Kevin Nosferatu: King Nectan

If you venture down the road from Jock’s Lodge in Edinburgh and successfully navigate one of the narrowest pavements known to man, you’ll arrive in Restalrig. There, nestled by Marionville Fire Station on one side and a housing estate on the other, sits the churchyard of St Margaret’s Church. If you are lucky enough to find the gates open and wander on in, you will enter a little haven of peace with lots of ornate and crumbling gravestones, ivy covered tombs and ancient looking trees. The road through this graveyard then leads to the church, where beside it stands St Triduana’s Chapel.

View over graveyard to St Margaret’s Church and St Triduana’s Chapel

St Margaret’s Church and St Triduana’s Chapel

St Triduana’s Chapel was built in the 1400s in the time of James III to enclose the well of St Triduana. The building was of a unique design in that it was a two storey hexagon, the lower storey being the well house and the upper storey being a chapel. At the time the chapel was built it was considered to be a remarkable building and Pope Innocent VIII described it as being a ‘sumptuous new work.’ Only the lower storey now survives as the chapel was destroyed in 1560 during the Reformation. In 1906 the chapel was repaired, and a new roof added to it.

St Triduana’s Chapel

Stairs leading down to chapel entrance

View of St Triduana’s Chapel

Few nowadays have heard of St Triduana, let alone the chapel dedicated to her. She was believed to have accompanied St Regulus to Scotland in the 4^th Century when he brought over the relics of St Andrew. They landed at Kilrymont, which is now known as St Andrews. Triduana then made her way to Rescobie in Angus where she lived a life of reclusive prayer and worship for a while. However, one day she came into contact with Nectan, King of the Picts. On seeing her he was overcome by a violent passion for her and demanded that she be his. In great fear of him she fled but was soon found by a party the King had sent out to search for her. They told her she must return to the King with them.

‘What does so great a prince desire of me, a poor virgin dedicated only to Christ and God?’ She asked of them.

‘He desireth the most excellent beauty of thine eyes, which if he obtain not he will surely die,’ replied the leader of the group.

‘Then what he seeketh he will surely have,’ answered Triduana. And (yes, you’ve guessed it) she plucked out her eyes, skewered them on a branch snapped from a thorny tree and handed that to the King’s men saying – ‘Take that which your Prince desireth.’ They were horrified by this and rode back to the King to present him with Triduana’s gory gift. The King, needless to say, then gave up on his lusty pursuit of Triduana.

After blinding herself Triduana made her way to Restalrig where she lived a life dedicated to fasting and prayer. There she was said to have cured those who were blind or had severe eye problems. On her death she was buried where the church of St Margaret now stands. The spring near to where she lived became a place of pilgrimage soon afterwards, as it was believed the waters that came from it were holy and could cure blindness and diseases of the eyes.