Ranking Cathedrals, Part 3.

 So the last of the first three is Dunkeld Cathedral, another Church of Scotland, not actually a cathedral.

Photo credit:Dr Richard Murray / Dunkeld Cathedral / CC BY-SA 2.0

Dunkeld is another partially ruined medieval cathedral.  The choir is still roofed and in use as church, while the nave has lost it's roof, but the walls of the nave and aisles still stand, as does the unruined bell tower.  The cathedral contains the tomb of Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan (d. 1405) with a fine effigy.

This is again a place that, while interesting, is not interesting enough to attract me to Dunkeld.  I like ruins, and these look nice, but as a Cathedral it just doesn't do that much for me. The tomb effigy looks interesting, but it's not an uncommon attraction.

In the end I think that while it is more attractive than St Moulag's, the heraldic ceiling of St Machar's is a bigger draw.  So the list now stands at:

1.  St Machar's Cathedral, Aberdeen

2. Dunkeld Cathedral

3.  St Moluag's Cathedral, Lismore.

 

 Up next: Dunblane Cathedral

Ranking Cathdrals, Part 1.

I'm going to start with three Church of Scotland buildings that are not technically Cathedrals, but were historically cathedrals before the Reformation.  None of these were ever ranked in the best Cathedral lists I collated together, and it will be pretty obvious why.

photo credit: Otter under the Gnu Free Document License

 

First, up is St Moluag's Cathedral, on the island Lismore.  St Moluag's is a Church of Scotland congregation, so not technically a cathedral. As you can see it's a pretty modest building.  St Moluag's was the seat of the medieval Diocese of Argyll, which was Scotland's poorest diocese, so St Moluag's was modest to begin with.  All that survives now is the choir, and that in heavily modified form.  There are a few medieval features remaining, mainly doorways, and  few medieval gravestone left in the church yard and in the church itself.

All in all, there's not much here to attract me.  If I were in the neighborhood it might be a way to kill a half hour or so, but unless there's something else on Lismore to attract, me I don't see myself visiting there.

That said, since this is the first cathedral to be rated, it goes to #1.

 The list as it stands is

1.  St Moluag's Cathedral, Lismore.

Next Cathedral in the next post.