Kinnoull Aisle
(Kinnoull Monument)

Overlooking the River Tay from its left bank in Perth, Kinnoull Aisle is a scheduled ancient monument which represents all that remains of the Mediaeval Kinnoull Parish Church. Located at the north end of the former church, it presumably contained the Laird's pew, but also served as the burial place of the Kinnoull family. Dating from 1635, it contains the Kinnoull Monument, which commemorates George Hay, 1st Earl of Kinnoull (c.1570 - 1634) and is one of the most remarkable memorials of its kind in Scotland. Once painted, this sandstone monument is of considerable complexity and sophistication. It depicts Hay dressed in his Lord Chancellor's robes, standing within an ivy-clad Corinthian portico, with a table on which rests the Great Seal of Scotland. Above is an intricate heraldic panel, supported by fruit, unicorns, shields and spearhead finials. The Aisle was restored by Benjamin Tindall in 1995 and subsequently preserved by Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust.

Kinnoull Church appears in the record when it was granted to Cambuskenneth Abbey in 1361. It was rebuilt in 1779 but demolished in 1826, on completion of the new parish church to the north, beyond Queen's Bridge.

The surrounding burial ground includes several interesting 18th century memorials and also the grave of Euphemia (Effie) Gray (1828-97) the wife of critic John Ruskin (1819 - 1900), who left her husband to marry his protégé, the painter John Everett Millais (1829-96). Millais and Gray lived at nearby Annat Lodge.

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