page_title: St. Lesmo of Glen Tanar
section_title: St. Lesmo's Chapel in Glen Tanar
hierarchical_section_title: St. Lesmo of Glen Tanar / St. Lesmo's Chapel in Glen Tanar
caption_attribution_description: English: view of St Lesmo's Chapel in Glen Tanar
context_page_description: St. Lesmo of Glen Tanar is the name given to a holy hermit who it is believed lived in Glen Tanar Aberdeenshire Scotland in the eighth century. He is recorded by Thomas Dempster as a "saint" in the seventeenth century. His claimed Saints’ Day is the 9 December.
  There is no reference to a Lesmo in the Aberdeen Breviary. This omission raises doubts regarding Lesmo and claims for his Sainthood. Sixteen saints are recorded as being active during a period from c. 500 AD to c.800 AD along the River Dee, Aberdeenshire. The Aberdeen Breviary lists 81 saints, including twelve associated with Deeside. Nevertheless, he is recorded by many Scottish writers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In 1871, a private Scottish Episcopal Church chapel was dedicated to Lesmo by Bishop Thomas Suther, Bishop of Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney. The chapel was part of a grand building scheme by William Cunliffe Brooks on his new estate. The chapel has a fine stained-glass window commemorating Lesmo. Lesmo stands in front of what looks like the South side of the church. Below is the aphorism, "LUX IN EREMO"; translated as "Light in the Wilderness".
context_section_description: In the early 1600s a family named Garden, acquired property in Glen Tanar. In c.1639 they took up residence in what was called the House of Braeloine. In 1869 Sir William Cunliffe Brooks became tenant of the Glen Tanar estate. Braeloine House was in ruins and Cunliffe Brooks  undertook an extensive building programme. He built a chapel from the ruined walls of the old Braeloine House, incorporating into it, as the entrance, a yett or arched iron gateway. 
  The chapel was built with a thatched roof and stained-glass windows.  The spaces between the stones of the walls are dotted with small pebbles. A technique called locally cherry-cocking. In the chapel, the rafters were whole trees minus the bark;  and the joists were twisted branches of locally grown Scotch Fir (Pinus sylvestris). The pulpit and seats were in the same style, coated with stainless varnish. The ceiling was emblazoned with gilded stars with convex centres of silvered glass. The altar piece was covered with rich purple and surmounted by an oil painting of the Virgin and Child. The altar steps were of local granite. At a later stage, deer skulls with antlers were hung from the roof with the year they had been shot and the initials of the marksman imprinted on them. An organ was placed at the west end of the Chapel. Outside a bell was hung which was cast to order and bears the inscription "St Lesmo". The Chapel was consecrated on 15 November 1871. 
  The Bishop, at the consecration said, "….. we dedicate and consecrate it as a chapel to the sacred name of God, to His service and worship …  and in pious memory of the holy hermit St. Lesmo …." In  1871 the Marquess of Huntly owned the ground on which the chapel was built. However, in 1872 this ground was feued to the Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney and his successors as Trustees of the Scottish Episcopal Church solely for use as an interdenominational private chapel. The chapel is used for private weddings.
  
  The figure to the right marks the location of the "St. Lesmo" stained-glass window. [*]
caption: St Lesmo's Chapel, Glen Tanar
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