Old Forvie kirk

This afternoon I walked across Forvie Moor to the remains of the medieval settlement of Forvie. This is what remains of the 12th century kirk lying amid the dunes. It has just been repointed with traditional lime mortar, rather than with modern cement.

Forvie was abandoned after being blanketed in sand during a great storm in 1413. According to local legend, this was the result of three sisters placing a curse on the village. They had, it is said, been cast adrift in a leaky boat, after the death of their father, the Laird, to deny them their inheritance, as heirs to the land. In a fit of rage, they screamed a curse: 

"Let nocht bee funde in Furvye's glebes
Bot thystl, bente and sande" 

(Let nothing be found in Forvie's fields
But thistles, marram grass and sand.)

When the sisters eventually reached dry land their curse whipped up a storm that continued for nine days and nights. By the time that it ended the village and its fields had disappeared under great dunes of sand and they were never re-occupied. The congregation from Foveran Parish Church hold an annual service in the ruins. I presume that they hold a Church of Scotland service which might not be welcomed by the ghosts of the old village, they being of a Roman Catholic bent.