t the roof fell in on
a Sunday after the congregation had left and were returning on the Brae
of Powhillock to Auchterarder. While the old church continued to be
the church of the parish, there was at an early period, and anterior to
the Reformation, a chapel in the town of Auchterarder where the present
parish church stands. The croft at the back is still named the Chapel
Croft. The northern part of the present parish church and the steeple
were erected about the middle of the seventeenth century, the steeple
being built of stones taken from the old Castle of Kincardine,
dismantled after the siege in 1646. The southern portion of the church
was added in 1784.

There is incorporated with the parish of Auchterarder the eastern
portion of the parish of Aberuthven. Aberuthven was one of the
earliest ecclesiastical foundations in Scotland. It was dedicated to
St. Cathan, Bishop and Confessor, who flourished in the sixth century.
His festival was held on the 17th of May. The Churches of Kilchattan,
in Bute, and Fortingall, in Perthshire, were also dedicated to him.
Aberuthven was one of the churches appropriated to the Abbey of
Inchaffray by the foundation charter of Gilbert, Earl of Strathearn,
before referred to. The cure was served by a vicar appointed by that
house. In the charter it is named "_Ecclesia Sancti Kattani de
Abbyrrothueuen_." This charter was confirmed, and other churches
granted by a subsequent charter of the Earl Gilbert. Alexander II.
confirmed this last charter. Earl Malise confirmed by charter the
gifts of his grandfather, Gilbert, and the confirmation of his father,
Robert, Earl of Strathearn, and granted four merks of the rents of his
lands of Aberuthven, which the Canons of Inchaffray were accustomed to
receive previous to the year 1247.

Aberuthven continued a separate parish from Auchterarder until some
time after the Reformation. It was united to Auchterarder prior to
21st February, 1618, and the minister for some time thereafter occupied
the manse and glebe of Aberuthven. The parish of Aberuthven included
the Brae of Foswell, south of the Ruthven, now partly situated in the
parish of Auchterarder and partly in Blackford. Kincardine Castle, the
seat of the Earls of Montrose, was within the bounds. Aberuthven was
the parish church where that family worshipped and where their remains
were interred. The walls of the Church of Aberuthven--a long, narrow
building like that of Auchter