Dunkeld Cathedral
Diliff / Wikimedia Commons
Beside the River Tay, Dunkeld Cathedral stands partly in ruins and partly in use. Its roofless medieval nave and working parish church sit side by side, each belonging to a different chapter of its history.
Dunkeld was an important religious centre long before the present cathedral was built. Relics associated with St Columba were brought here in the ninth century, strengthening its place in Scotland's early Christian history. Construction of the surviving cathedral extended across much of the later Middle Ages. The Reformation and subsequent changes altered its use, leaving the nave roofless while the eastern choir continued as a church. That choir is still used for worship. Its religious life did not simply end when part of the building fell into ruin.
The contrast between the open nave and enclosed choir is immediately striking. The western tower, Gothic arches and differences in surviving masonry also reveal a building completed and altered over many generations. Its position beside the river and close to the old streets of Dunkeld gives it a setting quite unlike a great city church.
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