The Chapel of St. Mary and St. Nathalan is a ruined chapel overlooking the North Sea immediately north of Stonehaven. The founding of this Christian place of worship is associated with St. Nathalan, who lived circa 650 AD. It was dedicated in 1276 by William Wishart, Bishop of St Andrews, and probably stands on the same site as St Nathalan’s early church. The chapel was never a parish church but was included within the parish of Fetteresso. Several Scottish monarchs, in particular James IV, frequently worshipped here and gave generous donations to the chapel.
The chapel is at the point where the Highland Boundary Fault meets the sea and so is on the dividing line between the highlands and lowlands of Scotland. The Chapel of St. Mary and St. Nathalan is one of the oldest surviving structures in Kincardineshire.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.