Dornoch - 4

When visiting Dornoch, why not stay at the Dornoch Castle Hotel?



The Castle is almost certainly on the site of the original Bishop’s Palace of St Gilbert, who founded the Cathedral in the early 13th Century, but it is not known when the oldest surviving part of the present building was put up. In 1557 the Palace was given to the Earl of Sutherland by his brother in law, Bishop Robert Stewart. It is clear that the building was erected before that date and may well be of the late 15th Century.

The earliest surviving documentary evidence of the Palace is the Charter of 1557 by which the Bishop Robert appointed the Earl of Sutherland and his heirs to be hereditary Constables for Dornoch “situated in the Irish (Gaelic speaking) Country among the wild, unbridled, untamed and savage Scots”. The appointment was made by the Bishop who was alarmed by the progress of the Lutheran doctrines and wished to safeguard the property of the Church by putting it temporarily in the care of his relations. He cannot have visualised that the Church would never own its property again.

When the building passed into private hands in 1922 it was considerably modernised. Further extensive work was carried out after it became a hotel in 1947. Great care has been taken, however, to maintain the character of the Castle as a stately, historic and comfortable residence. This work continues now with the new owners who took over in June of 2000. They have gone some way to restore some of the former glory to this magnificent and fascinating historic building.

Dornoch - 3

Here we see Dornoch Cathedral.



Dornoch used to be connected to the main railway network at The Mound via a light railway. The railway was opened on 2 June 1902. Stations on the line were Dornoch, Embo, Skelbo, Cambusavie Halt and The Mound Junction. The stations were closed on 13 June 1960.

On 21 December 2000, the pop star Madonna had her son Rocco christened in Dornoch Cathedral, the day before her wedding to Guy Ritchie in nearby Skibo Castle.

On 13 January 2005, Dornoch was granted Fairtrade Town status.

I am delighted to announce that The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh are due to have lunch today at Stirling Castle.

I had a long chat with the Provost of Inverness yesterday - in the food hall of Marks and Spencer!

Dornoch - 2

Dornoch is quite a quiet place - this photo was taken at 12 noon!



Dornoch has the thirteenth-century Dornoch Cathedral, the Old Town Jail, and the previous Bishop's Palace which is now the well-known hotel, Dornoch Castle and a notable golf course, the Royal Dornoch Golf Club, named the 5th best golf course outside the United States in 2005 by Golf Digest magazine. It is also notable as the last place a witch was burnt in Scotland. Her name was Janet Horne; she was tried and condemned to death in 1727. There is a stone, the Witch's Stone, commemorating her death, inscribed with the year 1722. Legendary golf course designer Donald Ross began his career as a greenkeeper on the Royal Dornoch links.

Today is the fourteenth anniversary of my ordination.

Dornoch - 1

Towards the end of June, I made my first visit to Dornoch.



Dornoch is a town and seaside resort, and former Royal burgh in the Highlands of Scotland, on the north shore of the Dornoch Firth, close to where it opens into the Moray Firth to the east. The town is within the Highland local government council area, and within the former county of Sutherland.

The town is near the A9 road, to which it is linked by the A949 and the B9168.

A Happy Fourth of July to all my American readers!

14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our gospel reading for this Sunday is the same as that for the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus - which we celebrated two days ago.



All ye who seek a comfort sure
In trouble and distress,
Whatever sorrow vex the mind,
Or guilt the soul oppress:

Jesus, who gave Himself for you
Upon the Cross to die,
Opens to you His sacred Heart;
O to that Heart draw nigh.

Ye hear how kindly he invites;
Ye hear His words so blest:
“All ye that labour come to Me,
And I will give you rest.”

O Jesus, joy of Saints on high,
Thou hope of sinners here,
Attracted by those loving words
To Thee I life my prayer.

Wash thou my wounds in that dear Blood,
Which forth from Thee doth flow;
New grace, new hope inspire, a new
And better heart bestow.

Happy Sunday!

Tomorrow, we are off to Dornoch.

Fountains Abbey - 12

Here we see one of the lakes in the grounds of Fountains Abbey.



The perfect complement to the Abbey is Studley Royal Water Garden, a Georgian masterpiece of an ornamental green garden adorned with Classical statues and follies.

Once wild and wooded, the valley of the river Skell was transformed into one of England’s most spectacular Georgian water gardens by the Aislabie family.

John Aislabie inherited the Studley Royal estate in 1693. A socially and politically ambitious man, he first became the Tory Member of Parliament for Ripon in 1695 and in 1718 became Chancellor of the Exchequer.

In 1720 disaster struck his career; disgraced by his part in the South Sea Bubble financial scandal, he was expelled from Parliament and disqualified for life from public office. Aislabie returned to Yorkshire and devoted himself to creating a landscape of often breathtaking and ground breaking vision.

After John’s death in 1742, his son William extended his father’s work by purchasing the remains of the Abbey. He also extended the landscaped area in the picturesque romantic style, contrasting with the formality of his father's work. Between them, the two created what is arguably England's most important 18th century Water Garden.

Fountains Abbey - 11

As we meditate on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, here is another lovely photo with the Abbey in the distance.



By the middle of the 13th century it was one of England's richest religious houses and, as well as farming, was mining lead, working iron, quarrying stones and horse breeding. But the seeds of failure lay in the very success of the system. The lay brothers encouraged the monks to extend their estates beyond what was necessary for monastic self-sufficiency.

In the 14th century economic collapse followed bad harvests and Scots raids, and the Black Death exacerbated the effects of financial mismanagement. The community of lay brothers reduced in size, many of the monastic granges were leased out to tenant farmers, and in the late 15th century dairy farming replaced sheep farming.

Despite its financial problems, Fountains Abbey remained of considerable importance in the Cistercian Order. The abbots sat in Parliament and the abbacy of Marmaduke Huby (1495-1526) marked a period of revival.

Fountains once again flourished, but its life was brought to an abrupt end in 1539 by Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. The abbot (Marmaduke Bradley) received a pension of £100 pa, his prior received £8, and 30 monks each received £6.

For a few months after the Dissolution, the Abbey buildings stood empty in the hope of being the site for the cathedral for a new Dales bishopric.

This was not to be, and by 1540 glass and lead from the dismantling of Fountains had found their way to Ripon and York.
The buildings and parts of the estate were sold to Sir Richard Gresham, whose family subsequently sold them on to Stephen Proctor, the builder of Fountains Hall.

Then the abbey passed through several hands until it came into the possession of the Messenger family. In 1767 it was sold for £18,000 to William Aislabie, who landscaped the abbey ruins as a picturesque folly to be viewed from the Water Garden.

Happy Feast!

Earlier today, Her Majesty The Queen officially opened the fourth session of the Scottish Parliament. I provide a link to her speech.