The Intim Review. Volume 46, No 2, Autumn 1995, 91-115

Thomas Owen ClancyAnnat in Scotland and the origins of the parishThe Gaelic place-name element annaid. often appearing as 'Annat* or"Annet". has long been accepted as one of a number of early churchterms present in Scottish placenames. though its precise meaning has notalways been clear. Watson was cautious about the term, noting themeaning of 'the patron saint's church, or a church that contains therelics of the founder", and going on to say:

This is the meaning in Ireland, and it is all we have to go upon. Howfar it held with regard to Scotland is hard to say: our Annats arenumerous, but as a rule they appear to have been places of no particularimportance.1

The most comprehensive treatment of the term was given by AidanMacDonald in 1973 .2 As well as a complete listing and mapping of thenames then known, he considered the possible meaning of the word. LikeWatson, he was bothered by the remoteness of annaid names from majormonastic sites (his interpretation of what is implied in the definition ofthe patron saint's church ). His investigations led him to conclude:

The Annat names denote. I suggest, churches of any kind which wereabandoned and subsequently replaced, but not. for probably a variety ofreasons, at the same site.

..

An annaid means, therefore, 'the oldchurch (-site)'.3

He dated the large-scale abandonment of churches without reuse to theninth- and tenth-century Viking attacks. Since 1973. MacDonaldsexplanation has held a somewhat cautious acceptance.4 The need forsuch an explanation—on the face of it a rather complicated meaning fora placename—rests on the frequency of the term, the anonymity andseeming remoteness of many of the locations of annaid names, and thecontention that they therefore cannot represent the 'mother churches"indicated by medieval Gaelic definitions of the term in Irish sources. It isthe purpose of this article to point to some major misapprehensions

t. W.J. Watson. History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1926) [Watson.('PNS\. 250-1. The definitions he gives are based on the legal glosses given below, cf. note 20.

2. .Aldan MacDonald. ""'Annat' in Scotland: A Provisional Review". Scottish Studies. 17 (1973).135-46. The annaid names given in the text will be listed with their number in MacDonald s list,pp. 140-4.

3. MacDonald. " 'Annat '. 139.4. J. MacOueea .SV. Nynia (Edinburgh. 1990). 29-30, 7.3. 127: A Macquarrie. 'The Life of St.

Serf.//?. 44 (1993). 133.

92 Thomas Owen (lancywithin this argument, and to suggest a more active and importantmeaning for the annaid names.

Annaid. as has been frequently stated, comes from the Old Gaelicanddit. which is cautiously thought to derive from Latin ant(i)tatem(< antiquitatem. an oblique case of antiqidtas). initially meaning"ancient/ prior foundation".5 This original meaning may well have beenrooted in the age of the churches in question, and their being the firstfoundations in a particular area or by a particular person. MacDonaldconcentrated on this idea of ancientness in explaining his proposedmeaning for the temi in Scotland.

I think that anddit. whatever its etymology, and whatever the nicetiesof its precise technical meaning, or meanings, had often, at least inpractice, the connotation old church", simply because the most

important churches—especially the mother churches and. if not thesame, those containing the relics of the relevant founder saint—wouldusually be older than dependent churches: the original foundations, infact.. .I think that it is with this meaning alone that the term came intouse as a place-name, divorced from its original narrower context andstripped of its other legal and technical qualifications.6

It will be clear that much of MacDonald's analysis rests on a perceivedgap between the witness of the Irish legal sources and the possibilitiessuggested by the distribution pattern of place names on the ground in

Scotland.But the major problem in applying the Irish definitions to the

Scottish evidence (where, unlike Ireland, anddit became a toponymic)has been a misapprehension about the nature of the anddit as a 'motherchurch", and the fixedness of scholars on the monastic nature of theGaelic church. That annaid names cannot refer exclusively to the primechurches of so-called "monastic paruchiae' is obvious, since there is no

correlation between major monastic foundations and annaid names.7However, it is not at all clear that monasteries, major ones or otherw ise,are what is envisaged by the sources. More generally, recent decadeshave seen a major revision in our understanding of the nature of the earlychurch in Ireland, particularly with regard to pastoral provision and theplace of monasticism in society. The very existence of the monastic

5. Dictionary of the lush Language (Royal Irish Academy. Duhlin. 1913-) [DIL]. 1. anäöit. J.Yendryes. Lexiqne etynmlogique Je I'IrlanJais ancien

.

A (Dublin Paris. 1960) s.v. anddit: D.McManus. A chronology of the Latin loan-words in early Irish'. Erin. 34 (1983). 61(n. 118). 63.66: see C. Etchingham. The implications ofparttchta'. Erin. 44 (1993). 154 tor discussion.

6. MacDonald. -Annat' ". 138-9.7. With a tew exceptions. Ton na h-Annaid near Bunessan in Mull (52) may have been linked in

some way with Iona.

ANNAT ANI) TIE ORIGINS OF THE PARISH 93

paruchia' has been called into question, and in the light of this sea-

change, it is necessary to review the envisaged structure of the church inIreland, before turning to the specific early sources for the term andoit.

Recent scholarship, concentrating on the evidence of seventh- andeighth-century legal material, has drawn attention to the comprehensivesystem of pastoral care envisaged there, and to the continuinginvolvement of episcopal and extra-monastic structures in the running ofthis pastoral system.1* The three most important prescriptive texts in thisrevision are the Latin ('ollectio C 'anonum Hibernensis. dating probablyfrom the end of the seventh and beginning of the eighth century: theeighth-century Gaelic secular legal tract Corns Bescnai: and the eighth-century ecclesiastical tract, also in Gaelic. Riagail Phdtraic9 The firstof these appears to have been compiled by two clerics, one from Dainnisin the south of Ireland and the other from Iona. while the latter two textsboth have connections with Armagh. A different side of the revision ofthe ecclesiastical history of Ireland stems from greater scholarlyattention to another set of Armagh documents, the notes of BishopTirechan and the so-called Adddamenta found in the Book of Armagh 10

These sources both contain detailed lists of an extensive range of bothmajor and minor churches, their putative origins, and their relationshipto Annagh. What follows is an attempt to give merely the basic shape ofthe church envisaged by this scholarship: I make no pretence to

comprehensiveness. My summary inevitably papers over deep-seateddisagreements about both fundamentals and details of church structure,and yokes scholars w ith different visions of the early church to the same

plough.

X. Essential studies include D. () Corrain. The early Irish churches: some aspects of organization',in I). () Corrain (ed.). Irish Antiquity: Essays and Studies Presented to ProfessorM. J. O Kell)-(Cork. 19X1). .127-41: R. Sharpe. Some problems concerning the organization of the church inearly medieval Ireland'. Peritia. 3 (19X4). 230-70. Sharpe. "Churches and communities in earlymedieval Ireland', in Blair and Sharpe (eds.). Pastoral ('are before the Parish (Leicester. 1992).81-109: T. Charles-Edwards. The pastoral role of the church in the early Irish laws', ibid.. 63-X0: C. Etchingham. The early Irish church: some observations on pastoral care and dues'. Erin.42 (1991). 99-118: Etchingham, "Implications', passim: W. Davies. "The myth of the CelticChurch', in X. Edwards an A. Lane (eds ). The Early Church m Wales and the West (Oxford.1992). 12-21. esp. 14-16 and 19-20.

9. ('ollectio ('anonum Hibernensis: F.W.H. Wasserschieben. Die irische Kanonensammlung.(Leipzig. 1885). and see M. Lapidge and R. Sharpe. A Bibliography ofCeltic-Latin Literature400-1200 (Dublin. 1985): Corns Bescnai: D.A. Binchy. Corpus Iuris Hibermci. 6 vols.(Dublin. 1978) [CIH] 520.1-536.27. 903.37-905.9. 1812.3.3-1821.27 (=Ancient Laws ofIreland (Dublin. 1865-1901) [ALI] iii.3-79): Riagail Phdtraic: CIH 2129.6-2130.37. J.Ü.O'Keefle. The Rule of Patrick'. Erin. 1 (1904). 216-24. On these and other prescriptive texts',see Charles-Edwards. Church in the early Irish laws', appendix. 78-80.

10. L. Bieler. The Patrician Texts in the Book ofArmagh (Dublin. 1979) 122-79: for date andprovenance, see pp.35-52.

94 Thomas Owen (lancyIt is hard to gainsay that some of the legal sources indicate that

the Irish church desired pastoral care to be universal and comprehensive.Corns Bescnai. it has been pointed out, envisages a contractualrelationship between laity and church, in which the people provide thechurch with material sustenance, in the form of tithes and the like,and the church provides baptism, communion, mass, preaching andintercession for the dead.11 Riagail Phätraic is more forceful in itsprescriptions:

It falls on the souls of the men of Ireland owing to the testament ofPatrick that each tuath have a chief bishop for ordination of theirclergy, for consecration of their churches, and to give spiritualguidance to lords and rulers of churches, for sanctifying and blessingtheir children after baptism.. .For there is no place in heaven for thesoul of a person who is not baptised by a proper baptism beforeeverything (else), so that it falls on the souls (of the men) of Irelandwith their lords and their nobles and their rulers of churches that therebe baptism and communion and the singing of intercession by everychurch for its lawful manaig: for there is a great curse and maledictionof Patrick with the saints of Ireland on every lord and every manachwho does not enforce on his own particular church baptism andcommunion and the singing of intercession.12

The use of the term manach (pi. manaig) here leaves the question of theuniversality of provision open to debate, since its possible meaningsrange at least from 'monk' to 'lay church tenant'. Colrnan Etchinghamsuggests that while in theory pastoral care was provided universally, inpractice only the close relationship between church tenants and theirlandlords could ensure the functioning of the exchange of material goodsand spiritual needs.13 Thomas Charles-Edwards has left the issuesomewhat more open, while Richard Sharpe suggests that the context ofuniversality of provision in these passages means that the term manachhere is more or less equivalent to the term parishioner.14 It should be saidthat it is difficult to imagine the situation of the lay person who was nota manach vis-ä-vis the church, and equally difficult to see why thatsituation, anomalous and problematic as it would be, is not accountedfor in the church laws we have from Ireland if it was as prevalent as

11. Charles-Edwards. "Pastoral role". 70-1: Etchingham, "Pastoral care and dues', 104-5.12. O Keeffe. "Rule of Patrick'. §§1. 5: translation mine.13. "Pastoral care and dues', esp. 116-18.14. Charles-Edwards, "Church in early Irish laws', 70-1, esp. n.39; Sharpe, 'Churches and

communities'. 102. One may note in addition the text edited in W. Reeves. 'On the Ceti De".Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, 24 (1864), 214, which refers to the manaig. forwhom the church-priest is responsible as a confessor, as "men, boys, women and girls'.

ANNAT AMD THE ORIGINS OF THE PARISH 95

Etchinghams scenario necessitates. Whatever the exact make-up of theirconstituents, however, it is clear that the nature of churches and theirfunctions in early medieval Ireland has been misunderstood by placingtoo heavy an emphasis on the monastic life. As Charles-Edwards pointsout: 'The picture of the early Irish church...is of a church under strongpressure from the laity to provide adequate, and more than adequate,pastoral care.' Within this picture, 'it remains the priest who is thecentral figure in the Irish church as perceived by the laws'.15

The place of monasteries within this system is a more complicatedissue. While the monastic impulse (an ascetic one of withdrawal fromsociety) and the pastoral imperative (of spiritual care within theChristian community) are theoretically distinct,16 in practice it seems

clear that monasteries played their part in the provision of pastoral carealongside local churches, and that in many cases the leaders of thechurch on a local level are to be found based in monasteries. RichardSharpe sums up the evidence in favour of a complex, integrated churchworking in the interests of local communities:

For the sixth, seventh and eighth centuries the evidence of the legalsources, of Riagail Phatraic, of Tirechan, of the terminologicaldistinctions in the canon law and in placenames, all comes together tosuggest an organisation in which mother-churches served as the centresof pastoral care, and that this ministry was provided at the most locallevel through small churches with no more than one priest. At the same

time there were, without doubt, houses of monks or nuns devoted to thereligious life, and there were probably many foundations where monksand priests combined the religious life with a pastoral role.17

As the passage ofRiagail Phatraic quoted above makes clear, thebasic unit for this system of pastoral care seems to have been the tüath.a unit which could on occasion be very small indeed. This systemdemands a peppering of the landscape with a chief bishop in every tüath.and by implication other bishops below him. The relationship betweenterritoriality and pastoral care is inescapable in the sources, and hasforced scholars to call into question the prevalence of monasticparuchiae or federations. The model of Iona and the Columban familiaprovides clear evidence of such a federation at work, but there has beenin the past perhaps too great an eagerness to create a model of monastic

15. Charles-Edwards. "Church in the early Irish laws', at 76 and 73 respectively.16. For a discussion of the distinction between pastoral and monastic roles in early Iona, see T. O.

Clancv and (1. Markus. Iona: the Earliest Poetry of a Celtic Monastery (Edinburgh, 1995).23-4.'17. Sharpe. "Churches and communities". 101.

% Thomas Owen (lancyOrganisation out of Ionas arguably exceptional situation.18 Certainly,with relation to the term paruchia. Etchingham concludes that 'while theauthority of a leading church over its subsidiaries was important, theessence of the phenomenon was rather jurisdiction—exercised orclaimed—over a region and its community.'19 Moreover, in a

forthcoming paper he argues forcefully for the involvement of bishopswith territorial jurisdiction throughout the early medieval period inIreland. He summarises:

The key term in the Latin prescriptions is paruchia. There are somehints that this sphere might be co-extensive with the tüath. while othersources indicate that the typical bishop's sway reached beyond theboundaries of a single tüath or plehs. One may postulate diversity inpractice, and perhaps a tendency to consolidate smaller jurisdictionalunits into a larger domain, over which the typical bishop presided.20

All these issues of jurisdiction, pastoral provision and organisation areessential to the analysis of the meaning and function of the andoit withinthe early Irish church, to which we should now turn.

Both the etymology proposed above, and the definitions found inearly Irish legal material suggest that the primary meaning of andoit is achurch which has prior claim or precedence over other churches.Etchingham notes:

A translation mother-church' seems appropriate, in view of thefollowing glosses'. Andoit ./'. eclais doet [=do-fet] in adi, as cenn 7 istuiside .;. tüs i.e. a church which takes precedence of another, it ishead and it is pre-eminent, i.e. precedence", and annoit./'. a mhi taisiinn erUnna "i.e. in which are the relics of the founder'.21

I will return in due course to the issue of the relationship of the erlam(the founder or patron saint) to the andoit. First, we should establishwhat is meant by precedence. The canonical law text to which the abovedefinitions are glosses, the Old Irish Corns Bescnai. involves a questionof the selection of the ruler of a church, setting out the various parties tothe selection: each fine, each manche, each andoit iar n-urdliged."every kindred, every church vassalage, every 'mother-church".

18. On these issues see particularly Sharpe. Some problems". 243-7. Etchingham. Implications'.passim.

19. Etchingham. Implications'. 162.20. Etchingham. Bishops in the early Irish church: a re-assessment', Stadia Hibermca. 28 (1994).

forthcoming. (I am grateful to Colman Etchingham for sending me a typescript of this article.)21. Etchingham. "Implications'. 154. the quotes are from legal glosses. CIH 620.34. 979.17. As he

notes, the medieval Gaelic lawyers etymologised the term not as meaning "ancient", but as

containing the elements a ndo-fel. "that which takes precedence".

ANNAT AND THE ORIGINS OF THE PARISH 97

according to prior claim".22 In the context of his discussion ofecclesiastical jurisdiction. Etchingham states: 'It appears that CörusBescnai credits a mother-church" with a right to provide the rulers of itsdependent churches, contingent on the failure of local elements toproduce a suitable candidate.'23 He gives a concrete example of this inaction, when discussing a passage in the Additamenta in the Book ofArmagh which seems to imply that for the church of Drumlease in Co.Leitrim. the andöit was Armagh, which should be resorted to in case ofother options fading in selecting the church ruler.24

We should not take from this, however, that the andöd was

necessarily larger than, or territorially separate from its dependants. Thetwo examples we have of churches described as andöd in early sourcesboth refer to comparatively small foundations, whose precedence can

only have been a local one. One of the references is in an early (probablyeighth-century) source, the Additamenta:

Slechtid Isserninus du Patrice fora manchi 7 a andoöit, 7 duhbeirPatrice du epscop Fith 7 dabeir-side du maccaib Cathhath, 7 congaiblethu Äth Fithot.Isserninus submits to Patrick with respect to his church clientage andhis mother-church, and Patrick granted them to bishop Fith and he[Bishop Fith] granted them to the sons of Cathboth. and along withthem founds Äth Fithot [Aghade, Co. Carlow].25

The other is a reference in a much later text, the Gaelic Life of StBerach:

Is ami dano ruccadh anti näemh Berach ag hrathair a mhathair A.('ruimther Fraoch, mac ('arthaigh, i nGurt na Luachra a ccomhfhocusC/uana Conmaicne. Ocus ata annoid 7 cros annsan ionadh sin; 7 ataan feefora ruccadh naemh Berach. Ocus ro edhhair Cruimther Fraochan ferann sin iartain do Bherach.Now St Berach was born in the house of his mother's brother, Fraechthe Presbyter, son of Carthach. in Gort na Luachra [Gortnalougher. Co.Leitrim], near Cluain Conmaicne [Cloone, Co. Leitrim], And in thatplace there is (now) a mother-church and a cross, and the stone onwhich St. Berach was born. And Presbyter Fraech subsequently offeredthis estate to Berach.26

22. CIH 530.9. quoted and translated by Etchingham, 'Implications", 153-4.23. On this, see also CIH 1820.16.24. Etchingham. "Implications'. 155-60.25. L. Bieler. Patrician Texts in the Book ofArmagh (Dublin, 1979) 176. Translation mine.26. Plummer. Bethada Ndem nErenn: Lives ofIrish Saints. (Oxford, 1910. repr. 1968) i. 26; ii. 25.

On this Life's Scottish relevance, see B T. Hudson, "Kings and Church in early Scotland".Scottish Historical Review. 73 (1994). 149.

B

9S Thomas Owen (lancy

Although little is known about the subsequent history of either place(Cluain Conmaicne had an airchinnech (church ruler) in 1101.according to AFM). what both have in common is that they are smallerchurches, and that their personnel are essentially pastoral. Presumably,though it cannot be definitely established, the churches towards whomthey exercised the role of mother-church were still smaller dependentchapels or churches. In the commentaries to one of the law tracts, asection dealing with churches which have forfeited their rights throughnegligence or disrepute reinforces this picture of local churches with a

superior at a church called an andöit by reference to the rebuke by theah annoid of the airchinnech. the local church head, if he is a lay-man.27

The role of an andoit church in a situation which is arguablyfairly localised can best be seen in the discussion by the medievalcommentators on ('6ms Bescnai of the legitimate movement of a personfrom one church to another and its consequences for the burial of theindividual concerned.28 Here, the text appears to be referring to lay-folk,for it sees them moving from their baptismal or original church {eclaisbunuid) to an andöi t-^-positing motives like famine, failure, andpilgrimage—and dying there.29 The text then discusses how the burialfees or death-dues are to be divided between the eclais bunuid ('churchof origin", by implication the church to which he belonged in a fairlyparochial sense) and the andoit. It also discusses what happens if hisheir moves to yet another, neighbouring church in the same paruchia(compaircheM>). The best demonstration of the possible proximity ofandoit churches comes in the subsequent discussion, which considerswhere a man is to be buried if his father is buried in one andoit and hisgrandfather in another.11

The other eighth-century text which forms the basis of the recentrevision of views on church structure. Riagal Phdtraic, may give us

some further clue as to the andöit's funding and status in this system. Ina variant from the text edited by 0"Keeffe, but represented both in a

fragment in the Book ofLismore and in an excerpt contained in anotherecclesiastical text in Lebar Brecc. we are told of than annoiti "theandöit's third", some sort of revenue due to the 'mother-church" of a

community. It is worth quoting the passage more fully, for it is one ofthe texts which give us the greatest sense of the scale of provision

27. CTH 2.4-9 (-ALI v.122-3).28. CTH 1818.1.1-28 (=ALI iii. 64-7).29. Oilman Etchingham notes, however, (personal communication), that he sees this discussion as

referring to manaig in the specific sense of church tenants.30. This term is discussed by Etchingham. Implications". 157.31. CIH 1818.26-28 (=AU. iii. 66-7).

ANNAT AND THE ORIGINS OF THE PARISH 99

envisioned by the eighth- and ninth-century church:Soeracl eclaisi De: co mhathis ocus comna ocus gahail n-ecnairce, comacaih do legend, co n-idpairt chuirp Crist for cech n-altoir. Ni dligiddechmadu, na ho chendaith, na trian annoiti, na dire sedit do inainih,niina hel a frithfolad thechta na h-eclaisi innte, do hathis ocus

chonmai, ocus gahail n-ecnairce a inanach etir hiu ocus marhu ocuscorroih oifrendfor a/toir i ndomnaigih ocus sollamnaib, ocus corrahutaidine oga cech a/toir dih. Mach eclais oc na hia a techta ni dlig Iandire eclaise De acht is uaim thagut ocus latrand a h-ainm la (fist.The ennobling of a church of God (lies in) baptism and communionand the singing of the intercession, with students for reading, with theoffering of the body of Christ upon every altar. It is not entitled totithes, nor to a heriot cow. nor to the third of an anddit, nor to thepayment of a set from treasures, unless its reciprocal duties of thechurch are in it. with regard to baptism, and communion and singingof intercession for her manaig*2 both living and dead, and there is mass

upon every altar on Sundays and solemnities, and there is properfurniture on each altar. No church which does not have its properequipment is entitled to the full tribute of the church of God. but 'a denof thieves and robbers" is its name according to Christ.33

The precise meaning of trian annoiti in this text is difficult to determine,though it may refer to the death-dues mentioned above in the context of aman who moves from one church to another. In that discussion we aretold: "When someone goes in a legitimate departure from the originalchurch, and that one dies at an anddit, and has left an heir, two thirds ofhis cennaithe (death dues?) are owed to the original church, and a thirdto the anddit.'M The discussion of churches which forfeit their rightsmentioned above provides another possibility. There, the unlawfulchurch is due a third of the penalty due to an empty church, dependenton its status. The distribution of the third is as follows:

32. A translation of manaig, usually monastic tenants', would beg too many questions in thecontext. Note Richard Sharpe's comment on the equivalent passage in the Riagal Phatraicproper: Moreover. Riagail Phatraic uses the word manach of everyone to whom a particularchurch owes pastoral care and from whom the church receives tithes and other dues. ..(T]he wordtherefore has extended its semantic range to something like 'parishioner'. The word for monk hadcome to be used of a layman in a reciprocal pastoral relationship with his local church.' (Sharpe.'Churches and communities". 102). But see Charles-Edwards, "Pastoral role". 70 n.39:Etchingham. Pastoral care and dues", passim.

33. This is from Lehar Brecc. edited in Reeves. 'Ceii De", 211-12, slightly emended, translationmine. For the Book ofLismore fragment, see W. Stokes, Lives of the Saints from the Book ofLismore ((Mord. 1890). 135. andef. p.359.

34. CIH 1818. 16-18 ( =ALI iii. 64-7). Translation mine. My thanks are due to Colmän Etchinghamfor suggestions (via personal communication) about the meaning of cennaithe here, though we

differ as to the envisaged pastoral context of the passage.

100 Thomas Owen (lancyA third of the third to the head of the andoit. and a third to the poor ofthe church, if there are poor in it. and if not, its being given to the cellDe : and the third third to the poor of the andoit.

In vet a further scenario, if a pious outsider should sue for the neglect ofa church, or for its being empty, a third of the penalty comes to theandoit. and two thirds go to the poor of the original church.35 It couldfollow, therefore, that in contexts similar to those of death dues andpenalties imposed on subordinate churches, the andoit was due a

traditional third share of the revenue.At any rate, these passages seem to bind the term andoit firmly

into a context of local pastoral provision, even if on occasion themother-church' in question may have been a larger, monastically-oriented establishment like Clonmacnoise or Iona. It follows that whenwe tum to the evidence of the Scottish placenames, we need not. on thebasis of Irish legal sources and other references, be concerned about therelative obscurity of annaid sites. Nor should we be looking for an

explanation belonging to a structure of federated monasteries. Rather weshould be looking for a term which describes a church in a superiorrelationship to others, but still potentially functioning at a local level,and involved in the provision of pastoral care, and more specifically asfar as the last few references are concerned, in receipt of certain pastoraldues both from its constituents and its subordinate churches.

Turning briefly now to the relationship of the andoit to the erlam.the most explicit linkage of andoit and erlam is in the gloss on CornsBescnai quoted above, describing the andoit as the place where the relicsof the erlam lie.36 I believe too much stress has been put in the past onthe erlam as founder, rather than local patron saint, the implicit originalmeaning.37 Thus the gloss a mbi taise inn erloma may be translated 'inwhich are the relics of the patron", and though taise originally means

corpse", we know that relics of saints could often be distributed amongthe churches claiming foundation by them, or simply their patronage. Wemay note that possession of the relics of a saint—presumably often thefounder saint, but not always—was one of the prerequisites of a 'free" or"noble" church:

35. CIH 2.36-3.13 (-.ALI v.124-7).36. CIH 979.17.37. See the hill discussion of erlam in a forthcoming article hy Thomas Charles-Edwards. 'Erlam:

the patron-saint of an Irish church", in R. Sharpe and A. Thacker (eds.). Local Saints and Local('hutches. I am grateful to both Thomas Charles-Edwards and Richard Sharpe for allowing me tosee this article in advance of publication.

ANNAT AND THE ORIGINS OF THE PARISH 101

What are the good qualifications ennobling a church? It is not difficult:the shrine of a religious man (martarlaic ßreöin). the relics of saints(reilgi naeh), divine scripture, a sinless superior, devout manaig™ theseven gifts of the Holy Ghost, the seven grades of the church with theirdivisions and with their proper functions being in it: people praying forthose who serve it: serving people obedient with regard to seekingpermission and to bell and psalm and prior and sacrament; penitentsattending the sacrifice under the direction of a confessor with pioussayings...39

The editor of the law tract from which this is taken speculates on theconnection between this fully equipped church, holding the relics of asaint, and the andöit. I believe that this must be correct. Separate from,though sometimes closely related to the andöit in considerations of rightsand successions was the fine erlama, the kin of the patron—presumablynot his physical successors, but the descendants of the family fromwhich he came. Their involvement in cases of disputed succession doesnot really affect the analysis of the andöd as a church with superiorlocal jurisdiction and. by association, the erlam as the local patron saint.

As we turn to the Scottish evidence, then, we should be aware thatthe Irish laws point in the direction of andöd being a flexible technicalterm for a church in a superior relationship to others, possessing therelics of the patron saint, entitled to a share of pastoral dues, and havinga responsibility for the maintenance of subordinate churches and for theprovision of pastoral care. Although this may in some cases apply to

large churches with scattered and widespread jurisdictions, like Armagh,in most cases this apparatus would appear to be in place at a local level.When we mm to Scottish evidence, then, we should consider whetherthis sort of hub of local pastoral care does not suit the position of theannaid names. Hence, rather than the distribution of monastic houses inearly Scotland, we must instead investigate the parishes of medievalScotland and what came before them.

One other important consideration should be taken into accountwith regard to the distribution of the annaid names in Scotland and theirrelationship to named churches. Most of the annaid names are in factcompounds with annaid, on the line of Cladh na h-Annait/Annaide.burial ground of the andöit' (38, 39, 51),40 Tobair na h-AnnahVAnnaide. "well of the andöit' (43, 44, 53); or Scots names like Annat

38. The editor translates monks', but for reasons given above (n.32), I prefer to leave the termuntranslated here.

39. L. Breatnach. 'The first third ofBretha Nemed Toisech', Eriu, 40 (1989), 8-9.40. The numbers quoted in the text refer to the list provided in MacDonald, "Annaf", 140-4.

102 Thomas Owen ClancyHill (1. 6. 47. 48. 59. 60). Annatbank (49). Manifestly, these placesneed not themselves be the places referred to as the annaid\ equally theymay express their relationship, by property, use or general proximity, tothe local mother church". We should not necessarily expect to findevidence of church-sites at the location of such names, but perhapssomewhere else, even sometimes at some distance. Thus, Cladh na h-Annaide is the burial ground41 belonging to the pre-eminent church ofthe local community, the church of the erlam. Annat Hill is the hillbelonging to the anddit church, perhaps for grazing or other agriculturalreasons. The numerous occurrences of Achadh na h-Annaide and itsScots equivalents (2. 11. 20. 21. 23, 25, 28, 34, 38, 56?, 57?, 63) mayrefer to fields devoted to revenues for the church, or simply given over toits use. Two of the clearest demonstrations of the proprietorial nature ofthis terminology are Pethannot in Kincardineshire (17), and Pinannot inAyrshire (4). where both pelt and peighinn are known to have land-unitmeanings. Bade na h-Annaide is likely to have a similar sense (14, 15).Such a scheme is entirely appropriate to the more administrative andlocal milieu of the term anddit.

This kind of connection between older nomenclature and theproperty of local churches can be demonstrated, albeit with other terms,in late medieval records. In 1580, for instance, James VI presented thevicarage of Kilcalmonell in Knapdale to Hector MacAllister, along with"the lands of Kilcolmanell called Ballanecle of the old extent of twomarks with the mill, aqueduct, and astricted multures of the same, theacre called DalnascenkilL and the acre lying around the chapel ofSkibinche. belonging to the vicarage..."42 Here we see the chief parishchurch being supported by properties called Ballanecle (Balinakill, near

Clachan?), and Dalnascenkill (Dal na Seanchill43). Both these church-terms undoubtedly refer to Kilcalmonell, and make clear the use ofdetached lands to support the local pastoral arrangements. The churchitselfwas probably sited on one of these steads, Balinakill.44

This observation clears the annat-field of many troublesomestones. It makes sense, for instance, of the small complex of names nearTorrin in Skye. Tobair na h-Annait and Clach na h-Annait (44). Both

41. Or possibly the boundary. See discussion below.42. Origines Parochiales Scotiae, 2 parts in 3 vols (Edinburgh, 1851-5) [OPS], H.ii, 822.4.3. senchell is taken to be another early church term in Ireland, like domnach. It is not common in

Scotland, and its attachment to a probable anddit or mother church here is potentially significant.See Sharpe. "Churches and communities", 93.

44. OPS H i. 29. It is noted there that Balinakill appears on early maps also as Balnaheglish.

ANNAT AND THE ORIGINS OF THE PARISH 103

must refer to Kilbride. the nearby dedication.45 Their exact proximity tothe unlocated church-site is an irrelevance: one name denotes Kilbride'swell, and the other a stone which may have been a boundary mark. So.too. the case of Longannet raised by both MacQueen and Macquarrie46becomes instantly explicable. Longannet is not an earlier church,abandoned after the foundation of Culross. It is lann na h-annaide. 'theclearing/field of the anddd'. and the andod in question is. of course.Culross itself. And the two interesting south-west examples raised byMacQueen fall into place: Annat Hill in Kirkinner parish (1).presumably belonging to Kirkinner itself; and Cairnhandy in Ardwellparish, which presumably marked the boundary of the andod. perhapsKillasser.47 The name Annat Bank, in Angus (49), which troubledMacDonald. it being an eroded sand bank, can be understood merely as

a bank which had fishing or collecting rights belonging to the localandod. Inchbrayock.48

The problematic names remain, then, the uncompounded annaidnames, many of which are near but not at the sites of known churches.49Many of these are farms, and it should be stressed that it is possible thatsome of them could well be shortened forms of names like Annat Farm.Annat Land, ultimately derived from a Gaelic name like bade na li-onnaide. Indeed, many of them appear earliest in the form 'thelands/farms/steadings of Annat*. etc. The proximity of many of these toknown churches may suggest that those churches are the annaidean inquestion.

To test the water for the relationship between annaid names,medieval parishes, and named church sites, we will need to look at a

variety of cases, dealing with areas with varying levels ofdocumentation. First we will examine the case of Badenoch andStrathspey, and then look at a few names in Perthshire. Both these areashave early documentation and have been examined with regard to theorigins of parochial organisation. Finally we will look at some WestHighland evidence, mainly from Lorn and Knapdale.

It is the east of Scotland which provides the securest medievalevidence. Both Moray and Perthshire have been studied recently becausetheir extensive twelfth- and thirteenth-century records give the hope of

45. The medieval parish was called Kilchrist or Strath, but Kilbride is likely to have been the originalchurch (see OPS H i. 344).

46. MacQueen. .Sr. Nynia. 127 n56: Macquarrie. "St. Serf". 133.47. MacQueen. .S'r. Nynia. 30. Cairnhandy was not in MacDonald's list.48. For Gaelic laws on rights to both sea-drift and fishing at estuaries, see F. Kelly, A Guide to Early

Irish Law (Dublin. 1988). 276-7.49. MacDonald. "'Annat137.

104 Thomas Owen (lancyrecovering the beginnings of the medieval church structure and theorigins of the parish.50 The studies of both Geoffrey Barrow and JohnRogers suggest, in Barrow's words, a 'mixture of innovation andsurvival" in the origins of parish units. Both seem to concur in seeing theparish as being based on an essentially secular unit, with the churchwhich forms the hub of the medieval parish often having a long history.Rogers summarises:

The forms taken by parishes were determined to a very great extent bythe pre-existing patterns of settlement and secular organisation.Similarly, churches which became parochial had. in many cases, a longhistory as local estate churches before the twelfth century. The parishunits and communities of twelfth century Perthshire were largely thealready established local units and communities in a new ecclesiasticalguise.51

Barrow sees more of the signs of the pre-parochial system in Badenochand Strathspey. There the probable existence of a large number of small,pre-twelfth century chapels and churches in addition to the foundationswhich became the parish churches leads him to speculate on parishformation. It is worth quoting him extensively.

The evidence for early ecclesiastical settlement in Badenoch andStrathspey, in particular the documents relating to Stratha'an. throwwelcome light on the question of how the church was endowed andsupported in the pre-parochial period, and how the various ruralcommunities were provided with spiritual administration... Instead ofenvisaging the creation of parish churches being accompanied by theirdeliberate endowment with half-davochs or davochs52 lyingconveniently near to hand. I would suggest that at some remote periodthere was an intention, not invariably realised but effective in manycases, to provide a place of worship, where mass could be offered andthe faithful baptised and buried, in many of the davochs and even inmany half-davochs. In the process of parish-formation, largely duringthe twelfth and thirteenth centuries, certain of these places ofworship—we may perhaps think of them as 'davoch churches' or half-davoch churches"—were selected, for one reason or another, as suitablefor parochial status...Of the remaining places of worship, some would

50. (i.W.S. Barrow. Badenoch and Strathspey. 1130-1312: 2: the Church". Northern Scotland. 9(1989). 1-16: John M. Rogers. "The Formation of the Parish Unit and Community in Perthshire'(unpuh. PhD thesis. University of Edinburgh. 1992). I am grateful to Dr. Dauvit Broun foralerting me to Prof. Barrow's article.

51. Rogers. "Parish 1 'nit and Community'. 5.52. The davoch (<( iaelic Jabach, vat. tub ) was a Scottish land-unit used for assessment ofmilitary

service and other renders. See Barrow. Kingship and Unity: ScotlanJ 1000-1306 (Edinburgh.1981). 15. 173.

ANNAT AND THE ORIGINS OF THE PARISH 105

remain as dependent chapels often associated with a half-davoch or

davoch. while others, many of which have perhaps left no trace save an

ephemeral burial-site or sculptured stone, were allowed to disappear.Such a hypothesis would help to account, incidentally, for the verylarge number of ecclesiastical place-names in till, *egles-, cladh etc.which have survived in record, tradition and current use. far in excessof the total of known parishes.53

Though he does not go into detail. Rogers suggests a less haphazardorigin for the parish churches themselves:

It may also be the case that the formation of parishes utilised existinglocal churches because of an established relationship to and statuswithin the territorial communities which became their parishes.54

Both authors point to a pre-parochial structure which I believe isexplicable from the evidence already cited from Ireland. The greatnumber of local church-names in Ireland, and the older andöd churcheswith their loose pastoral jurisdiction, makes considerable sense of thepattern of dedications, particularly in Badenoch and Strathspey. So, too.the emphasis both scholars put on secular community as the basis for theactual parish unit matches the emphasis in the Irish laws on thecorrespondence of structures of pastoral care and the tüath, though hereapplied at a more local level yet. In Badenoch and Strathspey therelationship between secular divisions and the patron saint of the parishis in evidence, found in epithets like Sgire Mo-Luaig (Cromdale parish)and Sgire Drostan (Aberlour). both using the borrowed term sgire (<OEscire). originally a secular administrative unit. Interestingly, it becamethe main word in Scottish Gaelic for 'parish".55

As to annaid in both areas, there is some evidence of it. though itis sporadic. Both the northern examples are called Auchnahannet. aname which as we have seen may be at some remove from its referent.One is in Cromdale parish (20). and the other in Duthil (21).56 In eithercase the name may refer to a field belonging to the andöd church, laterthe parish church, but there is no firmer evidence. In the case of theCromdale Auchnahannet. however. Watson notes the proximity of a wellcalled Tobar an Domhnaich57. which may contain the early church termdomnach. a term which is rare in Scotland, but belongs to the earliest

53. Barrow. Badenoch and Strathspey.

9-10.54. Rogers. "Parish 1 'nit and Community', 84.55. Barrow. Badenoch and Strathspey'. 6. 8: idem. The Kingdom ofthe Scots (London. 1973) ch. 1.56. Watson. (YW.V. 252: Barrow. "Badenoch and Strathspey". 7.57. Watson. ('PMS". 252. He interprets it as 'Sunday's well". There is another Tobar Domhnaich near

Rothes (N.I2749). He also notes the presence of a ruined circular enclosure at Auchnannet.

C

106 Thomas Owen (lancyStratum of church names in Ireland. Sharpe states. Tt is now generallyaccepted that domnach and particularly domnach mör designated achurch of status, almost certainly the status of a mother-church, that is achurch which was the primary centre of pastoral care within an area.*58This field and well in Moray, then, may belong to a site designated bytwo "mother church" terms, and thus the centre of its local pastoralcommunity.

There are only three cmnaid names in the area of Perthshirecovered by John Rogers" study, but all three seem to correspond quiteclosely to the later parish churches. Scone is the most obvious of thethree Near Scone Abbey the Annaty Bum (10) flows into the Tay, andWatson has analysed its name as being for 'All! (or Glais) na h-Annaide',59 Scone is undoubtedly the andoit in question. Its earlymedieval history, as well as its creation into first a priory (later an

abbey) for Augustinian canons and then a parish church in the twelfthcentury

,

are well documented.60 Though the dedication to the HolyTrinity seems late (but not necessarily post-1100), and there is no clearrecord of an early church on the site, as opposed to a place of secularassembly, it is notable that it is there that 'in his sixth year, Constantinethe king (II. 900-940x5) and Cellach the bishop, on the Hill of Faith near

the royal monastery (ciuitas) of Scone, swore to keep the laws anddisciplines of the faith and the rights of the churches and the gospels, inthe same manner as the Irish."61 We should reconsider the meaning ofparder cum Scottis in light of the evidence given here of what thecontemporary theoretical church structure was like in Ireland.62

Be that as it may. the other two cmnaid names are also promising.To one. Annatland (11). belonged the very lands of Tibbermore, whichwas a parish church by 1 195x99.63 The picture is complicated by thefact that another church in the parish. Pitcaim, dedicated to St Serf, washeld to have once been the principal church of the parish. Rogerssuggests that it is Pitcaim which was the original mother church of the

58. Sharpe. Churches and communities". 94; see also D. Flanagan. "The Christian impact on earlymedieval Ireland: place-name evidence", in P. Ni Chathain and M. Richter (eds ). Ireland andEurope: the Early ('hurch (Stuttgart. 1984) 31.

59. Watson. CPNS. 251.60. Rogers. Parish I 'nit and Community'

.

27-8: M. O. Anderson, Kings and Kingship in EarlyScotland (2nd. edn.. Edinburgh. 1980) 198. 251; Royal Commission on the Ancient andHistorical Monuments of Scotland [RCAHMS], South-East Perth: an ArchaeologicalLandscape (Edinburgh. 1994)90. 124-7.

61. Anderson. Kings and Kingship. 251: A P. Smyth. Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD S0-1000 (London. 1984) 189. Translation mine.

62. On this subject, see hirther T. O. Clancy. Iona. Scotland and the Cell De', in B. E. Crawford(ed.). Scotland in Dark-Age Britain (St Andrews, forthcoming).

63. Rogers. 'Parish I 'nit and Community*. 243.

ANNAT AND THE ORIGINS OF THE PARISH 107

coiTimunity. but we may note, however, that there are no early parisheswhose names contain the land-unit element pett as a generic.64

Finally. Annat (12). a cottage lying between Rait and Kilspindie.presents another clear example of the juxtaposition of annaid names andmedieval parishes. It lies a mere half-mile from Kilspindie. According toWatson. Annat was in Kilspindie parish, which, despite its being nearlysurrounded by the parish of Scone, retained its independence in themedieval period.65

So in the east of Scotland we seem to find evidence that thepastoral model envisaged by eighth- and ninth-century Irish legal textsand their subsequent commentators existed in Scotland too. and underlaythe codification and reformation of parish units in the twelfth century.There is some evidence in both the areas studied to back up the linkageof annaid names with future parish churches, and certainly withchurches which were the principal centres of their communities. Thesolution to the question of how one church in the multiple church set-upwas chosen over another would appear then to be that in most cases itwould have had prior status before 1100. the status indicated by thename anddit. This correlation is better seen in the Perthshire annaidnames.

For a more thorough demonstration of the correlation of themedieval parish church and the anddit we must tum to the evidence fromArgyll, which has one of the greatest clusters of annaid names.

Interpretation of the evidence is hampered by the lateness ofdocumentation. Nonetheless, it provides some valuable clues.

One Argyll placename with a named church site nearby is (an)Annaid (50) in Knapdale. within a mile of Kilberry. Kilberry was themedieval parish church, and there are late medieval sculptured stones

preserved on the estate. One of these stones is dedicated to a chief of theClann Mhurchaidh. who appear to have been the local secular rulingelite. Some idea of the connection between erlama (patron saints),territorial power, and parish churches in medieval times is given by a

quatrain preserved in the Statistical Account for Knapdale:Colmonell. Clan A Gorry. Barry. Clan Murachie.MacCharmaig. Clan Neill. Martin. Clan Donachie.66

64. Ibid.. 243-7: and I. R Cowan. The Parishes ofMedieval Scotland (Scottish Record Society.1967). I owe the information on pett in parish names to Simon Taylor (personal communication).

65. Watson. CPNS. 251. MacDonald (p. 137) notes its proximity to Rait, but it nevertheless layacross a parish boundary from it.

66. I). MacLean. Knapdale dedications to a Leinster saint', Scottish Studies, 27 (1983), 53; see

reissue ot'The Statistical Account ofScotland, ed. Sir John Sinclair, vol.viii (Wakefield. 1983).

108 Thomas Owen (lancyHere, saints, clearly not all of them the 'founders" of the churchesdedicated to them, are portrayed as the patron saints of local kindreds.The jurisdiction of saint and secular kindreds are envisaged as

corresponding, a line of thinking which seems to owe more to Gaelicsocial structure than to medieval parish boundaries. So Kilcolmonell.Kilberry. Keills/Eilean Mör. and Kilmartin are the main churches oftheir communities, and judging by at least three of the dedications—tothe Irish saints Colmän Elo. Berach and either Abbän or Baetän moccu

Chormaic67—may have been so for some time. As MacLean points out.the compilers of the Statistical Account were no doubt right in surmisingthat the local kindreds adopted these saints as their erlama, rather thanthinking themselves to be genealogically connected to them. In the caseof Keills. we have a record of Christian activity, in the form of carvedcrosses, dating back into at least the seventh century.68 In the case ofKilberry. as we have seen, we have the actual correspondence of an

annaid name. In the case of two of the churches, we have physicalevidence of the connection between the ruling families and the churchesin question. As well as the chief of Clann Mhurchaidh's grave slab atKilberry . Torcull Mac Neill has his grave at Keills 69 We know of thedependence of smaller churches on some of these centres: Kilcolmonell.for instance, had at least three dependent chapels, that of Columba at

Skipness. Kilmichell. and Kdchammack.70 Given the assembledevidence of probably ancient dedications, old nomenclature andsculpture, and a continuity in medieval times of assigning the churchesjurisdiction by secular kin-groups and divisions, it is at least plausible tosuggest that all four of these churches held their patron's relics and wereandoit churches for their particular areas in the early medieval period,becoming the parish churches by force of tradition sometime after 1100.

Perhaps the best demonstration of the possible correspondence ofannaid names with the medieval parish is in the cluster of names in Lorn(see map). Here there are a number of compounded names, and two

318). The association ofClaim Neill with Keills/ Eilean Mör is well documented. Clan Murachiehas been identified by John Bannerman as the Clann Murchaidh who were the ruling family inthe area of Kilberry (see K. Steer and J. Bannerman, Late Medieval Monumental Sculpture inthe West Highlands (Edinburgh. 1977). 153 §87). Clan Donachie (Clann Donnchaidh) may be a

sept of the Campbells: see Steer and Bannerman. 140 §66. I have not been able to identify theClan A (.lorry (Clann 1 la Guaire? Clann Aeda Guaire? Clann Gofraigh?).

67. Watson. ('PMS'. 301. 302. 28.3: MacLean. Knapdale dedications". 53-61: for Colmän Elo. see

also Clancy and Markus, lona: the Earliest Poetry , 195ft'. It should be noted that there isanother saint of the Moccu Chormaic. Mo-Fhiacha. commemorated in the Martyrology ofTallaght at Dec. 27.

68. MacLean. Knapdale dedications'. 49.69. Steer and Bannerman. 153 §87. 146-8 §79.70. OPS H i. 29.

110 Thomas Owen (lancyuncompounded. one on the shore of Loch Awe, and one in Appin. Thestriking thing about all these dedications is that, with two qualifiedexceptions, none are in the same medieval parish. Annat in Appin (36)belonged to Lismore parish, though Appin was only transferred to it inthe later middle ages, and we may imagine that it had earlier beenindependent. Annat on Loch Awe (37) belonged to Kilchrenan parish,and indeed is less than half a mile from Kilchrenan church. There are

three local instances of Cladh na h-Annait(e)71: the one to the west ofKilchrenan (38) may have been linked to it, but is very near the medievalchurch of Kilespikeral. It is thus in the same medieval parish. Muckaim.as Cladh na h-Annaide (51). where Kilmaronag is probably the andöit ofthe placename.72 It is possible that Kilespikeral and Kilmaronag (namedafter bishop Cairell of Tir Rois in Co. Monaghan, and an unknown saintCrönän respectively) were the mother churches of two smaller units lateramalgamated.73 The third Cladh na h-Annaide (39) is in Kilmore parish,in the hills above Kilmore. The remote Allt na h-Annait (40) and Coirena h-Annait on the slopes of Ben Doran were in Glen Orchy parish,although it is possible that they originally belonged to a separate part ofthis far-flung parish.

None of this is to suggest the universal equation of the earlymedieval anddd and the main churches of parishes in the later middleages. The abandonment of some andöit churches due to the practicalitiesof shifting local patronage or shifting populations is only to be expected,as is the amalgamation of smaller units into larger ones and vice versa,trends which continued into more recent centuries. In such cases, theannaid names may indicate simply the original location of a localcommunity's pre-eminent church, or in compounded names its property.So there may indeed be some instances where MacDonald's analysis ofthe name does explain the actual situation of abandoned church-sites andnew church buildings.

The evidence from Argyll is all fairly late, and is as much a matterof conjecture as anything else. It is also from an area which remained

71. We should perhaps recall the importance of burial in the andöit church in the discussion of themovement of people from church to church found in the commentary on Corns Bescnai, see

above, p.98. On the other hand, one might note in the context of these three examples thepossibility that cladh here, usually 'burial ground', could perhaps have originally had its oldermeaning of ditch, boundary ', since two seem to lie on or close to the boundaries of the medievalparishes, and in the case of the example near Kilmaronag, about a mile from the bum called AlltNathais which may have been the boundary between it and Kilespickeral.

72. MacDonald. 'Annat '. 137. notes that the one is just over a mile from Kilespikeral old church,and the other one-and-a-halfmiles from Kilmaronag.

73. Or else there may have been an alteration of the main church in the parish: later on the mainchurch shitted from Kilmaronag to Kilespikeral. See OPS N.i, 132. But the two are at oppositeends of the parish, and this lends support to the idea of amalgamation.

ANNAT AND THE ORIGINS OF THE PARISH 111

Gaelic-speaking until fairly recently, and though there is some latemedieval documentation for the names, it is not enough to dispel thedoubt that some of these names might be of rather modem coinage. It isalso possible that the term underwent a change of meaning, or ceased tohave any real administrative significance. Some of the names in thewestern isles, for instance (41. 42). may suggest a generic meaning"old/mined church" in active use. but this cannot be certain.

So we should be cautious about accepting the proto-parish churchas an explanation for all annaid names. For one thing, some annaidnames do. it should be stressed, seem to refer to foundations where therewere monastic communities, and a larger and more varied religious lifethan at some of the small centres we have been concentrating on. Ionawould appear to be the referent of 52,74 while 31 and 33 are related toApplecross. The complex at Nigg (27) should also be correlated with theevidence of high status early religious art in the area, at Nigg itself.Hilton of Cadboll. Shandwick. Tarbet and elsewhere. However, the sizeof the foundation, and its partial monastic concentration, would notpreclude any of these from acting as andöd in relation to smaller or

simply subordinate local churches.Most importantly

,

we do not know the date of this class of names,or if they all belong to the same period. A few names are more helpful inthis respect, like Pethannot. a Gaelic-Pictish mixed name unlikely to datefrom much before the ninth century (especially given its easternlocation), but which is documented c. 1195.75 The location of somenames in Lanarkshire and northern Dumfriesshire (6. 59) suggests thatthe term was an active one in the tenth and eleventh centuries, whenGaelic expansion into these areas was at its height. The legal andorganisational implications of the Gaelic word, coupled with its presencethroughout the Gaelic-speaking area of Scotland in the centuries fromthe ninth/tenth century on. may suggest that its use as a common term ofecclesiastical terminology in Scotland is due to the concerted applicationof Gaelic law and church structures. There is some evidence of a

programme of church reform by Scottish kings starting in the secondhalf of the ninth century.76 and it may be that the technical use of theterm andöd in Scotland belongs to this context. At any rate, the majorityof the terms are likely to belong to a period well before the twelfthcentury, and can certainly be taken as constituting a tool, however

74. Though it would appear to have been in the medieval parish ofKilviceoin.75. Watson. (VW.V. 252.76. See Hudson. Kings and Church'. 155-7: T. O. Clancy. 'Iona. Scotland and the Celi De'

112 Thomas Owen (lancyfragile, in understanding the local system of pastoral care in earlymedieval Scotland.

Before coming to a conclusion, it is worth investigating thecomplex problems of proximity, church dedications, shifting parishcentres, and changing fashions which can be discovered in one of theexamples. Annat of Loch Awe lies in close proximity (less than half amile) to Kilchrenan. which gave its name to the later medieval parish. Itis possible that this annaid, then, is simply displaced from the actual siteof the anddd: alternatively, the church-site may have moved to a betterlocation. It is highly unlikely that Kilchrenan and the church at Annatwere separate churches.

The name Kilchrenan has caused some problems, and evenWatson was unsure of the underlying second element.77 Early formsinclude Kddeknanane. Kddechrannane and Kildachrenan, and theearliest forms could lead us to postulate an original CellDechnana(i)n?% There was a saint Dechnän,79 though nothing else isknown about him. This could be the name underlying the somewhat oddform which has come down to us as Kilchrenan. Dechnän is a namederived from a diminutive of the Old Gaelic dechon, itself borrowedfrom Latin diaconus. It is possible that it was not originally a name atall. but rather the title of a saint who was in fact a deacon, which laterbecame understood as a name and acquired a hypocoristic form. Theextended Dechnanan is presumably another diminutive, added after theoriginal sense of Dechnän had been forgotten. Another possibility is thatit represents a confused formation based on a mixture of the Gaelic formDechnän and the Latin Diaconanus.

By at least the year 1361 the church considered itself dedicated toPeter the Deacon.80 a martyr of Antioch, whose feast of 17 April wasnoted in the Martyrology of Öengus.81 But another possibility for theidentity of the saint exists. In the list of priestly saints in the Book ofLeinster. Dechnän is immediately followed by a saint called Diiin.82 Thisis the name of the brother of one of Columba's monks, who Adomnäntells us gave his name to the church then still called by his name, cella

77. Watson. ('PNS. 303.78. .As Watson notes, the -c(h)r- developed from an earlier -c(h)n-. The forms like Kildachmanan.

etc.. are rogue forms, possihly hased on one original scribal error (-dechman- for -dechnan-).79. P. 6 Riain. ('orplis (ienealogiamm Sanctorum Hiberniae, (Dublin, 1985), [C'üSH], ''705.118:

see also A.P. Forbes. (Calendars ofScottish Saints (Edinburgh, 1872), 324 on St Diaconanus (ofKeig in Aberdeenshire).

80. OPS H i. 121: U.M. 826.81. W. Stokes. Felire Oengusso: theMartyrology ofOengus (London. 1905).82. COHS, §705.119.

ANNAT AND THE ORIGINS OF THE PARISH 113

Diuni. in Gaelic Cell Diüin.81 Both names are extremely rare. Adomnäntells us that Diüns cello was situated 'beside the lake of the river Awe"(slagno adherens Abac fhtminis). There is no name which would matchCell Diüin along Loch Awe. but the probably early name Annat doessuggest itself as a name which is unattached to another saint, where anearlier dedication may have disappeared, and eminently suited to thedescription given by Adomnän of the location of Cell Diüin.

The proximity of an Annat which may represent Adomnän's CellDiüin. and a church named after saint Dechnan, and their proximity inthe Book of Leinster list is highly suspicious. Ö Riain notes that the listof priestly saints, like that of bishops, seems to have been cobbledtogether from lists of varying sorts.84 The repetition of alternative namesand by-forms as separate individuals is not uncommon. One may note as

well that a number of otherwise unusual saints found in West Highlanddedications find their way into this list.851 would venture to suggest thatDiiin was a deacon, and his being known by his title as well as his name

caused him to develop a split personality, which led to the church beingeventually called after a diminutive of his title. Dechnan, rather than hisname. This split is represented in the list. If this is so. then we can see anandod church already in existence in the seventh century, but one whoselocation and name may have altered over the years.

The understanding of the dedication must have altered as well,since by the later middle ages they believed it to be dedicated to Peter theDeacon, a rather more obvious saint than the obscure Dechnän aliasDiün. This may well have to do with changing fashions, and a growinginterest in the patronage of non-native saints. A similar re-interpretationcan be seen in the neighbouring parish, where Kilespikeral is dedicatedto the bishop Cairell of Tir Rois in Co. Monaghan.86 In the later middleages this seems to have been taken as referring to a bishop Cyril ofAlexandria.87

This digression helps to show the way in which the vagaries oftime, misunderstanding, and religious fashion obscure the originaldedications and purposes of churches. If the above hypothesis is correct,however, it gives us a starting point in the sixth century for a smallerchurch later known as an andod church, one beholden to Columba at its

83. / 'ita ('olumbae. I. xxxi.84. CGHS 216-17.85. Including, at §705. Columnar! names like Odran (42). Diarmait (38). Libran (46): Catan (of

/\rdchattan. etc.. 77). and Donnan (110).86. See Stokes. Felire Oengusso. 148.87. Watson. (7W.S'. 302. on a different dedication in Lochaber. Kilkarall.

D

114 Thomas Owen Clancy

inception, staffed by monks—and one deacon—but destined and perhapsdesigned to fulfil a pastoral role.88

To summarise. The place-name element annaid deriving from theearlier andod corresponds roughly to its early medieval Gaelic definitionas the mother church of a local community. Its patron, the erlam, wouldbe the patron of the local ruling kindred, and of the community. Therewere pastoral dues pertaining to the andöd, and pastoral responsibilitiesincumbent upon it. as well as the role of overseer of other local churchesover whom it had priority. As such, the frequency of the term annaid inScotland, where it was used as a place-name element, both fulfilsexpectations and is suggestive of a tool for understanding the earlyprovision of pastoral care. Many uncompounded annaid names mayindicate the locations of these principle local churches, whilecompounded ones may indicate the property, burial ground or boundaryof the andod. West Highland evidence tends to bear out thisinterpretation, with the scatter of annaid names pertaining generally tothe main churches in separate medieval parishes. Eastern evidence fromMoray and Perthshire seems to give good grounds for thinking that thisIrish pastoral model, with the andod at its hub, underlay the twelfth-century codification of parish boundaries and teinds. The suggestedperiod of the use of this term cannot be firmly fixed, but is likely to fallbetween 800 and 1100. We may even go so far as to say that in our

previous conviction about the exclusively monastic nature of the earlyGaelic church, we have overlooked the true culture of origin of theparishes of medieval Scotland. We have been looking south instead ofwest to Ireland.

The striking continuity between the system envisaged by the law-tracts which discuss the term andoit and the medieval parish system is tosome extent linked by the evidence of the annaid names in Scotland. Inthis respect, the study of annaid names may be useful not only forunderstanding the early medieval church in Scotland, but also as some

confirmation of recent analyses of pastoral provision in Ireland. RichardSharpe has noted, with reference to the vast number of names in cell,cluain. domnach, senchell, etc.. 'These names and the unsurveyed fieldmonuments bear witness to what in its time was one of the most

comprehensive pastoral organisations in northern Europe.'89 The

88. Richard Sharpe suggests that Cell Diüin may have been a fairly small subordinate church at itsinception. See Sharpe. trans.. Adomnän of Iona, Life ofSt Columba (London, 1995), 293.

89. Sharpe. 'Churches and communities", 109.

ANNAT AND TI IE ()RI( HNS OF THE PARISH 115

evidence of the annaid names suggests that this comprehensive localorganisation existed in early medieval Scotland as well.90

APPENDIX91

Although the treatments of Watson and especially MacDonald seem

comprehensive, there is still more work to be done on annaid names interms of location and documentation. MacDonald's study is deficient innot providing the proper documentation for many names which havelong histories, such as Andet in Aberdeenshire (18: mentioned as early as

1397; ER iii. 429). A cursory raid on the Exchequer Rolls and Registersof the Great Seal and Privy Seal revealed a modest harvest ofdocumentation, including earlier mentions of some names, and some

unknown names as well. Prominent among these haphazard discoveriesare (by number in MacDonald where relevant):(2) In connection with Annatland. presumably, there is an Annot Brigmentioned in 1565 in property bounds relating to Sweetheart Abbey(RSS v. §2257).(59) This reference may be backed up by the existence in the property ofDurisdeer in 1371-2 of lands called Annotton (coupled with Inglynston).(RMS i. §420).(65) The farm of Annat is abundantly documented, from at least 1539.as part of the Locheil estate. (RSS v, §2994)New names include:Annotschel in Liddesdale (1541: ER xvii. 701. list of vacant lands).Annot in Kintyre (RMS xi. 1667. §1105, p.557) However, other recordssuggest that this name may instead be Amot.A possible annaid in Islay: In 1509, the account of the Lordship of theIsles for Islay includes Annuid. (ER xiii, 220) In earlier and subsequentrecords, however. this(?) appears as Ambud (1507: ER xii. 588) andAmot.

DR. CLANCY IS A LECTURER IN CELTIC AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

90. I owe thanks to John Bannerman. Dauvit Broun. William Gillies. Gilbert Markus and SimonTaylor for reading and commenting on earlier drafts of this paper, and for encouragement in theproject. Colman Elchingham provided both very useful criticism and also an advance copy of hisarticle on bishops in Ireland, for which I am most grateful. The British Academy supported me

with a Research fellowship during the writing of this paper.91. Abbreviations:

ER: The Exchequer Rolls o) Scotland, ed. J. Stuart and others (Edinburgh. 1878-1908)RMS: Registrant Magni Sigilli Regitin Scottorum. ed. J. M. Thomson and others (Edinburgh.1882-1914)RSS: Registrttm Secret! Sigilli Region Scottorum. ed. M. Livingstone and others (Edinburgh.1908-)