Scribd
Upload
8 views1 page

History of Dull's Monastic Heritage

The place-name Dull may come from the Gaelic word for "meadow" or may refer to animal snares from a story about the founding of the parish. The parish church sits on the site of an early Christian monastery founded in the 7th century by St. Adomnán. Several early crosses and slabs from the 7th-8th century have been found in the graveyard. The surrounding area was known as the Appin of Dull, referring to the former monastic estate. From the Middle Ages until modern times, the church served as the parish church of the Diocese of Dunkeld.

Uploaded by

mtbrain
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
8 views1 page

History of Dull's Monastic Heritage

The place-name Dull may come from the Gaelic word for "meadow" or may refer to animal snares from a story about the founding of the parish. The parish church sits on the site of an early Christian monastery founded in the 7th century by St. Adomnán. Several early crosses and slabs from the 7th-8th century have been found in the graveyard. The surrounding area was known as the Appin of Dull, referring to the former monastic estate. From the Middle Ages until modern times, the church served as the parish church of the Diocese of Dunkeld.

Uploaded by

mtbrain
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

oponymy and history[edit]

The place-name may mean "meadow" in Gaelic.[2] However, Duncan Campbell relates a traditional
tale in The Lairds of Glenlyon (1886) which connects the Gaelic word dul ("snare") with the withies
on the hearse of St Adomnán snapping, thus deciding his burial-place and the founding of Dull. The
parish church is on the site of an early Christian monastery founded by St Adomnán (Scottish
Gaelic: N. Eònan), Abbot of Iona (died 704). Several early Christian cross-slabs dating to the 7th or
8th century have been discovered in and around the parish graveyard. A slab carved with stylised
warriors and horsemen in the Pictish style, uncovered during grave-digging in the 19th century, is
displayed in the Museum of Scotland, and may have formed part of a wall-relief, or one side of a
box-shrine. A massive font of rough workmanship, preserved by the church door, is also a probable
relic from the early monastic site.
The surrounding district was known as the Appin of Dull, the name deriving from Old
Irish apdaine ("abbacy") referring to the former monastic estate, as with Appin in Argyll, the abbey
lands in that case being those of the major early Christian monastery of Lismore. Four undecorated
crosses, of which three survive, one at Dull itself, and two in the nearby old church at Weem, once
stood around the monastic precinct, defining an area of sanctuary.
From the later Middle Ages to modern times, the church at Dull was a parish church in
the Diocese of Dunkeld. It is not known when the early Christian monastery ceased to function.
In decline for much of the 20th century, with its church and school both going out of use, the small
village has seen the construction of several new houses, and the restoration of older buildings, in the
21st century.

You might also like