Chapel of St Mary, Rattray

The Chapel of St Mary dates from the 13th century  (the  red granite  stone dated 911 AD is of no significance and arrived in the 19th century),  and is thought to have been built as a private chapel to commemorate a son of William Comyn,  Earl of Buchan and founder of Deer Abbey,  who had drowned in  a nearby well. Between 1214 and 1233 the founding Earl bestowed on the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary an annual rent  of two stone of beeswax from the lands and mill of Strichen and Kindrought - to be paid at Whitsunday. The wax would have been used to make candles to light the church during services. Later, probably at the time of the Reformation in 1560,  this became  monetary rent.

The bleak sandy field on the shore of the Loch of Strathbeg is the site of the lost village of Rattray which lay between the kirk and Castle Hill, the grassy mound on the right. The present road roughly follows the line of the medieval road through the village.

Castle Hill of Rattray which lay to the east of the lost settlement of Rattray  was the site of an ancient castle, probably built as defence against Viking raiders by the Comyn earls, at that time one of the most powerful families in Scotland. The castle ceased to be occupied around 1308 when the Comyns were defeated by Robert the Bruce in battle near Old Meldrum and rapidly fell into ruin.

Nothing remains of the small settlement of Rattray which grew up on the bleak windswept area between the castle and the kirk.  The dwellings were  built from turf, and the inhabitants probably made a living by combining  farming with fishing, the chief catch being cod, much of which was dried and cured.  In 1342 when Sir Archibald Douglas received the Lordship of Rattray  a harbour, known as Stranakeppie  provided a safe anchorage in the bay which at that time was open to the sea but sheltered by a shingle bar. 

Rattray  was raised to  royal burgh status by a Charter of 1563. This was granted by Queen Mary as a means of solving a dispute  between the Keiths (Earls Marischal) and the Hays, (Earls of Errol) over ownership of the settlement. The charter urged the inhabitants to replace their houses with stone dwellings and granted them the rights to build a market cross, to hold a weekly market and two fairs each year.  Despite having Royal Burgh status the settlement failed to flourish,  the turf houses were never replaced by stone dwellings and in 1696 only 17 adults were recording as living there.

The west gable looking out over the loch.

The small rectangular chapel had whinstone walls which were about 1 metre thick and was 17.5 metres long and 5.5 metres wide. The windows were originally faced with sandstone from Dundarg but this has largely disappeared. 

 According to the writer of the Old Statistical Account, in 1720 a furious storm and easterly gale blew huge amounts of sand from the neighbouring dunes into the channel which gave access to the sea from the harbour in the bay. This blocked the entrance to the bay and formed what became the Loch of Strathbeg. The catastrophic storm trapped a vessel loaded with tiles or slates in the loch, much to  the advantage of the farmer at Mains of Haddo who salvaged them  for roofing on the farm. Without the sheltered harbour it became very difficult to earn a living by working boats from the exposed open shore. The village began to decline. Efforts to revive its fortunes were made by Alexander Harvey, who in 1788 bought the Broadlands Estate including Rattray  with money derived from the family plantations in  Antigua and Granada. He  attempted to found a new fishing village at Seatown of Rattray on the seaward side of the mediaeval village. This settlement was so isolated that it rapidly became known as Botany Bay and the inhabitants, who struggled to make a living from the sea,  acquired a reputation for piracy - earned by stealing cargo from ships grounded on the notoriously treacherous Rattray Briggs.  Gradually the Seatown was abandoned. The ruins of the chapel and the surrounding graveyard now form the only real remaining evidence of the burgh. Over the centuries many ships have come to grief on  this dangerous stretch of coast.  Seafarers  who are buried buried in the kirkyard include, 'Thomas McLauchlan, second mate of the Genoa who on Sunday 12 April 1863 at the age of 22 along with John Murray and Robert Morrison lost his life attempting to save the lives of other crew members.' A lighthouse was built at Rattray Head in 1895, reducing the vast number of ships which came to grief on Rattray Briggs.

The three graceful lancet windows in the east gable. The windows would have had wooden shutters which would often have had to be kept closed during services - hence the need for beeswax to make candles. The east end of the rectangular building is railed off and is the burial place of several of the Cumines (Comyns) of Rattray.

It is likely that St Mary's became disused when the first parish church was built at Crimond around 1576.

By 1848 the graveyard had become neglected and was being grazed by livestock from the surrounding farm, the kirkyard wall was, as is recorded on tablets set into its inside face near the gate, rebuilt at the expense of  Alexander Davidson whose father had been tenant farmer at Haddo. Alexander Davidson who had spent several years in both Ceylon and Jamaica died in 1890, and is buried in the kirkyard. 

The kirkyard dyke still has wall steps and horse hooks.

A fine winged soul, representing the soul leaving the body at the moment of death, one of  a pair carved on the ends of a tablestone inside the kirk ruins. The stone is inscribed, 'Here lyes David Tarras son of William Tarras some time in Rottray (sic) and Merchant in and Burgess of Lanark d. Peterhead 18 Feb 1765 in 74th year.'