Pictorial blethers

By blethers

Spring in the Bishop's Glen

On a changeable afternoon, the sudden improvement in the weather brought the loch to life in the Bishop's Glen, once the water supply for Dunoon when there were two reservoirs; now only the one in the photo is left. The hill overlooking the glen is known as the Bishop's Seat, and a previous bishop of Argyll, when he was rector of Holy Trinity Church, thought the little hill on which the church stood might be the bishop's footstool. The parish magazine of these years was called The Footstool, and indeed the hill - Kilbride Hill - is at the foot of the glen.

Probably none of the dog-walkers for whom this is a favourite spot ever think about the time where there were bishops in Dunoon; the town's main primary school is situated where the Bishop's palace once stood.

Historical records tell us that there was apparently an episcopal seat at Dunoon in 1479, but the Palace is probably a town-house assigned to the Bishops after the Reformation.

The remains consist of an angle of a strongly built wall aboout 7 feet high. Three stones in the churchyard, one of which is dated 1626, are believed to cover the graves of bishops.

. No remains of the Bishop's Palace exist, the site being occupied by a school playground. The three stones were not located in the churchyard.

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