James

An altar in Dornoch Cathedral and a fair (Lafeill Sheamuis or Jamesmas) are dedicated to James.

See Cat p. 36

John

This is a popular dedication. It is not always clear whether the dedication refers to John the Baptist or John the Evangelist. Festivals at midsummer (24 June) or 29 August suggest John the Baptist. Local tradition in Dunnet is that St John’s Loch is so called after the Baptist as its waters were used for baptisms. The name is associated with Urquhart, Perth, Kirkcudbright, Edinburgh, the high cross on Iona, Cheyne in Sutherland. The knights of St John of Jerusalem (Hospitallers) had a chapel dedicated to John in Inverness. Caithness and Sutherland dedications exist in Dunnet, St John’s Head and Helmsdale, where it is specifically John the Baptist.

See Cat p. 37, Ecc Hist p. 46 and 48, Inv no. 56, 79, and 88, Towill p. 113 and 116.

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Cat: in a hospital at Helmsdale, a church near the Loch of Dunnet and a chapel at St John’s Head, Canisbay.

Eccl. Hist: the hermit of Chapel Geo, Dunnet Head, who built himself a shelter and small chapel. At the east of St John’s Loch is the site of the chapel of St John, near Corseback. Tradition that unbaptised children were buried in the graveyard.

At St John’s Head there is a chapel dedicated to St John, once protected by a moat and dyke.

Inventory: At the landward end of St John’s point, toward the E side of it and partially transversed by a modern wall, is a foundation … In the interior two slabs protrude, which may have formed the ends of a long cist. The building is not correctly oriented and its designation is doubtful.

There is also the site of a chapel about ¼ mile N by W of the W end of the Loch of Bushta, Dunnet Head. The adjacent ground bears the name of ‘chapel hill’ and the inlet of the sea on the W is known as ‘chapel geo’.

The site of St John’s Chapel is recognisable on a grassy knoll of slight elevation at the SE end of St John’s Loch.