An incised monument (Fig. 943) in the churchyard of Aberdalgie, which is
situated from three to four miles south-west of Perth, commemorates Sir
William Olifurd or Oliphant of Aberdalgie, for ever memorable as the
defender of Stirling Castle against the force of Edward I. in 1304.
Edward conducted the siege in person, and for upwards of three months a
small garrison of men withstood his utmost
[Illustration: FIG. 943.--Monument at Aberdalgie to Sir W. Olifurd.]
power, although he brought all his great resources to bear on the
castle. At length, through exhaustion and famine, and the effect of
Edward’s battering engines, the garrison capitulated, and Olifurd was
sent a prisoner to the Tower. He was one of the forty noblemen who, at
Arbroath Abbey in 1320, signed the famous protest against papal
encroachment. Sir William Olifurd is thus entitled to be regarded as one
of the heroes of his country, and his tomb deserves all the care that
can be bestowed on it. It lay over his grave in the church of
Aberdalgie, and when that structure (not a stone of which now remains)
was taken down it lay exposed to the weather for about seven years
afterwards. In 1780 it was protected by a great stone slab being placed
over it as a roof. This slab is only raised about 12 inches above the
monument, so that it is with great difficulty it can be seen. The figure
is really in better preservation than it appears in the drawing, but it
is hardly possible to make out more of the carving. The stone roof above
it is very insecure, and ought to be attended to; and some better
defence is needed, as the action of the weather is causing the monument
to scale off, and all the architectural decoration will very soon
disappear. The slab requires protection from the sun as much as from the
rain. The Sketch shows that the north or left side, which is in the
shade of the stone roof, is better preserved than the south or right
side, the former not being subject to so great an alternation of wet and
dry as the latter.
The monumental slab is in one stone, and measures 8 feet 2½ inches long
by 4 feet 4 inches wide, and is 6½ inches thick, so that the figure is
about life size. The face is quite destroyed. The canopy over the
figure, which is engraved in the stone, is the best preserved part. This
consists of three cusped arches. Beneath each side arch there is a
shield; the one on the sinister side bears the Oliphant arms, the other
is almost effaced. The side borders have been very richly carved. They
are each divided into four niches, all of which have contained figures,
but only one of them is now entire. The border on the dexter side is
almost all gone.
All round the stone there has been a raised inscription, of which only a
letter or two at top and bottom now remain, and these will, doubtless,
soon scale away. At the four corners the inscription has been blocked by
the emblems of the evangelists, of which only a part of the emblem of
St. Mark now remains, and this is so fragile that it might be picked
away with the finger. There has also been some kind of geometrical
figure in the centre of the inscription, only the beginning of which
remains on one side.
This is one of the finest of the few incised monuments which remain in
Scotland.