Urgent work is to be carried out on a Perthshire mausoleum after burrowing animals began to expose long-buried remains.
Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust, acting on behalf of the owner, is behind moves to fix the B-listed Graeme of Inchbrakie mausoleum at St Kattan’s Chapel.
The door of the B-listed structure is falling into disrepair and bones within have been disturbed. The trust wants to replace the existing damaged door with an exact copy, reusing all the materials and ironmongery on site.
It also wants to level the interior ground, which has been “badly disturbed by burrowing animals accessing through the damaged door”, and lay geotextile.
That will be covered with a gravel-type material to prevent further damage. Dedicated to the 6th century bishop and confessor St Cattan, the chapel was said to be one of the earliest ecclesiastical foundations in Scotland and originally served as a cell of Inchaffray Abbey. When Aberuthven Parish united with Auchterarder Parish in 1618, St Kattan’s lost its status as a parish church and fell into disrepair.
The Graeme of Inchbrakie mausoleum was one of three mausolea built into the fabric of the ruined chapel during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Should permission be granted by Perth and Kinross Council planners for the work to go ahead, it will further the work of the heritage trust to improve and secure the area’s historic cemeteries.
The trust recently produced a series of leaflets highlighting the age-old sites available to view at graveyards across east Perthshire following the two-year Historic Churchyard Project. They cover the historic graveyards in Meigle, Alyth, Coupar Angus and Collace.
Project officer, Fiona Fisher, said: “Historic churchyards have incredible potential as heritage destinations, for locals and visitors alike. However, many gravestones and monuments are on the point of disintegration and require work so that they can be preserved for posterity, either by recording, conservation or stabilsation, for future generations.”
A project covering Strathearn and Kinross has now been submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund.