Fortrose Cathedral is hidden away in what is now a small hamlet and while it was once a big, although not large, cathedral what is left gives it a sense of being very small, maybe that has something to do with the fact you can not get inside the remains, but have to simply peer through bars. The whole feel of the place is still set in Cathedral Square among what would have once been the cluster of buildings that gathered around a Cathedral - some showing there ecclesiastical roots with crosses etc craved into the stone - although these are now mostly used as housing; deep in Scotland it has a strange English feel about it. It is believed that it was built some time in the 13th century and was the Cathedral for the Diocese of Ross and another of those Cathedrals that was eventually abandoned at the Reformation, the lead from the roof being granted to Lord Ruthven, in 1579, while in 1650 the stone from the rest of the building was moved to Inverness to build Cromwell’s Citadel, leaving nothing bar the South Aisle, which had continued to be used for burials and the small square unimpressive chapter house, possibly left because someone was living in it at the time. Once more there is an impressive stone ceiling, however, the surprise of the visit however was to see a font, not in the place a font would usually be nor as grand as a Cathedral font would be, although it is obviously made of the same red sandstone, so I am presuming it was moved there at a later date for some reason.
