Botriphnie Kirk & St. Fumac's Well
By Mrs. Mary Stewart

Over the centuries there have been many different spellings for our parish of Botriphnie. These include Buttruthin and Butruthie in the 13th century; others are Botriphney and Botrochyn.

Reference is made to the meaning of the word "Botriphnie" in the "Chronicles of Keith" where it is said to be derived from the Celtic words "Bo traigh-an" - the river holm or the strath of the cow.

The origins of Christian awareness in Botriphnie are associated with Fumac whose name is still earned on by the well quite near the church. The church had a fairly gentle history. In the last 2 centuries it has enjoyed very long ministries, one of 56 years' another 53 years and yet another 51 years. Since 1930 it has seen union, linking and now an enlarged union with St Rufus in Keith. All this tells a tale of rural depopulation.

The present church dates from 1820 and on the outside you can still see the ring for tethering horses and the loupin stane which riders would have used to help them to mount their horses. Inside the church there is a Laird's loft where traditionally members of the landowning family sat.

The bell dates from the mid-eighteen hundreds and was originally in a belfry in the old church of Keith, now dismantled.

At the back of the church there are a couple of items of historical value. Looking from the communion table, the scooped granite stone on the left was taken from a pre-historic site on Braehead Farm which is situated across from the primary school. On the right is the remaining part of St Fumac's stone, (see below).

The gates to the churchyard date from 1870 and were made by the firm of Sellar, agricultural engineers. The family lived in the parish for 200 years and a stone memorial to them can be found in the churchyard. The ruins of the previous church can still be seen in the churchyard. It dates from 1677 and was dedicated to St Fumac.

SAINT FUMAC

St Fumac's well is situated across from the entrance road to the church down a short paved path. St Fumac, who was working in Botriphnie in the sixth century, was said to have bathed in the well every morning before dressing in green tartan and going round the parish on his hands and knees as a penance, imploring God to protect the parish and parishioners from all plague and pestilence.

According to a "Description of the Parish" from around 1726, an annual fair was held in May, when a wooden image of the saint was taken to the well to carry out the sacred ceremonial washing. Unfortunately, on one occasion when the river Isla was in spate, the wooden image floated downstream, eventually coming to rest at the mouth of the river Deveron, where the people of Banff burned it at the stake in the presence of the parish minister as a "monument of superstition", it is really quite surprising that the wooden image and the ceremonial washing managed to survive the Reformation.

The well fell into disuse, but around the middle 1970's it was reclaimed from the undergrowth and a path laid by members of the congregation under the guidance of Rev J.S.Stephen. Dr Stephen conducted a few local baptisms at the well before retiring in 1983. 

Only a small part of St Fumac's stone has survived and is now kept in the church. The original stone was 5-6 feet high and had a cross on it . Apparently a local blacksmith destroyed the stone in 1840 to use as a hearth for his forge. The bottom part of the cross is still visible on the stone and looks like a bow and arrow which perhaps gives rise to the story in the "Chronicles of Keith" that William Tell's grave is in Botriphnie churchyard and is marked by a stone with a bow and arrow on it!

There is a wealth of historical information on Botriphnie in the Keith Library and the "Chronicles of Keith" opens up the history of the area in great detail.

J.F.S. Gordon - The Book of the Chronicles of Keith, Grange, Ruthven, Cairney & Botriphnie: Events, Places & Persons (Glasgow: Robt. Forrester, 1880)