Inchbraoch, Holy Island of Montrose

Among the demonstrable early Christian sites in Angus there are some which are more prominent than others, which is not to say that this was always the case.  The most famous sites are arguably those which continued to have religious significance in the centuries after their establishment.  Among these we may include Brechin, St Vigeans, Monifieth, and Restenneth. Places like St Vigeans are literally more visible because of the quantity of monumental remains from the early medieval period.

   The criteria for establishing which place was suitable as a religious centre was likely never hard and fast.  Different places became holy places or habitations of Christian monks for a variety of reasons.  The traditional belief that many, if not most, early Christian sites were nothing more than pagan holy places rebranded by the sign of the cross is untenable.  But there are certain aspects of places which did seem to make them suitable as religious power centres. Sites  which were on the boundaries of political regions, or on border areas, were sometimes chosen by early holy men, mindful that they could thereby be at the fulcrum of two sets of tribes or regional authorities. (In Ireland, such places may have been designated as places where cairde, peace treaties, were enacted.) In our area the major example may be Meigle, the Perthshire parish which – to this day – juts like an isthmus into Angus, and which was likely a major Pictish religious and temporal power centre.  Another place may be Dargie/Invergowrie, straddling the later Angus-Perthshire border, a boundary perhaps representing the divide between Pictish provinces or regions.

   One tactic favoured by some wily early medieval churchmen was to inveigle the local warlord into gifting them their stronghold, which could be afterwards converted into a church or a monastery.  The primary example of this in Angus might be Kirkbuddo (Carbuddo), which was allegedly founded by the Irish St Buite in the 5^th century.  (The story of its foundation can be read here.) Again, there are other examples of secular power centres being transformed into churches in Britain.

   Christian foundations such as St Vigeans and  Logie in Dundee were made on prominent sites, hillocks which were prominent local landmarks, and possibly in these cases had ritual and pagan significance of some sort before the coming of the new religion.  Other places, such as Restenneth were islands (or near islands), which again may have had a spiritual significance connected with belief and landscape.

   In this latter category is Inchbrayock, or Inchbraoch, south of Montrose.  Also known as Rossie Island*, this is a site of some obvious importance in the early medieval period. Separated by two channels of the South Esk, this unassuming place was a tidal island until the 1970s, access by foot being possible from the south side to Ferryden at low tide. The north channel facing Montrose was wider and served by a suspension bridge (replaced by a concrete bridge in 1930).  On the Ferryden side there was a stone bridge. Even in the Dark Ages this low lying island must have been, topographically speaking, nondescript.  What made it special, apart?

* Alternative names/spellings for the same place include Inchbrioch and Insula Sancti Bricchi. In the 13th century Registrum of Aberbrothoc the island is called Inchebrioc and Innis sancta brioc.

The Church, Churchyard and The Saint

   The name of the place is possibly the key to its religious beginnings, but it is doubtful whether this puzzle can now be resolved. The clerical author of the Old Statistical Account of the parish in the late 18th century suggested that Inchbrayock means 'Island of Trouts,' but most modern authorities agree that the name means 'Island of St Brioc', and that this saint is the Celtic British churchman of the 5th-6th century who was born in what became Cardiganshire and emigrated to Brittany, via Cornwall. The parish of St Breock in the latter remembers him, as does the town of St Brieuc in Brittany, where he settled. A disciple of the better known St Germanus of Auxerre, it is a mystery why he should be especially remembered on the eastern coast of Pictland. Archibald Scott, however, equates the Brioc of eastern Scotland with another man, also known as St Brigh, associated with Kingennie in Angus and other places (The Pictish Nation, p. 215).

   His other major commemoration in Scotland is as patron of the church of Rothesay on the island of Bute. 'St Brock's Fair' on Bute also honoured the saint and was held on the first Wednesday in May. 'Brux Day Fair,' was held in the 16th century on the island of Cumbrae. The only other remembrance of him seems to be in Dunrod, Kircudbrightshire, whose church was dedicated both to St Mary and St Brioc. The saint's day, in Scotland, was 1st May. The rarity of dedications to this southern saint and the fact that he was commemorated here is interesting.  Suggestions that the place may remember an even more shadowy Irish saint with a similar name are questionable.

   The ancient church on Inchbrayock stood on the south-east side of the island, on a slight mound or eminence which was possibly artificial. The church is recorded as being dedicated in 1243, though it could have been in existence long before this date. It was in ruins by the year 1573 and was demolished some time before 1684. Ochterlonie's Account of the Shire of Forfar, close to the latter date notes:

The river (South Esk) makes ane island betwixt Montrose and Ferredene, where the kirk in old stood, and the whole parish is designed from the island, and is still the buriall place of the parish. They always wait the low water, and carries over their dead then, being almost dry on the south syd when it is low water.

   The ancientness and sanctity of the island seems to be warranted by several accounts: its association with an ancient saint, the elevated position of its church, and the continuance of burial on the island after the church was removed. A further point in favour of its uniqueness are the three Pictish stones found on the island, discussed below. There is another indication of early sancity. Thomas Clancy Owen notes that the Angus name Annatbank must relate to Inchbrayock. The element annaid means 'ancient or prior [church] foundation' and is recognised as a name which is indicative of very early Christian activity. He states: 'it [Annatbank] being an eroded sand bank, can be understood merely as a bank which had fishing or collecting rights belonging to the local andod, Inchbrayock.'

   As mentioned, the chapel on the island was ruinous by the late 16th century.  In fact, the Protestant Superintendent of Angus and the Mearns, John Erskine of Dun (1509-1591), a local man, was accused by some of  physically demolishing the chapel of the island, a charge which he firmly rebutted in a response to the General Assembly of the kirk:

Hearing in my absence that a complaint was given upon me alleging that I had destroyed . . .the kirk of Inchbrayock and joined it to the kirk of Maritoun, I . . . declare to your wisdomes my part in that cause. I never did destroy a parish kirk but would have the reparation of all. As to that kirk ... I, in my visitation, finding it spoiled and broken, did request that the parishioners repair to the kirk of Maritoun, being near them, until their own kirk was bigged, the which I wish  to be done shortly and what is in me lyeth to further the same shall not be omitted. This is the truth . . . and if it be found otherwise I shall build the kirk at my own expenses. If your wisdomes think any fault herein, I am subdued, and shall obey your godly judgement. 

   We have no reason to disbelieve such a scrupulous individual as Erskine, though one reason why he, or other Protestants, would have done away with the kirk here might have been due to its association with ritual or idolatry in some form.  The fact that there was a complaint in the first place shows the regard which locals held the site in.  The medieval church probably stood where the remains of the later vault now lies, but there is no very early medieval architecture on site.

The Pictish Sculptured Stones - the Samson Connection

   Three Pictish stones haves been found at Inchbrayock, one of which is now lost.  Inchbrayock No. 1 is the largest stone and the most complete.  This stone was found in the kirkyard on the island (grid reference NO 709568) and first described by Patrick Chalmers in Ancient Sculptured Monuments of the County of Angus (1849).  Now in Montrose Museum, where it was brought to in 1859, this cross slab may be 9th or 10th century, a dating based partly on the fact that there are few Pictish symbols on the stone.  The exception seems to be the  possible 'double disc' Pictish symbol on the top-left hand of one side.  Similarities to earlier Northumbrian art have been postulated. The figures on this same side, at the bottom, may feature Samson attacking his enemy with a jaw bone  (on the left).  The reference would be to the passage in Judges, chapter 15, 15-16:

And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.

And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.

   The particular significance of this biblical passage in this setting is unknown. The strange figure on the bottom right of this side may represent the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus.  On the top of this side is a hunting scene, familiar from many other Pictish slabs.

   The presence of the biblical hero has given this stone its alternative informal name The Samson Stone.  The link with Samson is conjectured to continue on the other side, with a small figure who is having his hair pulled by a larger figure to his right, supposed by some to represent Delilah.

   But the Samson link is by no means unanimously agreed.   Pictish expert Isabel Henderson commented in The Art of the Picts (2004, p. 143) that:  'With...uncertainty, the dregs of a Samson cycle may be perhaps be seen on the front and back of  cross-slab from Inchbrayock.'  The figure supposed to be Delilah has what appears to be an animal's head, which would not only case doubt on her as a biblical character, but also summons thoughts of similarities to other figures on Pictish stones elsewhere which have human bodies but heads belonging to different creatures.

    Inchbrayock No. 2 was found near the site of the other stone in 1857 while a grave was being dug.  It was also given to Montrose Museum.The front of this incomplete stone displays the upper section of a cross, with each corner holding a symbol which may represent St John the Evangelist.  The rear shows a hunting scene.

   Inchbrayock No. 3, another broken stone, survives only in a photograph and has gone missing since the early 20th century.  It also shows a hunting scene.  It was discovered in 1884 and may in fact represent a detached part of  Inchbrayock No. 2.

The Parish History

   The island and the adjoining part of the mainland formed up the medieval  parish of Inchbraoch, which was joined with the adjacent parish of St Skeoch  (St Skae, or Dunninald) to form Craig parish in 1618. (Inchbrayock was subsequently joined to Montrose parish.) The proximity of the dedication to St Skeoch obviously merits further examination.  The original church dedicated to Skeoch stood on the cliffs.  The historian of the county, Alexander Warden, describes it as follows:

The Kirk of S. Skeoch, Disciple, stood upon a cliff on the coast, some distance to the south of the debouchere of the South Esk. There is still a small graveyard called the Chapel of St Skay, but there are now almost no ruins of any buildings to be seen on the spot. It is a picturesque place, and  interments are still made there whensoever occasion arises. manse, which stood on an adjoining field, is still discernible. [Angus or Forfarshire, volume 3.]

   This saint too is something of a mystery.  Some have equated him with one of the numerous holy men called Eochaid.  Mackinlay (in Influence of  the Pre-Reformation Church on Scottish Place-Names, p. 26) believes that it is significant that this east cost proximity of dedications to St Brioc/St Skeoch is echoed on the west coast island of Bute, where 'there is a Skeoch in Rothesay, and...St Brock Fair...'  

   Significantly or not, the chapel of St Skeoch belonged to the ancient priory of Restenneth near Forfar.  Warden also refers to two ancient chapels in the vicinity, attached to the church of Inchbrayock:

the Chapels of S. Mary and S. Fergus.  Of the latter nothing is known, but the former stood a little to the south of Scurdyness Lighthouse, and close by the ocean. The site is now the burying place of the families of Scott and Renny, who were formerly proprietors of lands in the parish.

   Fergus was an early saint venerated in Angus.  His name occurs on the Drosten Stone at St Vigeans and he was the patron of Glamis parish.

   According to the writer Andrew Jervise:

Inchbrioch, which was a mensal church of the diocese of St. Andrews, was dedicated by Bishop David in 1243, and with its two chapels (possibly S. Mary's and S. Fergus'), is rated at 30 merks in the Taxation of 1275. The first recorded rector of S. Braoch is Sir John of Cadiou, who on 21st Sept., 1328, witnessed a confirmation charter by Robert the Bruce of Walter of Shakloc's gift to Henry of Inieny of the third part of the lands of Inieny. [Epitaphs and Inscriptions, vol. 2, p. 387.]

In Conclusion

   Without archaeological exploration it is impossible to say what the scale of the early religious site was at Inchbraoch - was it a full monastery or a secular site with some religious presence, for instance?  Does the persistence of the use of the burial place on the island, long after the chapel disappeared, signify that it had associations akin to a place of pilgrimage? 

   The associations of the saint Brioc give no clue as to why he should have special association with this place in Scotland: his traditions are the bland, standard miraculous fare of saints' lives. If the stones found on the island point to a possible 9th-10th century religious settlement, was there an earlier establishment connected with the 5th-6th century saint?  Charles Thomas advises that there was an 'extension of monasticism from Ireland to western Scotland in the later sixth century, and to the Western and Northern Isles in the seventh'  (The Early Christian Archaeology of North Britain, p. 35), which may give some context for the foundation period. No extensive work has been done to compare early Christian foundations in eastern Scotland, to my knowledge.  The emphatic use of the saint's name here echoes the local cult site of St Vigeans to the south (and further away Pictish foundations such as St Andrews), and may hint that relics belonging to this saint were honoured at a foundation here.

   I have pointed out the possible coincidence that Bute, an island on the other side of Scotland, has a dedication to St Brioc. 'Holy' islands on the east coast of Scotland these are truly few and far between.  One thinks first of Inchcolm, dedicated to Columba, in the Firth of Forth, but the early history of this place is likewise unknown. 

   Still, the similarity of this island in its landscape to other sacred islands such as Iona has been pointed out by  Fanch Bihan-Gallic; and especially its 'border land' position:

Inchbraoch is a double border: it is the island standing between Montrose and the fishing village of Ferryden, but also the island closing the Basin of Montrose,t is the island standing