Historic SitePerth and KinrossHistoric Scotland5.0
Free entry to the chapel for everyone; no membership card is needed. The neighbouring Library of Innerpeffray, a separate charity, charges £10 (under-16s free) for its historic upper floor; its lower floor and shop are free.
No charge for anyone.
The Library of Innerpeffray: 'There is plenty of free parking at the Library and ample room to turn large vehicles such as coaches and campervans.' The car park is at the end of a single-track road of about three-quarters of a mile from the B8062; the postcode PH7 3RF stops sat navs halfway along the drive, so keep going to the car park. Farm traffic, sheep and pedestrians use the drive.
Driving pin: the library car park, about 100 m east of Historic Scotland's pin on the chapel. The library will reserve a space by the gate for visitors with limited mobility. The nearest station is Gleneagles, 10 miles away; buses run to Crieff, 6 miles away.
Above the River Earn near Crieff, Innerpeffray Chapel was built about 1507 by John, 1st Lord Drummond, as a private chantry where four priests prayed for the Drummond family. It became a collegiate church by 1542, and after the Reformation the Drummonds seem to have kept up Catholic worship here before it became the family mausoleum. Around 1680 a small room at the west end held the books of David Drummond's lending library, the first in Scotland, until the Georgian library building next door was built about sixty years later. Inside the chapel, Catholic features survive: the stone altar table, a holy water stoup by the south door, consecration crosses in the plaster and corbels that once carried a loft. There is a painted ceiling, and the fine Faichney monument of 1707 was brought in from the graveyard. The chapel opens with Innerpeffray Library from March to October and is free; the library, a separate charity, charges for its historic upper floor. A Heritage Trail leads down to the river.
Historic Scotland: '1 April to 30 September: Daily, 9.30am to 5.30pm. Last entry 5pm. Also open when Innerpeffray Library is open in March and October. Check the library opening times. Closed 1 November to 28 February.' The library opens 'March-October, Wednesday to Saturday 10am - 5pm and Sundays 2pm - 5pm', so in October the chapel is open Wednesday to Saturday 10:00 - 17:00 and Sunday 14:00 - 17:00, and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. It closes after 31 October and reopens in March 2027 with the library.
The chapel is free. The Library of Innerpeffray next door, Scotland's oldest free public lending library and now a museum run by a separate charity, charges £10 (under-16s free) for the historic library upstairs; its lower floor, shop, toilets and the self-service drinks in the Victorian schoolroom are open to all. The library's Heritage Trail and grounds are open at any time.
Dogs: The library's Heritage Trail beside the chapel admits dogs: walkers are asked to pick up after them. Lead rule not stated.
Photo: The long, low red sandstone chapel at Innerpeffray, with its stone-slabbed roof and barred windows, seen across its churchyard among yews and gravestones. Tom Parnell, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Innerpeffray_Collegiate_Church_-_view_from_SE.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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'Open all year round'; trail markers tell the story of the place from the Ice Age to today, with a view of the route of one of the best preserved Roman roads in Scotland and a path down to the River Earn; the lower section suits wheelchairs; take care by the fast-flowing, deep river; no fires or camping. Free.
