Fortrose Cathedral - roof vaulting

This image shows the rib-vaulted interior of the south aisle of Fortrose Cathedral. The aisle dates from the late-14^th or early-15 ^th century.

The cathedral itself has been in a fairly ruinous state for some time. In Angus J Beaton's 'Illustrated Guide to Fortrose' published in 1885, an illustration dating from 1693 shows the cathedral in much the same condition as it appears today. Despite its dilapidated state, services were still held there at that time.

During the 18^th and 19^th centuries however, the area around the cathedral became a rubbish dump with carts crossing back and forwards across the green. Around 1870 the HM Commission of Woods and Forests finally excavated the site and tidied it up. Today the site is reverent and peaceful.

The excavations in 1870 revealed a coin hoard of over 1,100 Robert III coins, most of which are still in the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Another relic from the Cathedral was a bishop's crozier (staff) which is also in the Museum of Scotland. It was found in 1797 by workmen who managed to open the lid of one of the cathedral's canopied tombs, said to be that of Bishop Robert Cairncross. Unfortunately the workmen were rather heavy-handed as a contemporary account from the 'London Chronicle' states

'In the right hand of the body there was a kind of mace or sceptre of gilded wood (seemingly oak) neatly carved into small Gothic arches at the top'. Unfortunately the poor bishop was not afforded the respect he deserved as the workmen handled him so roughly as to make him crumble into dust and broke his mace'.