Chapel of St Kentigern, Culross

Chapel of St Kentigern, Culross

The chapel of St Kentigern in Culross was founded in 1503 by Robert Blacadder, Archbishop of Glasgow (1484-1508). Kentigern, or Mungo as he is commonly known, was believed to have been born in Culross. According to the Vita St Kentigerni (composed in the twelfth century), the saint’s pregnant mother (Tenew) was cast adrift in a coracle from Aberlady Bay, eventually washing up on the shore near Culross where she gave birth to Kentigern. He was raised under the mentorship of St Serf, before undertaking a mission in the west where he converted the kingdom of Strathclyde. The chapel was located to the south-east of the abbey, close to the shore. Excavations were carried out there in the 1860s, revealingfour skeletons, and a further dig was carried out again in the 1920s by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. It is now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland.

sacredlandscapesoffife

1500

tt27@st-andrews.ac.uk

Site

191

16/09/2021

10/05/2023 09:11:04 pm

(1) Richard Fawcett, The Architecture of the Scottish medieval church, 1100-1560 (New York: Yale University Press, 2011), pp. 356-57 (2) David Beveridge, Culross and Tulliallan; or, Perthshire on Forth, its history and antiquities (Edinburgh, 1885)

cm x cm x cm

current,56.0567502965368,-3.619430064936751;

Chapel of St Kentigern, Culross

TEXT

Building

402

1560?

Catholic

Culross