St Clement’s Church
“St Clement’s Church (Scottish Gaelic: Tùr Chliamhainn, meaning Clement’s Tower) is a late fifteenth-century or early sixteenth-century church in Rodel, Harris, Scotland, built for the Chiefs of the MacLeods of Harris. It is dedicated to Pope Clement I. It is sometimes known as Eaglais Roghadail or Rodal Church.”
Architecture
The church was built using local Lewisian gneiss rock. Its ground plan is cruciform and there is a tower at the west end, accessible through a door at the west end of the nave, and a set of stone staircases and wooden ladders. The choir and the sanctuary with the high altar, which used to be separated by the nave by a wooden screen, are located at the opposite east end of the church. In the transepts leading off from the nave on both sides, there are additional chapels, the entrance door points Nord and leads to the nave. The architectural style is essentially that of 1520 to 1550.
In 1528, Alasdair Crotach MacLeod, 8th Chief, prepared for himself a magnificent wall tomb on the south side of the choir – possibly the finest medieval wall tomb in Scotland, being crowned by an arch and ornated by carvings of biblical design. The 9th Chief, Alasadair, or Alexander’s son William, had his grave prepared in the south wall of the nave in 1539. In the south transept, there is a third grave probably belonging to John MacLeod of Minginish, the 10th Chief. There are five more grave slabs leaning against the wall of the north transept. The graveyard surrounding the church contains a number of MacLeod tombs.
History
According to Dean Donald Munro in his 1549 work about the Western Isles, the church was built for the Chiefs of the MacLeods of Harris, who lived in Dunvegan Castle in Skye, probably from about 1520, and is not considered the first church on the site although there is no clear evidence of an older Celtic church.
Munro described the church as a monastery, but as there is no evidence hinting to a monastic community, this expression is believed to refer to a minister, and with it to an important parish church. It was a Catholic church before falling into disuse shortly after its completion around 1560 as a consequence of the reformation, but the churchyard continued to be used as a MacLeod burial site.
The church’s decayed roof was renewed in 1784 by Captain Alexander MacLeod of Berneray, but burned down shortly after and had to be rebuilt once again in 1787.
In the 19th century it was used as a cow byre before being restored by Catherine Herbert Countess of Dunmore in 1873, and in 1913, the tower was rebuilt after being damaged by a lightning strike six years earlier. Today, the church is under the care of Historic Scotland. Notable 17th-century poet Mary Macleod (Mairi Nighean Alasdair Ruaidh) is said to be buried here.”
Wikipedia
Information about photo:
- Location: St. Clements Church, Rodel, Outer Hebrides, Isle of Lewis and Harris, Scotland, United Kingdom
- Date Taken: 2019-08-20
- Camera: Canon EOS 7D Mark II
- Lens: Canon Zoom Lens EF-S 18-200 mm F/3-5.6 IS
- Metering Mode: Center Weighted Average
- Exposure Program: Manual
- Image Quality: JPEG
- F-Stop: f/6.3
- Exposure Time: 1/60 sec
- ISO Speed: ISO-25600
- Focal Length: 18 mm
- Handheld
- Post Processing: Adobe Photoshop CS6
- Photographer: Coreen Kuhn
Thank you very much for taking the time to join me on my travels through Scotland one Photo at a time. I hope you enjoyed it just as much as I did.
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Have a Blessed day
Coreen
PS. ☕ I am busy saving for a few upcoming Landscape Photography Trips to Namibia and a few local National Parks here in South Africa. The most important one is honoring my promise to Dad to go back to Scotland and capture the beautiful landscapes and Puffins. Your help to make these trips a reality would be much appreciated in today’s economy.