St Mahew's Chapel

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St Mahew's Chapel

The St Mahew's Chapel is a church building on the edge of the Scottish town of Cardross . It is on a side street a few hundred meters outside the city. In 1971 St Mahew's Chapel was included in the Scottish Monuments List in the highest category A. The church is still in use today and is the main church of the Roman Catholic Parish St Mahew’s founded in 1978 .

history

The site of today's St Mahew's Chapel has likely been used as a religious site in Scotland since early Christian times. A previous building could be traced back to St Mochta of Louth , who died in 535 . A probably later chapel was mentioned in documents from the 14th century. The building that is preserved today was consecrated in 1467 and probably replaced the chapel that was previously in this place. From 1640 part of the building was used as a school. At the end of the 19th century, St Mahew's Chapel was described as vacant. Extensive restoration work in 1955 put the chapel back in a usable state. It was later used as a prayer room for the nearby St Peter's College .

description

St Mahew's Chapel consists of two elongated buildings lined up in an east-west direction. The western building is illuminated by three simple lattice windows on the south side and one in the north wall. The entrance area is located in the southwest. On the north side there is a small, one-story extension with a pent roof . The building closes with a slate roof . On the west gable sits a small, open sandstone bell tower, which dates from the 1950s and is modeled on the previous tower. The eastern building has two lattice windows in the south facade and one in the gable surface. It closes on both sides with stepped gables . All facades are plastered using the traditional Harling technique.

Inside there is an early Christian cross plate near the entrance . The altar area with the pulpit from the 15th century and a sandstone arch is set up in the east. In addition to a carved depiction of the crucifixion scene, there is also a statue of St. Margaret of Scotland in the chapel . Below the altar area is the Napiers of Kilmahew family crypt .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  2. ↑ a b c Entry on St Mahew's Chapel  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)

Web links

Coordinates: 55 ° 58 ′ 19.2 "  N , 4 ° 39 ′ 29.7"  W.