Brechin Cathedral Round Tower

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free entry for everyone; no membership card is needed.

ParkingParking not known

The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.

Parking details

Historic Scotland says only that the cathedral and round tower are in Brechin town centre and names no parking. Angus Council lists the Church Street car park as short stay (maximum four hours, 32 bays) without publishing a charge or free statement, so the status is recorded as unknown; the council's long-stay car parks are on City Road and Maisondieu Lane.

Driving pin: the Church Street car park, 126 m north of Historic Scotland's own pin on the tower. Historic Scotland gives journey planners only.

About

Brechin's round tower, 25 metres tall and nearly five wide, is one of only two Irish-style round towers standing in Scotland, the other being at Abernethy. Ireland had perhaps a hundred such towers between 900 and 1200, used as bell towers, treasuries and refuges, and Brechin's was probably built about 1100, judging by the carving round its doorway. That doorway is its finest feature: set more than two metres above the ground and once reached by ladder, it is framed by Romanesque carvings of the crucified Christ, a pair of saints and crouching beasts. It is older than the cathedral beside it, and stood free until 1806, when it was joined to the corner of the nave. The cathedral closed for worship in 2021 and passed to the Brechin Cathedral Trust in 2026. The tower is seen from outside only, from the kirkyard when the grounds are open; walk round the back of the cathedral to find it.

Check today’s timesSee all times

Brechin Cathedral Round TowerExterior only, when the cathedral grounds are open; no hours published

Opening times may change at short notice.

Historic Scotland: 'Brechin Cathedral Round Tower is free to visit, with exterior access only. It can only be accessed when the cathedral grounds are open.' Historic Scotland cares for the tower only; the cathedral closed as a parish church in 2021 and has been owned by the Brechin Cathedral Trust since August 2026, which says it welcomes visitors throughout the year and offers guided tours but publishes no opening hours (contact 07842 500725).

The tower stands at the south-west corner of the cathedral nave: walk round the back of the building to see it. Its doorway is more than 2 m above the ground and the tower cannot be climbed. A January 2026 visitor found the cathedral closed and only a longer route with steps into the grounds out of season.

Photo: Brechin Cathedral's red sandstone nave and spired square tower, with the slender capped round tower rising behind the nave roof. PaulT (Gunther Tschuch), CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brechin_Cathedral_01.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.