Opening times: 1 April to 30 September, open Thursday to Sunday 1.30pm – 4.30pm. 1 October to 31 March CLOSED.
Entry: Free entry.
Access: Street parking, charges apply.
Back in February I went to the Vikingar visitor attraction and the Battle of Largs monument in Largs, Ayrshire, and while there spotted a brown sign for Skelmorlie Aisle. This is something I had never heard of before but coming across things I didn’t know existed is one of the things I like best about doing this site. Unfortunately, Skelmorlie Aisle has limited opening times (see above), but I made a note to come back later, so here I am, back in Largs.
Skelmorlie Aisle is nearly all that remains of Largs Parish Church, a church dedicated to St. Columba that first gets a mention in 1263. The aisle is a later addition, built between 1636 and 1639 by Sir Robert Montgomerie of Skelmorlie, and its purpose was three-fold. One, it was a memorial to Sir Robert’s wife Dame Margaret Douglas, who died in 1624 after falling from her horse and then being kicked by the animal. Two, it was designed to be Sir Robert’s final resting place, and duly joined his wife there in 1651. It was to act as a ‘Laird’s Loft’, that is, a private seating area for the Montgomerie family when they attended church services.
Let’s have a look around…
Skelmorlie Aisle is on the left above, and the arch, now walled-up, that once connected it to Largs Parish Church can be clearly seen. The church was demolished in 1802 but the aisle survived. The structure on the right is the only other part of the church remaining; the memorial on what would have been the exterior wall is to a family called Boyle. This armorial panel above the entrance displays the date the aisle was built flanked by the initials of Robert Montgomerie and Margaret Douglas. The burial aisle was constructed in 1636, the ceiling painted in 1638, and the elaborate triumphal arch added in 1639. The arch is made from local sandstone polished to resemble marble. As well as being a memorial to Dame Margaret Douglas and (later) Sir Robert Montgomerie it also served as a statement of wealth and importance. There are three levels to the Skelmorlie Aisle. The door at the bottom left (with a trapdoor concealing the stairs)leads to the crypt that still houses the remains of Robert and Margaret, plus a third lead-lined coffin whose occupant is unknown. The area on which I’m standing to take this photograph would have been used during church services by family retainers and servants, and the stairs lead up to the Laird’s Loft, where the Montgomerie family would sit. This panels of the painted ceiling is believed to depict Margaret Douglas. Very little is known about Sir Robert and Dame Margaret. She was apparently a noted beauty, and was celebrated in the verse of Alexander Montgomerie, one of the poets in the court of James VI. The bard proclaimed her a “Jem of Jeuels”, but he was a kinsman of Robert’s so might be biased. Robert is said to have been a violent young man who mended his ways following his wife’s death, becoming a pious man who prayed nightly at his wife’s tomb. This piety gave rise to a local legend wherein a warlock summons the Devil to do Sir Robert harm, but both wizard and demon were repelled by the devoutness of the widower’s prayers. The horse in the painting possibly alludes to the manner of Margaret’s death, and below it the artist’s signature (‘J. Stalker) and the year (1838) can be seen. The building at the centre of the above panel is possibly the old Parish Church with the Skelmorlie Aisle prominently featured.
Destination or Diversion?
Entrance to the Skelmorlie Aisle is free but the door is locked and visitors need to call at Largs Museum next door to be shown the aisle by a volunteer guide. My guide gave a short talk about the building, probably lasting no more than fifteen minutes, and I assume this is par for the course. I then spent another fifteen minutes taking photos both inside the aisle and of the surrounding graveyard, and that was it. Skelmorlie Aisle can therefore be classed as no more than a diversion, but can be combined with a visit to Vikingar, the Pencil Monument, a walk around town / along the front, or an ice cream at Nardini’s Cafe to finish.
Regular readers of this site will know I have a soft spot for our landscape’s oldest man-made landmarks, so I’ll admit I got just the tiniest zap of a thrill when I came upon this in the churchyard surrounding Skelmorlie Aisle. It looks like a neolithic chambered tomb, but as far as I can work out these are the slabs from a crouched human burial cist, discovered in nearby Irvine Road in 1906. However, it was only while trying to identify this online that I learned that there is still a chambered cairn in situ in Largs, so I’ll be sure to check that out before the year is out.
