian order. In 1275, it was assessed as the fourth richest Augustinian Abbey in Scotland (behind St Andrews, Holyrood, and Scone).
What it is truly famous for is the Abbot Maurice of Inchaffray, Chaplain to Robert the Bruce. Maurice was the one who heard Bruce’s confession and blessed the Scots’ army on the field at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. When, upon seeing this blessing being given, Edward II thought that the Scots were asking for forgiveness, or it is also supposed that he said in surprise that “They pray for mercy!” – “For mercy, yes,” one of his attendants replied, “But from God, not you. These men will conquer or die.”
Bruce was a frequent visitor to these parts, laying siege to Perth about four times. He was defeated at Methven Wood on 19 June 1306, which is just along the road from the Abbey, and he would have known the Abbot well. This defeat was the start of Bruce’s wandering the Highlands and the guerrilla war campaign ( wife captured, spider story, etc). Later, after the Battle of Bannockburn, Bruce gave Maurice the Bishopric of Dunblane.
Note: There is a record of lodgings in Perth from Robert the Bruce’s visit with his pet lion. The keeper was named John and was paid 20 shillings a year from the customs of Perth, which also paid the rent for the ‘domus’ of the lion and a new cage in 1331. Bruce died on 7 June 1329; records for only two years exist for the lion.
Note: William Wallace also knew Methven Wood, he camped there before sacking Kinclaven Castle in 1296. (The battle of Stirling Bridge was in 1297). Wallace was said to have visited Inchbervis Castle often, which was at Stanley, opposite Cambusmichael. A ford across the river here was called Thistle Brig (National Emblem of Scotland, a possible contender source, Viking battle, hint?). Inchbervis Castle was also known as Wallace’s Castle. Wallace would have avoided the fortified city of Perth, gone north from Methven Wood past the Busby farms to Dalcrue, or Almondbank, and crossed the Almond via fords.
Lastly, the gruesome bit, why is the Abbey a ruin? It was not because of the Reformation (Knox etc.), when all the other Abbeys were destroyed. Inchaffray survived this time of turmoil. Its demise came much later, the story goes that a lady, resident in London, filled with the common fear, went, along with her servants in 1665 to Scotland and took up her residence in Inchaffray Abbey (by this time untenanted). She was expecting to find safety and repose. Scarcely had she arrived at her destination than one of her servants died of the disease.
The local inhabitants around heard that the plague was amongst them, and their terror became extreme. They rose en masse, barricaded the doors, and set fire to the building, mercilessly determined to consume every soul within. All perished within the Abbey, save a small dog, which by some means escaped and ran eastwards, perhaps carrying the infection with it.
More Notes:
If you go out the old Crieff Road and turn right, down the hill at Madderty. At the bottom, the road turns right and then left over a small bridge over the Pow. Opposite is a new house built just outside where the Abbey was. If you look hard, you may see the ruins of the Abbey wall. You can also see ruined walls from the other side (parking is difficult). A road was built through it in the 1800’s and a house has been erected in the grounds.
The Abbey seems to be one of the few that survived intact after the Scottish Reformation, it went into decline and was gradually abandoned.
The Pow Water was first dug by locals on the orders of the cannons from Inchaffray Abbey, and later King Robert the Bruce granted royal permission to expand the work.
Abbot Maurice of Inchaffray claimed to have witnessed a miracle whereby the arm bone of Saint Fillan appeared in a previously empty reliquary. Robert the Bruce credited the miracle with providing his subsequent victory on the Bannockburn battlefield. In more thanks to Maurice, he granted the abbey permission to extend the Pow.
The word Pow comes from the Scot’s Language, meaning – pool of water, a shallow or marshy one, a watery or marshy place.
The road to Crieff from Perth originally went out via the Burghmuir Road and along the Gask ridge. It would pass by Innerpeffray and enter Crieff at the lower end of the town. When Kinkell Bridge was built it in 1793 it opened easier travel between the parishes of Findo Gask and Blackford.
The new flood defences (opened in 2018) needed building at Lochty/Almondbank, as all the flood water from the east part of Strathearn regularly overloaded the Pow water at Lochty.
