[Illustration: FIG. 1443.--Auchterarder Church. View from South-West.]
visible except a piscina (Fig. 1442) in the usual place in the south
wall near the east end, which part of the building is walled off as a
tomb house. The piscina is triangular headed, somewhat like the one in
the choir of Paisley Abbey. It is only visible through a chink in the
door of the tomb. There has been some kind of projection in the south
wall near the centre, but owing to vegetation and rubbish (Fig. 1443) it
cannot be properly examined, nor for the same reason can anything be
made out regarding any openings in the south wall. Both of the side
walls are considerably ruined. There is a slightly projecting splayed
base at the east wall, with the usual set-off just below the gable.
The edifice was dedicated to St. Mechessock, and in 1198 the church of
Auchterarder was given by Gilbert, third Earl of Strathearn, to the
Abbey of Inchaffray, but the existing ruin belongs to a much later age.
A well at a short distance south from the church still bears “St.
M‘Kessog’s” name, and on his day (10th March) the principal fair of the
town is held.[198] The church was served by a parochial curate appointed
by the Abbot of Inchaffray.