[Illustration: FIG. 717.--St. Mary’s Chapel. Plan.]
This chapel, standing in the centre of its churchyard, is situated at
the east end of the lonely loch of Strathbeg, not far from Rattray Head,
a place well known and feared by sailors. It measures internally 45 feet
from east to west by 18 feet 9 inches from north to south (Fig. 717).
The gables are nearly entire, with considerable portions of the side
walls. Almost all the stone dressings within reach have, as usual, been
torn out for common purposes, so that the building is in a tottering
condition, and is greatly robbed of its interest; but enough remains to
show that it is a genuine church of the thirteenth century. It is built
of rough angular stones, with red freestone dressings. In the east wall
(Fig. 718) there are three round-arched and widely splayed windows, the
centre one being the highest and widest, viz., 2 feet wide and,
according to the new statistical account (which appears to be reliable),
11 feet high, and the other two are each 7 feet high. The gable itself
is said to be 32 feet high in its present condition. There appear to
have been north and south doors near the west end, and no other openings
in the side walls. In the west gable there is a window 8 or 10 feet
above the ground, and from 3 to 4 feet wide. The church has thus been
entirely lighted from the east and west ends. It is needless to say
that there are no remains of any of the usual internal features, the
polished stones of such having been carried off, forming too strong a
temptation to be resisted.
[Illustration: FIG. 718.--St. Mary’s Chapel. View from South-West.]
The earliest notice of this chapel is between the years 1214 and 1233,
when William Cumyn, Earl of Buchan, gives certain lands for the yearly
payment of two stones of wax, afterwards given by the Earl “in free alms
for ever to the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the town of Rettre
in Buchan.”[109] Again, in 1451, the chamberlain of the crown lands in
Buchan makes a deduction of six shillings, “paid to the Chaplin of
Rattre.” And in 1460 King James III. confirms a charter for a yearly
payment of five pounds and the third part of a stone of wax to the
chapel of the “Beate Marie Virginis de Ratreff.”[110]