St Clement's Church, Rodel, Harris

St Clement's Church, Rodel, Harris

St Clement's Church is an early 16th-century building, the outstanding medieval ecclesiastical structure in the Outer Isles. Inside is a monument dated 1528 to the probable founder, Alasdair Crotach (Alexander MacLeod), which is one of the most ambitious and richly carved funerary works of the period in Scotland. The kirkyard contains a series of family aisles and monuments. It is also the burial place of several of the MacLeod chiefs and at least two poets, the better known being Mairi Nighean Alasdair Ruaidh.

The Church

The church was founded, it is said, by Alasdair Crotach, who was also the builder of some work at Dunvegan including the "Fairy Tower". It is late Gothic in style and was influenced by work in contemporary Ireland and, more obviously, by slightly earlier work at Iona rather than that of contemporary Lowland Scotland, reflecting the common cultural link between the Gaelic-speaking areas of Scotland and Ireland which remained intact at this period.

The design is unique for its date in the West Highlands. It is cruciform in plan, with a square tower at the west end where the ground and rock are raised. The building may not be entirely of one continuous construction, as there are inconsistencies — for example, different freestones are used for the transept arches, though both have similar profile mouldings to their shafting, and a pre-existing chapel might have been incorporated. However, most of these inconsistencies more probably point to the work having been ongoing for perhaps several seasons, and perhaps also to reconstruction work that proved necessary when repairs were carried out. There is some exterior sculptural ornament in the manner associated with Ireland, including a female figure of the type known in Ireland as a "sheela na gig" and a male counterpart.

The church was repaired and restored in 1784 and again in 1787 (according to an inscription panel within the church) by Alexander MacLeod, who had in 1779 acquired Harris at a cost of £15,000 from General Norman MacLeod of the Siol Tormod, the ancient line of Harris MacLeods. The new owner was brother and successor to Norman MacLeod of Bernera and had settled on the island in about 1782 or 1783, but died in about 1790. Rodel was restored again in 1873 at the expense of the Countess of Dunmore (according to an inscription panel over the main entrance), and a lesser scheme of renovation was carried out under the supervision of Alexander Ross of Inverness in the 1880s.

The extent of work done in the 1780s is uncertain. In 1786, Knox wrote: "He [MacLeod] has raised, or rather repaired, a very handsome church, out of the ruins of an old monastery, called St Clements," suggesting that Knox understood the building to have been quite ruinous prior to restoration. The report in the Old Statistical Account, published in 1794, relays a tradition that Rodel was an early foundation repaired by Alasdair Crotach and burned by the early Reformers. It then reports: "The walls of this venerable pile remained almost entire and were repaired in 1784 by the late patriotic Alexander MacLeod Esquire of Harris. After the church was roofed and slated and the materials for furnishing it within laid up in it to a considerable value, it unfortunately took fire at night through the carelessness of the carpenters who had left a live coal in it among the timbers. It was soon after this accident roofed, and it is now, though left unfinished since the time of his death, used as one of the principal places in the parish for divine service."

The work by Ross is documented by him in a brief paper. It principally involved re-roofing, cleaning the walls, and general clearing up.

Description

The tower has four storeys. The entrance is above ground level because of the sloping site. The stages are undivided except for a stepped cable moulding at mid-height. There is a corbelled and crenellated parapet of Scots type, though it has been repaired and may have been modified. A pyramidal roof rises from within. There are sculptured panels, particularly over the west door but also placed centrally on each elevation with stepped cable moulding above. At the third tower storey, a doubled roll-moulding of Irish type is present at each angle and terminates at the third- and fourth-floor division with a projecting animal head on three of the four corners (the fourth presumably having been worn away). The detail is picked up intermittently at the top floor and on the parapet but as a single roll-moulding, and this inconsistency, which combines moulded and unmoulded stones, is difficult to explain.

The body of the church has a rectangular plan without architectural distinction between nave and chancel. The narrower transepts are similar to one another in scale and design but are not set directly opposing each other. They reach only to below the main eaves level, and their roofs are integrated with and subordinate to the continuous main roof. The main entrance is at the west end of the north flank.

The church is built of pinned rubble, roughly coursed in areas. There is an intermittent splayed base course, possibly an indication of pre-existing work being reused, for example at the north flank of the nave. Some of the freestone is black and of a type occurring locally, though it may have been imported. It is not seen on the lower parts of the tower and on much of the walling, suggesting that black freestone was available in quantity at the latter stages of building. It was used to polychrome effect on the third storey of the tower at angles and on windows, and on the stepped cable moulding below. It was also used on the sanctuary south window and on the traceried east window, which comprises a spoked wheel set above three lights with cusped heads. This is a simplified variant of, for example, the south choir-aisle east window at Iona Abbey. A replica is installed at Iona, the original being at St Conon's, Loch Awe. Its carved label stops and arch-crown are in light-coloured ashlar, but the pattern is Irish in derivation. Also comparable with Iona are the small cusp-headed lancets used throughout, built for the most part of light-coloured freestone that was imported, possibly from Carsaig in Mull, the quarry that provided the freestone at Iona. The remaining windows, for example those on the south flank, are flat-lintelled. The slate roofs are of a pinkish colour and date from 1873, as do the oak doors at the main entrance and at the tower, the latticed glazing, skews, and rainwater goods. Larger openings are pointed or flat-lintelled. The narrow lights are either as noted above or else flat-lintelled and without freestone dressings. A single lancet on the east end of the north wall has a curious double-pointed head. The lintel and sill of a blocked lancet on the main walling to the west of the north transept, and a flat-headed window alongside above the splayed base course, may be an insertion to judge by the surrounding stonework patterns, which would accord with the suggested reuse of an earlier building.

Interior

The interior walls are of exposed bare rubble. Openings are flat-lintelled or arched above ingoes. The timber arch-braced roof presumably dates from 1873 and rests on corbels of contemporary date. There are early corbels in the sanctuary area. The floor is laid with flagstones of uncertain date but again likely to date from 1873.

There are two medieval mural monuments, each a tomb recess on the south flank, one on each side of the south transept.

The monument to Alasdair Crotach is dated 1528, though he lived until about 1547. Its design is often compared with that of the O'Cahan tomb at Dungiven, County Londonderry, which is of at least a generation earlier, but the similarity is little more than conceptual — an arched recess above a tomb chest on which rests an effigy. The formula was well used elsewhere. Irish examples favoured the use of traceried heads, which was not done at Rodel, and certainly not for reasons of economy, as testified by the wealth of sculptured ornament. The Rodel tomb is unusual in having a series of high-quality carved mural panels depicting holy figures, scenes, and images, including a stylised castle with stepped crenellations of Irish type, a hunting scene, and a Highland galley. Ornament appears both on the wall beneath the arch and on the alternate voussoir stones — the intermediate stones being narrow and black, giving a polychrome effect like that on parts of the tower. The gable-shaped hood-mould above is also black, as is the effigy. The sculptural work has justifiably been described as "the masterpiece of medieval West Highland sculpture."

The main inscription reads: "hic loculus co(m)posuit p(er) d(omi)n(u)m allexa(n)der filius vil(el)mi MacClod (omi)no de du(n)began anno d(omi)ni m ccccc xxviii," which translates as "This tomb was prepared by Lord Alexander, son of Willelmus MacLeod, Lord of Dunvegan, in the year of Our Lord 1528." The names of saints represented on the arch stones are also inscribed. Alasdair Crotach was breaking with tradition by choosing to be buried here rather than in Iona, where the previous chiefs of his clan had till then been buried.

The second tomb recess is anonymous, but there can be little doubt that the person commemorated was William, son and successor to the Alexander MacLeod of Dunvegan commemorated in the monument above. Black freestone is used throughout. It has a round arch, as does the above monument, and is moulded and topped centrally by a gablet. An effigy lies below, which in around 1780 was in the south transept. A black band of masonry on the otherwise plain rubble back wall of the recess contains the following inscription: "hi[c es]t loculu[s co(m)p]osuit p(er) d(omi)n(u) [m] [a]nno d(omi)ni m [cccc]c xx[xi]x," which translates as "This is the tomb prepared by our Lord in the year of Our Lord 1539." Square brackets represent illegible lettering, and rounded brackets represent abbreviations used in the texts.

Other carved stones lie within the church, including a third effigy, formerly also in the south transept, now in the nave north-west corner. This is possibly of John MacLeod of Minginish, who died in 1557. He was a cousin of Alasdair Crotach and succeeded as chief on the death of the William whose probable tomb is noted above. There is no guarantee that the correct effigy was replaced on the tomb. A series of late medieval West Highland carved stones is incorporated in the floor among the flagstones, as well as a memorial dated 1725. Also kept within the church is a wheel-headed cross.

As noted above, the two transept arches are not identical. Black freestone is used for the north transept, and light-coloured stone for the opposite. Whilst the vertical profile mouldings used on each are similar, the arch profiles and profile mouldings are not, the south arch being steeper-sided. A blocked window immediately to its west, which is not visible on the outside, also has black dressings.

The south transept contains the burial place of the poetess Mairi Nighean Alasdair Ruaidh (circa 1615 to circa 1707), also known as Mary MacLeod, who was born at Rodel and connected with the MacLeod aristocracy. She is, traditionally, buried face downwards. The burial place of the hereditary standard bearers of the MacLeod "Fairy Flag" is also reputedly within the church.

A mural stair, entered from a pointed doorway near the centre of the church gable, gives access to the tower, whose ground-floor level is several feet higher than that of the nave. An opening above, now blocked, formerly opened from the tower into the nave. A marble panel commemorates the 1787 restoration by Alexander MacLeod.

Kirkyard

The kirkyard contains a series of burial aisles, mostly from the 18th century, with others towards the north-west and north from the 19th century. Two aisles linked to one another at one corner are similar. They are of ashlar and topped by low balustrades. The first, closest to the kirkyard west wall, belongs to the MacLeods and is probably from the early 18th century, or at least existed by 1738, the date of one recorded death on a marble side panel. The centre panel is in a corniced and bolection-moulded frame. Its inscription is much worn. There is also a memorial to Donald MacLeod of Berneray, who died in 1738 aged 90, and who had been out in 1745 to 1746. The interior walls are of harled rubble, and the balusters are diagonally set. The second aisle is harled with ashlar dressings and also from the 18th century, possibly around 1709. It contains a 19th-century, possibly replacement, panel to Sir Norman MacLeod of Berneray (1614 to 1709), who had fought at Worcester in 1651, when the MacLeods were decimated fighting on the Royalist side to such an extent that the MacLeods were excused military duty for a generation. The panel is also inscribed "a generous patron of Gaelic culture, closely associated with the bardess Mary MacLeod." That part of the text is unlikely to date from around 1707. The balusters are mostly replacements, presumably installed when the panel was made.

An aisle of similar type is at the south end of the kirkyard and commemorates the MacDonald family. A plain enclosure to the south-east of the church is of uncertain date. There are also 19th-century enclosures with cast-iron railings.

Close to the east end of the north wall is the headstone of the bard and evangelist Iain Gobha na Hearadh (Iain or John Morison), born at Rodel in 1790 according to his headstone, which was erected long after his death. However, the date circa 1796 has been suggested. He died in 1852 at Leacklee.

A rubble dyke encloses the kirkyard and may, at least in part, preserve the medieval precinct boundary.