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Dunblane Cathedral
- Historical Introduction
(click on the virtual tour for an architectural
and historical tour of the Cathedral)
 Christianity was first established in Dunblane by Saint Blane around the
year 602. Dunblane Cathedral dates back to the 12th century, most of what stands
being constructed during the bishopric of Clement in the 13th century. Today the
building is maintained by Historic Scotland as a church of the Church of Scotland. A
cathedral in the Church of Scotland, which is presbyterian in constitution, is simply a
parish church like any other, but the Church of Scotland continues to refer to Dunblane,
like its other medieval cathedral churches, as "Cathedral" thus honouring their
role in the development of the Christian witness throughout Scotland's history.
The Roman Catholic Bishopric was founded by the Earl of Strathearn, probably about 1150
(although there were Celtic or Culdee Bishops before this date); but the first Roman
Bishops found very little in the way of buildings and were not able to accomplish much.
When Clement, a Dominican Friar, was appointed Bishop in 1233, he probably found
standing only the Tower (four lower storeys of the present Tower) and a church attached to
the tower, but incomplete. This Church he removed in order to build a larger.
He complained to the Pope that the Cathedral was largely unbuilt, that he had no place to
lay his head, and insufficient revenues to support a Bishopric, and that the services were
conducted by a rural chaplain only. The Pope in 1237 authorised the Bishops of
Glasgow and of Dunkeld to visit Dunblane, and, if they saw fit, to give to the Bishop of
Dunblane a fourth of the tithes of the churches of the diocese, so that he might build his
Cathedral and organise his diocese; and with these monies Clement, before he died in 1258,
was able to build the Lady Chapel and most of the Cathedral largely as it now
stands. For the next 300 years until the Reformation the Cathedral was gradually
filled with more and more elaborate furnishings.
In 1560 the Church of Scotland became reformed or protestant. The use of the
Cathedral was now drastically altered and the congregation needed only the Choir for use
as the parish Church. The roof of the Nave fell in towards the end of the 16th
century and the Nave remained roofless for 300 years, during which the congregation
worshipped in the Choir. In 1889 a great restoration of the whole Cathedral was
begun under the guidance of Sir Rowand Anderson, a leading Scottish architect, when the
Nave was re-roofed and public worship restored in it in 1893. A further restoration
of the Choir was carried out under another noted Scottish architect, Sir Robert Lorimer,
in 1914.
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