The bell that came home to Insch

April 2010

The Old Kirk of St Drostan bell

by Ann Dean

Since the demolition in the 1950s of The Neuk, a handsome 17th century dwelling house in the Square, Insch can claim only one historic building – or rather a ruined part of one – the Old Kirk of St Drostan and its graveyard in the High Street.

A church is known to have been in existence in the 13th century, though there are no records of the building. It is very unlikely that there was a bell on the exterior.

After the Reformation of 1560, the church would have been altered internally for the Protestant form of worship. From before 1607, the minister was a John Logie and it was during his incumbency that the west gable of the church was rebuilt and capped with a very fine bird-cage belfry, with his initials, M.I.L. (Magister Iohannes Logie) and the date 1613 carved there. It was certainly designed for a bell, though there are no references to one having been installed then.

In the early 18th century, St Drostan’s Kirk got its bell. It was inscribed ALBERTVS GELY FECIT ABD 1706 SOLI DEO GLORIA (made by Albert Gely, Aberdeen, 1706: Glory to God alone).

Sunday by Sunday, the bell was rung to call the people of Insch to worship, but it witnessed one event which was far removed from traditional Sunday tranquillity.

During the 1745/6 Jacobite Rising the Tyrie family of Dunnydeer expressed their antagonism toward the Hanoverian King George II, and threatened to shoot the minister when he started praying for that royal family.

The bell did faithful service through nearly two centuries, but by 1880 the fabric of the church was beyond repair. Three years later the congregation moved to the new Parish Church, leaving behind only scant remains of St Drostan’s: one gable wall, and the elaborate belfry, still with the bell.

During World War II, the bell was rung to warn of threatened air-raids; the all-clear signal was given by Mr Anderson the banker, who cycled around the village ringing the old Rothney Council town-crier’s bell.

On VE Day when the nation was celebrating peace, two loons climbed up the gable wall of Old St Drostan’s and tolled the bell, little knowing it was to ring out for the last time. One suspects this form of rejoicing was not approved of by the village worthies, but the loons received no reprimand.

Insch Fire Brigade to the rescue

This daring action was recounted by one of the loons, 64 years after the event, as he remembered the excitement and happiness of the occasion.

In the mid-1950s an enthusiast for all things ecclesiastical, F. C. Eeles, made a study of Aberdeenshire’s old bells. Of the Insch one, he stated that it was about 20 inches in diameter, tuned to the note F sharp, was cracked and disused, and had a much-worn clapper.

By the 1970s it was unsafe to be left hanging from its rotting beam in the belfry, and Insch Fire Brigade detached it carefully and lowered it to the ground.

And then, the bell disappeared.

For over 30 years its disappearance was a mystery. Insch Connection Museum’s trustees felt strongly that the bell was a part of the town’s heritage and efforts were made to track it down.

Following up a rumour that the lost bell had been given to a new church being built in the Parish of Skene, the minister of Skene Church confirmed that the bell was languishing in a local smiddy, discarded and unwanted.

So in the year 2006 – 300 years after Albert Gely cast the bell in Aberdeen – it was returned to Insch. Not to the belfry, recently restored by Aberdeenshire Historic Kirkyards Project, but to the museum. It is complete, down to its worn clapper, and its inscription and decorative work are in good condition.

It is fitting that the prime mover in orchestrating the return of the bell was Margaret Clemo, Insch’s local historian and a trustee of the museum. Her book Historic Insch was reprinted in 2009 and it gave her such pleasure to insert the line: ‘The bell is now in the Insch Connection Museum’.

Ann Dean is the curator and a trustee of Insch Connection Museum. After a career teaching Art, she is absorbed in the study of Scottish history and has written a book, Foudland : Slate Quarriers and Crofters in Aberdeenshire.

This is an article from the April 2010 edition of Leopard Magazine. To read much more like this every month, subscribe to Leopard Magazine.