iled with him to go to Stirling
... to give ane account to the General and other officers there what
was done and acted at Blackfoord." Such is the last eventful incident
in the secular history of the parish.

II.

The Church of Blackford, beside the River Allan, was transplanted
thither after the Reformation. In former days the name of the parish
was Strageath, and the church stood by the Earn, seven miles from its
present place. The ruins of the old church are yet standing, preserved
from clean removal, doubtless, because the graveyard about them is
still in use. Strageath Church has a very ancient origin, being
founded by S. Fergus some time in the eighth century. According to the
Breviary of Aberdeen, S. Fergus, after he had been Bishop in Ireland
for many years, crossed over to Scotland with some companions and
settled in Strageath. Finding the district favourable, he set to work
and founded three churches--presumably Strageath, Struthill, and
Blairinroar. Having appointed these as he best might, and put
ministers in them, he quietly retreated to preach the word of God in
further parts.[4]

Towards the end of the twelfth century, Gilbert, Earl of Strathearn,
founded the Abbey of Inchaffray; and in the year 1200, moved to greater
liberality by the death of a son who was buried there, he further
endowed the abbey with five churches and additional teinds. One of
these five was the Church of S. Patrick of Strageath. The gift is
confirmed in a second charter, when the Earl added four other churches
and more lands to the same abbey, and again in a charter of King
Alexander.[5] Twenty-five or thirty years later the Church of S.
Patrick was the scene of a somewhat significant ceremonial. Earl
Robert, Gilbert's son, had evidently offended against the powers
spiritual, and sought, or was brought to seek, a reconciliation. A
charter of his time records that Earl Robert, son of the aforesaid
Gilbert, in presence of Abraham, Bishop of Dunblane, Gilbert, the
archdeacon, and other notable witnesses, binds himself towards
Innocent, the abbot, that he will never in all his life vex the said
abbot or his convent unjustly, but will love and everywhere honour them
as his most special friends, and will add to the possessions of their
house whatever he may by the counsel of his friends. In particular, he
confirms to them the Churches of Gask and Strageath. The Abbey of
Inchaffray thus held the appointment to the pari