Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/555



A village about eight miles west of Fraserburgh. In the Book of Deer it is written, "Columcille and Drostan son of Cosgrach his pupil came

—Aberdour. Plan.

from I as God had shown to them unto Abbordo-boir and Bede the Pict was mormaer of Buchan before them, and it was he that gave them that

—Aberdour. View from South-West.

Aberdour.

Jamb of Arch to Aisle.

town in freedom for ever from Mormaer and tosech." In these words a scribe, writing in the eleventh or twelfth century, tells of the planting of Christianity in the North about 580. It is probable that the clerics tarried at Aberdour for a time, and founded a monastery on the land which had been granted to them. In later times the parish church was dedicated to St. Drostan, and in 1178 and 1318 there are notices of its erection into a prebend of St. Machar's Cathedral. In 1557 there is a mandate