AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES
Book looks at supernatural claim of minister’s grave
A revised and updated version of a book about the supernatural legacy left behind by 17th century Aberfoyle minister Rev Robert Kirk will be available next month.
The Enchantment of the Trossachs, by author and historian Louis Stott, tells the story of Kirk, a learned cleric best known for his interest in fairies.
Although his scholarly achievement include translation of the Metrical Psalms into Gaelic and overseeing publication of a Gaelic language Bible, his best known work is The Secret Commonwealth, about Scottish Fairies
Kirk was the son of a Aberfoyle minister, and after studying at Edinburgh University and in 1664 taking on the charge at Balquhidder, he followed in his father’s footsteps.
He became minister at Aberfoyle in 1685 and died there on May 14, 1692, when according to legend – no doubt inspired by his studies of the mystical – he departed the earth in apparently strange circumstances .
In his book, Mr Stott, who is based in Aberfoyle, writes: “It was Kirk’s habit to go every day to Doon Hill, the fairy knoll, behind the old parish church.
“His death occurred on the hill ...(and) it is probably he had a heart attack as a result of exertions but it was said locally that fairies had spirited him away because he had published a book revealing their secrets and they had substituted a stock, a changeling.”
This explained how Rev Kirk could be both “in fairyland” while his body was said to be lying in the old kirkyard at Kirkton, Aberfoyle.
As Mr Stott points out , Rev Kirk would these days be described as an abductee and the fairies characterised as ‘aliens’ , while Kirk’s experience on ‘Fairy Hill’ would be put down to a ‘close encounter’ with a world we do not yet understand.
In best-known work , Rev Kirk gives what Mr Stott describes as a “comprehensive account of the lives of various kinds of fairies including details of their social organisation, their habits, dwelling places, what they ate, their crafts, faults, envy, spite, hypocrisy, lying and dissimulation and even their sex lives”.
The minister, thought to be 51 when spirited away to the hereafter, compiled the book after approaching the subject matter in a scientific way.
For example, he reports going to Balquhidder to examine and verify the story of a 40 year-old woman said to be possessed by fairies.
Doubtless knowing how 17th century tongues wagged, he was careful to take along a chaperone.
His work attracted the interest of literary luminaries through the ages, has been several times revised, and it still remains a work of interest today.
Trying to explain Rev Kirk’s fixation with the supernatural, Mr Stott points out that the Episcopalian minister was a seventh son and they were said to have the gift of healing and second sight – and it was the latter that enabled them, apparently, to consort with fairies.
The Enchantment of the Trossachs, by Louis Stott, has been published by Loch Ard Local History Group and available priced £4.99 from Aberfoyle Tourist Information Centre, Aberfoyle Post Office, Aberfoyle Garage and Petrol Station. Pier Cafe, Stronachlachar; Trossachs Pier, Loch Katrine; Deli Ecosse and Brambles, both Callander, Stirling Smith, and libraries, or mail order from www.slhf.org/book/ enchantment-trossachs.
A launch of the publication is due to take place on March 7, 7.30pm, at Gartmore Village Hall.