St Clement's Parish Church Dingwall, Ross-shire

Kirk of Clans
Davidson and Mackenzie.

Clan Davidson Coat of Arms The chief of clan Davidson is the Davidson of Tulloch. Henry, the third Davidson laird of Tulloch was the landowner who paid the greatest proportion of the cost of building St Clement's. It is to the Davidsons' castle of Tulloch, about a mile away, that the church presents its false facade.

Today that castle of the Davidsons and St Clement's maintain but a remote connection. Tulloch Castle Hotel, on occasion, provides a historic venue for the wedding reception of couples, who have celebrated marriage in the historic kirk.

 

Clan MacKenzie Coat of ArmsClan MacKenzieClan Mackenzie has an even older association with the parish church of Dingwall than has clan Davidson. The Earls of Seaforth, until Jacobitism resulted in the forfeiture of their properties, were the patrons of the kirk of Dingwall with the right to present a minister.

The ancestors of the present chief of clan Mackenzie, the Earl of Cromartie, are buried in the kirkyard, as are the families of three other significant Mackenzie lairds, those of Fairburn, Davochmaluag and Mountgerald. The burial site of the first Earl of Cromartie, who died in 1714, is marked by a monument adjacent to the kirkyard.

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