After the Reformation, it continued to be the parish church of Forfar, where, says Dr. Jamieson, there was only a private chapel, “an aisle of the old church, till it was pulled down a few weeks ago, as they are about to build a new church.”
Fig. 152.—Restennet Priory. Font.
Further particulars of the history of Restennet, and of its early Celtic importance, with a very minute and illustrated description, will be found in the Archæologia Scotica, Vol. V., Part 2. There can be no doubt of the great antiquity of the tower; and, as pointed out by Mr. Galloway in the above paper, its features associate it with Irish architecture. It may, therefore, be classed along with the towers of Abernethy and Brechin; but it is of a ruder, and possibly earlier, type than they are.
ST. REGULUS’, OR ST. RULE’S, St. Andrews, Fifeshire.
This remarkable edifice stands in the ancient churchyard at a distance of fully 100 feet south-east from the Cathedral of St. Andrews (q.v.) St. Regulus’ was, doubtless, the Cathedral Church of St. Andrews before the edifice, afterwards constructed as the Cathedral, and now ruinous, existed.
The early occupation of the site of St. Andrews for religious purposes is referred to in the Introduction.[142] Cellach was the first Bishop of St. Andrews, about the beginning of the tenth century. He was succeeded by ten Culdee Bishops, the last of whom was Fodath, who performed the ceremony of the marriage of Malcolm Canmore and Queen Margaret. The settlement of the Culdees became broken up and partly secularised, and under Bishop Robert (1121-59) Canons regular were introduced in 1144, who gradually absorbed the Culdees into their community.
Dr. Joseph Robertson[143] states it as his opinion that “no one acquainted with the progress of architecture, who diligently peruses the Historia B. Reguli et Fundationis Ecclesiæ S. Andreæ, will have much difficulty in identifying the building [of St. Regulus] with the small ‘basilica’ reared by Bishop Robert, an English Canon regular of the Order of St. Augustine, between the years 1127 and 1144.” Robert, Prior of Scone, was elected Bishop in the reign of Alexander I., but was not consecrated till the reign of David I., in 1138. The passage, referred to by Dr. Robertson is as follows:—
“But before the newly-elected Bishop (Robert, Prior of Scone) was consecrated, King Alexander, who was now in his last illness, left his sole surviving brother, King David (who now is), heir both of the kingdom and of his devotion to the Church and his care of the poor. The undertakings of his late brother he endeavours to carry to completion. He has founded many monasteries for monks, canons, and nuns, and on these he has bestowed many benefactions; while to the servants and handmaids of Christ themselves he has done many acts of kindness, on which we cannot here enlarge. He obtained that the Bishop of St. Andrews, Robert, already mentioned, was consecrated by Thurstan, Archbishop of York. This being done, Robert returned to his see, and