Rhynie 1668 gravestone

The church of Rhyny was attached to the see of Moray and the old Parish church St Luag’s (Saint Moluag was a missionary and contemporary of Saint Columba who brought the Christian faith to the Picts) and stood on the ground of today’s graveyard. Nothing is left of the ancient building. The kirk was a ruin in the later 18th century and in 1823 completely demolished, the Duke of Gordon had a new church built closer to the village. Local history is teeming with Gordons, a powerful family with various branches in the area. One was the Gordons of Muirack and one Alexander Gordon of Muirack died October 6th 1668. Alexander Gordon’s story remains very much in the haze of history but so much is known, he was a royalist and a catholic, a traditional Scottish noble who lived after the Reformation. One reason may be why his grave and the gabled Gothic recess were built at the other side of the graveyard, furthest away from the now Presbyterian kirk which was later demolished.