Overview
Visit the private chapel of a noble family, later converted into Scotland’s first public lending library.
Innerpeffray Chapel was built as the private chapel for the local noble family, the Drummonds. By 1542 it had become a collegiate church.
The Protestant Reformation of 1560 should have ended the chapel’s role as a place of worship, but evidence suggests the Drummonds continued their Catholic worship here. It continued to serve as the family mausoleum, and by 1680 part of it was being used as the first public lending library in Scotland.
Innerpeffray Chapel appears plain now, but it still retains features from its days as a Catholic church, when it would have been gloriously decorated. The base of the main altar survives, as does a stoup – a basin for holy water.
The library is now in Georgian building next door to Innerpeffray Chapel, which is in the care of the Innerpeffray Mortification. Admission to the lower floor of the library, including shop, is free. An admission fee is charged to access the historic library on the upper floor. Guided tours available.
