Fortingall

Fortingall Scottish Gaelic:Fartairchill
Cottages in Fortingall
Fortingall Location withinPerth and Kinross
OS grid reference	NN739470
Council area	Perth and Kinross
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ABERFELDY
Postcode district	PH15
Dialling code	01887
Police	Scotland
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
UK Parliament	Perth and North Perthshire
Scottish Parliament	Perthshire North

Fortingall(Scottish Gaelic:Fartairchill) (lit. "Escarpment Church" —i.e. "church at the foot of an escarpment or steep slope" ) is a small village inGlen Lyon,Perthshire,Scotland.Its nearest sizable neighbours areAberfeldyandKenmore.

Local legend claims that it was the birthplace ofPontius Pilate,although he was born well before theRoman conquestand became famous in the biblical account ofJesus's death 30 years before the Romans first reached this part of Scotland.A number of other locations, including villages in Spain and Germany, make similar claims. It is also famous for theFortingall Yew,the village's churchyard yew tree that could be over 5,000 years old, and thus one of the oldest living things in Europe.

Parish church

Fortingall Parish Church

Theparish churchis on an early Christian site, dedicated to Coeddi, bishop ofIona(d. 712), probably founded about 700 AD from Iona itself as a daughter monastery. Though undocumented, crop-marks of surrounding ditched enclosures have been identified from the air, and the church's unusual dedication and fragments of several finely carved cross-slabs preserved in the church all point to an early origin as a major church site. Also preserved in an alcove in the church was an early hand-bell in Irish style (iron with bronze coating), dating from the 7th or 8th century, one of several to have survived in HighlandPerthshire;the bell was stolen in 2017.Several slabs with simple incised crosses (best paralleled at Iona and other west of Scotland sites) and a massive early font are to be seen in the churchyard. The attractive white-harledparish church (built 1901–02), notable for its fine woodwork, is open in summer. ItsArts and Craftsstyle was designed to harmonise with the rest of the village. A permanent display on the cross-slabs and the early church was recently installed in the building. Fortingall has one of the largest collections of early medieval sculpture inScotland.

The yew tree

The Fortingall Yew

TheFortingall Yewis an ancient tree in its own walled enclosure within the village churchyard. Its age has been estimated between 2000 and 9000 years - with the higher estimate putting it in contention of the oldest living tree – perhaps even the oldest living thing – inEurope.Place-name and archaeological evidence hint at anIron Agecult centre at Fortingall, which may have had this tree as its focus. The site was Christianised during theDark Ages,perhaps because it was already a sacred place.

Village planning

The attractive village, with its large hotel adjoining the churchyard, was built in 1890-91 by shipowner andUnionistMP, SirDonald Currie,who bought the Glenlyon Estate - including the village - in 1885. It was designed by the architectJames M MacLarenand built by John McNaughton. The thatched cottages are notable examples of a planned village built in vernacular style (here combining both Lowland Scottish and English influences, notably fromDevon) and are increasingly appreciated as one of the most important examples of 'arts and crafts' vernacular style inScotland.Following roof fires in the 1970s and 1980s, several thatched roofs were converted to tiles and remain so today.The Fortingall Hotel, which was restored to its original appearance in 2006–2007, is an important example of Scottish vernacular revival. It is based on the tower-houses and burgh architecture of the 16th and 17th centuries, but in a modern idiom which anticipates the buildings ofCharles Rennie Mackintosh,whose work MacLaren influenced.

Glenlyon House, and its adjoining Farm and steading, west of the village, were also designed, or largely rebuilt, to MacLaren's designs.

Archaeology

The area immediately surrounding Fortingall has one of the richest concentrations of prehistoricarchaeologicalsites in Scotland, including Càrn nam Marbh,Gaelic'Cairn of the Dead', a re-usedBronze Agetumulusthat is said to have been used as a burial ground forplaguevictims in the 14th century, and a focus for the villagesSamhainfestival. Other sites include the Fortingall stone circle,standing stonesincluding the Bridge of Lyon, 'four-poster' stone settings, 'ring-forts' (massive Iron Age house enclosures), manycup and ring markedstones (including one dug-up, and preserved, in the churchyard) and an extremely well-preserved medieval homestead moat, thought by early antiquarians to be ofRomanorigin because of its regular shape.

Fortingall parish (now linked with Glenlyon) is one of the largest on Scotland, and takes inGlen Lyon,notable for its mountain scenery and many archaeological sites, the country's longest enclosed glen or mountain valley.

Gallery

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  Fortingall Hotel
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  Stone circles

Further reading

• Fraser, D 1973Highland Perthshire,Standard Press, Montrose.
• Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust 2003Fortingall Church and Village,Perth.
• Robertson, N M 1997 'The Carved Stones of Fortingall'inHenry, D (ed)The worm, the germ and the thorn: Pictish and related studies presented to Isabel Henderson,The Pinkfoot Press, Balgavies, Angus, 133–48.
• Stewart, Alexander "A Highland Parish or The History of Fortingall", A Maclaren and Co, Glasgow, 1928