A Spooky Delight

Have you ever been to Largs? I’m sure many of you must have ventured down there for a seaside treat or two over the years. The famous Nardini’s ice cream is not the only treat you can find though. You’ll also discover fabulous fish+cups, two good golf courses, one big marina, large scary seagulls, and wee handmade chocolates. There’s a lot to enjoy. The town’s history is interesting too, including the famous battle of 1263 when us Scots saw off those pesky Vikings, right there on the beach. Thankfully however, we like Scandinavians a lot more now, especially Alvar Aalto, Arne Jacobsen and Agnetha from ABBA. And there’s the Scotland football team too; a few centuries after the Battle of Largs, in 1974, the late great Jimmy Johnstone after, it must be said, a few late-night libations, was also seen off from the shore, this time by his Scotland teammates when staying at a local hotel prior to a match with England. Jimmy somehow found himself in a rowing boat, without oars, drifting slowly off into the inky darkness of the icy cold Firth of Clyde. Not perhaps the ideal preparation for an impending match with the auld enemy but thankfully Jimmy was later rescued by some intrepid locals in good time for the match a couple of days later.

I digress, however. The main reason for this brief piece is not to tell you about the obvious delights of Largs, ice cream or otherwise, but rather about its truly magnificent hidden delight. This remarkable beauty hides in plain sight, just behind the main street, beyond the Cagoule shop.

Astonishingly most Largs folk don’t even know it’s there. I’ve lived in North Ayrshire for decades and I didn’t know either. I only visited for the first time recently and, goodness me, what a discovery it was.

Here, in the very centre of Largs, in the middle of an ancient medieval graveyard is what is known as the Skelmorlie Aisle. Constructed in 1636, it is the burial vault of the Montgomeries of Skelmorlie and is quite rightly described in The Buildings of Scotland as “unparalleled, magnificent and beautiful”. It is astonishing, atmospheric and rather spooky too, like something out of a Dan Browne novel. With intricate stonework in the Renaissance style it also features one of the most wonderfully decorated, best preserved, barrel vaulted timber ceilings anywhere in the UK, painted by J.S. Stalker in 1638. All in all, it really is quite a sight.

Sir Robert Montgomerie, like many important people of the past, wanted to build an important memorial so that less important people from the future would understand just how important he was. We can be thankful he did, although in such circumstances ironically it is often the work of art itself that subsequently becomes important, rather than the client who commissioned it. Thankfully, the Victorians recognised this and preserved the Aisle when, with their usual self-confidence and unruffled by the troublesome formalities of planning approval, they promptly demolished the rest of the medieval church in 1892. They did however build a new, beautifully proportioned and rather magnificent St Columba’s Church, designed by Henry Steele and Andrew Balfour, on a prominent site on the sea front. No wonder Nardini’s later built their cool 1930’s café beside it.

Anyway, go and visit the Skelmorlie Aisle if you get the chance. It is truly remarkable, an unexpected and very memorable delight. And you can always treat yourself to an ice cream too, or even a cagoule if it’s raining.