Kirk of Pettie Communion Cup (photo: Ewen Weatherspoon)
This silver communion cup was made by John Baillie in Inverness, around 1737. The cup was donated to the museum in June 2025 by Culloden & Ardersier Church of Scotland, following the closure of Petty Church of Scotland.
Baillie made two cups, almost identical bar the inscriptions, for Petty Church. One cup was gifted to the Church by the estate owner of Petty, and the other was gifted by the “Reverend Mr John Duncanson minister of the Gospel at Pettie, 1737”. The cups were in use by the Church at Communion Service, from the 1700s to the early 21st century. However, due to health and hygiene regulations and considerations, Communion has moved away from using a communal cup to individual chalices, which means these vessels no longer have a practical use in the modern Church. At this point, the Church decided to sell one of the cups to assist with their Mission works and gift the other to Inverness Museum, to preserve the local history.
John Baillie
Baillie was a silversmith, working in Inverness from around 1735 until 1753. He was one of only a handful of silversmiths working in Inverness at this time. It was very rare for the Church of Scotland to own cups made by provincial smiths, whereas hundreds of communion cups were made in Edinburgh. Not much of Baillie’s work survives, but the museum does own a teaspoon and a very splendid milk jug, The latter can usually be seen on display in the museum’s Inverness silver displays, on the first floor.
The first noted entry for John Baillie appears in the Minute Book of the Inverness Hammermen on the 13th September 1735, when Baillie was admitted freeman to the Incorporation of Hammermen. He was set the task of making for his essay (apprentice exam) “a sword hilt of silver, a silver teapot of a China fashion and likeways a raised decanter in silver”. Baillie became a skilled craftsman and, in 1744, he was elected Deacon of the Incorporation of Hammermen. Baillie married Janet Anderson in 1737 and together they had nine children. He died, aged 50, on 18th May 1757.
Kirk of Pettie communion cup hallmarks
The cup has Baillie’s maker’s mark ‘JB’, the town mark ‘INS’, and a date mark ‘H’ (which has no known meaning, as Inverness makers did not follow the approved date lettering convention).
Lady Doune
On the front of the communion cup is an engraved inscription, which reads “Given by Cath: Ladie Douager of Doun to the Kirk of Pettie & repaird by the Parish“. Catherine Tollemache married James Stuart, Lord Doune, in 1677. As Lord and Lady Doune, they lived at Castle Stuart, Ardersier, and were the owners of Petty Estate. The Church would have been a focal point for the community living on the estate. When Lord Doune died in 1685, Catherine became the Lady Dowager of Doune. Around 1700, Catherine married John Gordon, 16th Earl of Sutherland and she became Countess of Sutherland. This marriage was very brief however, as Catherine died only 3 years later.
As Catherine had already died before John Baillie was born, she could not have commissioned this cup from him. It is likely that she had gifted a cup to the Church and this was melted down, along with additional silver supplied or ‘repaired by the Parish’ to create the new cup, along with the matching pair gifted by Rev. Duncanson. It was very common in this period to reuse silver and have it made into something more fashionable or more impressive. But it is very rare for a lady’s name to be inscribed on a Communion Cup.
Petty Church
The village of Petty is about 7 miles north east of Inverness, near to Inverness Airport at Dalcross. The original parish church was dedicated to St Columba. William, Earl of Ross, sacked the churches of Petty and Bracholy in 1281. The parishes of Petty and Bracholy were united prior to the Reformation in the 16th century. The parish church, known as ‘Old Petty Church’, was built in 1839. Unused since the 1950s, it has since fallen into a state of disrepair.
During the Disruption of 1843, a majority of the congregation of ‘Old Petty’ left the established Church of Scotland to form Petty Free Church of Scotland. A building was erected for this purpose elsewhere in the parish in 1847. It changed hands between different denominations over the years and was known for a time as ‘Petty East’ then latterly, as ‘Petty Parish Church’. The Church of Scotland ownership lasted until August 2023 when Petty Church closed its doors and was united with Culloden & Ardersier Church of Scotland.
In December 2023 the property was sold to the Free Church of Scotland. It is now used by a congregation of the Free Church of Scotland under the name ‘Tornagrain Community Church’ due to the growing new town of Tornagrain nearby.
Reference
INVMG.2025.032 Donated by Culloden & Ardersier Church of Scotland following the closure of Petty Church of Scotland
