Description

The monument consists of a small detached tower built as a bell tower for the church (founded 1626, apparently on a virgin site), sited 0.3km away but 60m lower in the bottom of the valley of the River Findhorn.

The two-storey tower, approximately 4.3m square, is constructed of harled stonework with ashlar dressings and with a slated, double- pitched roof with a stone ridge. The tower was used not only as a belfry but also as a watch tower and local prison, the first two functions making necessary a hilltop site.

The tower is dated 1655 externally, and internally a further plaque displays the monogram MGB for Alexander Brodie of Lethen and his wife Margaret Grant, on whose estate it was situated. It is suggested that the building of the tower may have been a response to attacks by Royalist forces on Brodie, a noted Covenanter. If it is any earlier than this date, it is not greatly so.

The south gable contains both date stone and belfry; the latter has a pyramidal capping and openings in all four sides. The tower is entered at the SE corner and contains a windowless vaulted chamber on the ground floor, together with stairs to the upper floor, which has a chimneypiece in the north wall, flanked by 2 gunloops. There is one further gunloop in the N gable and 3 windows, 2 in the E and one in the W wall, all at first floor level.

The area to be scheduled comprises a square of side 15m, centred on the tower, to contain the tower and an area around it which may provide evidence for activities connected with its construction and use, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as an unusual bell tower of 17th century date, associated with post-Reformation ecclesiastical reorganisation. Study of its standing remains is likely to provide evidence for building practices and ecclesiastical and social organisation during the early modern period.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NH 94 NE 1.

References:

Hay, G. (1957) The architecture of Scottish post-Reformation churches, 1560-1843, Oxford, 173.

MacGibbon, D. and Ross, T. (1892) The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries, 5v, Edinburgh, Vol. 5, 218.

Ritchie, J. B. (1932) The Pageant of Morayland, Elgin, 163-7.
Historic Environment Scotland Properties
Ardclach Bell Tower
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Related Designations

ARDCLACH BELL TOWERLB551
Designation TypeListed Building (A)StatusDesignated

Source: Historic Environment Scotland