St Clement's Church, Medieval church in Harris, United Kingdom
St Clement's Church is a Gothic stone church in Rodel, a small settlement at the southern tip of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. It has a square tower, thick local stone walls, and an interior that contains several medieval tomb monuments carved in stone.
The church was built around 1528 by Alasdair Crotach MacLeod, a powerful local clan chief, and served as a burial place for the MacLeod family. After the Reformation, the building fell into disrepair over the following centuries before being restored in the 1800s.
The church takes its name from Saint Clement, an early Christian martyr, and stands in the small settlement of Rodel at the southern tip of Harris. Inside, visitors can see carved stone tombs with figurative reliefs that are rarely found in Scottish churches of this period.
The church is in Rodel at the southern end of Harris and is easy to reach by car, with a small parking area nearby. The interior is generally open during the day, but as the building sits in an open coastal setting, warm and waterproof layers are a good idea.
Alasdair Crotach MacLeod had his tomb carved and placed inside the church while he was still alive, so he could see it himself. The tomb shows him in full armor and is considered one of the finest examples of its kind in Scotland.
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