St. Lesmo of Glen Tanar
[6] The Aberdeen Breviary lists 81 saints, including twelve associated with Deeside.
The chapel was part of a grand building scheme by William Cunliffe Brooks on his new estate.
Almost certainly the face of St Lesmo in this panel is based on a photograph or cartoon of Cunliffe Brooks.
[10] The designer of the window gave Lesmo a staff with a scallop shell on his left shoulder suggesting a pilgrim saint.
Looking at the Lesmo window from the outside, the lintel contains an inscription “VENITE ADOREMUS” - “Come Ye, Let us Adore”.
No connection between Lesmahagow, Erasmus, Elmo or Lesmo is found in this part of Scotland.
In 1869 Sir William Cunliffe Brooks became tenant of the Glen Tanar estate.
[17] 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.
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 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.
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.
Outside a bell was hung which was cast to order and bears the inscription "St Lesmo".
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.
[*] Contemporary sketch by the architect George Truefitt of the chapel of St Lesmo, c 1879.
Lesmo is recorded by many authors in guide books and descriptions of the Glen Tanar Estate.
St. Lesmo's name lives on in the dedication given by William Cunliffe Brooks to his chapel, the bell he had cast for it, and in the stained-glass window set into its wall.
The Cult of Saints and the Virgin Mary in Medieval Scotland (Boydell Press: Woodbridge).
Ten thousand saints : a study in Irish & European origins (Wellbrook Press: Kilkenny, Ireland).
The early life and times of a Glen Tanar exile : memoirs of an Anglo-French Scot (Librario Publishing Ltd.: Kinloss).
Glen Tanar : valley of echoes and hidden treasures (Leopard Press: Inverurie).
Historic Scotland, GLEN TANAR ESTATE, ST LESMO'S CHAPEL, INCLUDING BOUNDARY WALL LB44, http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB44; (accessed 10/3/19).
Book of legends : tales of the north-east of Scotland told to children (W. & W. Lindsay: Aberdeen).
