Holy Rude

On Wednesday we had one of our monthly (well, during the summer months) 'Daytrippers' visits to local places of interest. This month we visited the Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling.

According to the church's website "The Church of the Holy Rude is the second oldest building in Stirling after the castle. It was founded in 1129 during the reign of David I (1124 - 1153) as the parish church of Stirling."

It is definitely an imposing building from the outside and the interior is quite impressive also. One of the fascinating features is the "Guildry Window" (pictured) which has as its centrepiece the inverted figure 4: a symbol denoting the merchants who traded in the city.

An adjacent information board explains how the artist has used the number four throughout the window design. I can't remember all the details, but the symbols for the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) appear near the top of the window while, with a clever play on words, there is a representation of the River Forth across the bottom of the window with Stirling's location marked by the burgh seal in blue.

The coats of arms of some of the European cities with which trade was carried out, e.g. Bergen, Antwerp and others, also appear on this magnificent window.

It was definitely one of the highlights for me of visiting this church, which has a long and very interesting history.