angle buttress shown in Fig. 1447. This small fragment is the only piece
of building, properly so called, which exists. It comprises a plain
opening 6 feet wide by about 7 feet high, leading through a wall about 9
feet thick, and at the corner it is flanked by a massive angle buttress.
The ruin rises to a height of about 25 to 30 feet, and stands about 70
yards south from the church.
The churchyard extends for a distance of about 400 feet from east to
west, by about 280 feet from north to south, and these dimensions in all
probability give an idea of the extent of ground formerly occupied by
the monastery, and which is believed to have been the site of a Roman
camp.
The monastery was founded by Malcolm IV. in 1164, and was the sixth in
the order of construction of the thirteen Cistercian Abbeys in Scotland.
William the Lion granted a site for the abbey of about 50 acres of
land, and also gifted it with the King’s Chase and a portion of waste
land. In 1233 the church was dedicated, under the invocation of the
Blessed Virgin, during the time of Alexander, the eighth abbot. King
Alexander II. was a generous benefactor to the abbey, and amongst the
nobles the Hays of Errol and the Earls of Athole were conspicuous in
their gifts, the latter presenting, amongst other things, timber for the
construction of the buildings. At the Reformation the value of the
estates of the abbey are estimated by Dr. Rogers “as equal to at least
£8000 of present money.”
The buildings, it is believed, were destroyed by the excited multitude
who wrecked the religious houses at Perth and neighbourhood in 1559, and
a portion of the buildings seems to have been occupied as a residence by
Leonard Leslie, the first lay commendator, who died in 1605. In 1606
James VI., desirous to “suppress and extinguish the memorie of the
abbacie,” converted the lands and baronies into a temporal lordship in
favour of James Elphinstone, second son of the first Lord Balmerino,
with the title of Baron Coupar. This lord appears to have made the abbey
his residence, as in 1645 it was assailed by 200 soldiers belonging to
the army of Montrose, in revenge for the support given to the
Covenanters by Elphinstone. Probably this was the finishing blow given
to the buildings, as in 1682 the place is described as “nothing but
rubbish.”
In the Rental Book, from 1480 and onwards, there are several notices of
the Porters, who, from their office, assumed that name as their family
designation, the office having become hereditary. When the last of them
demitted office it is stated in a charter that they had been hereditary
porters from time immemorial, and in the Chamberlain’s Accounts Robert
Porter received a commuted allowance, consequent on the secularisation
of the abbey.
At the west end of the present church there are the remains of some of
the main piers of the nave. As shown by Fig. 1448 these indicate work of
the first pointed period, probably of the thirteenth century.
A broken slab, measuring about 3 feet 3 inches high by 3 feet in breadth
(Fig. 1449), is lying in the churchyard. In the Rental Book it is
referred to as being built into the wall of the church which preceded
the present one (erected about thirty years ago), and as bearing “the
effigies of a priest,” with the inscription on the margin--_Monachus de
Cupro qui obiit anno dni. Millesimo quadringentesimo quqgesio_.[200]
From the present state of the fragment it is evident that little respect
is paid in Coupar to the remains of the ancient abbey.
The two sculptured slabs (Figs. 1450 and 1451) which are at present
lying in a tool-house in all likelihood adorned the base of a mural
tomb. They are evidently works of the end of the fourteenth century or
of the fifteenth century. They are supposed to be remains of a monument
to the Hays of Errol. Fig. 1451 appears to represent a pair who have
been guilty, and are suffering under the prospect of finding themselves
in the hands of the headsman.
[Illustration: FIG. 1448.--Coupar Abbey.