St. Fillian’s Hall

“Fillan” means “little wolf” in Gaelic. St. Fillan was Celtic monk who lived in western Scotland in the 8th century. During his life Fillan healed diseases of the sick who flocked to him. After he had become an abbot, a wolf killed and ate one of his oxen when the saint was digging a foundation for a priory (small monastery). The abbot commanded the wolf as penance to plough the foundation in place of the ox he had eaten. (The command was in the form of a Gaelic concept called a “Gaes”... see below). Though despising the saint’s penance at first, the wolf later was glad he could participate in the building of the abbey. One of the corner posts is named “Gaes” in honor of the wolf’s predicament, which Julian particularly identifies with.

The veneration of St. Fillan in Scotland was so strong that in 1314 Robert the Bruce requested the relic of the saints arm “the Mayne” be brought to the Battle of Bannockburn. He attributed his victory over the English to St. Fillan’s intercession. The village of St. Fillan’s is dedicated to him. His holy well is there still. At the summit of a nearby hill called “Dunfillan” there is a rock known as St. Fillan’s Chair from where it is said that St. Fillan blessed the country around him.

do we believe all this?

I dunno. But I’d sooner believe this than that our neighbor builds green cars to improve the environment or that Dr. Fauci has our best interests at heart.

why St. Fillan? During Maclin’s senior backpacking trip to Scotland in 2013 (the West Highland Way), we walked across St. Fillan’s home territory, Strathfillan, and slept in a small tent near the location of his ancient priory. Something crept up from the ground and fastened itself to us. Also, St. Fillan was famously a saint for ordinary folk: If a man’s cattle were sick, they would call on St. Fillan to stir the watering trough with his bishop’s crozier (“The Quigrich”) which was said to cure their disease and save their livelihood.

are we building this on faith?

Hell, no. We wouldn’t build a pipe rack on “faith”. We milled, cut and joined the structure from whole logs according to the mathematics Thales of Miletus had discovered and written in his treatises on geometry...with a great deal of practical help by the cathedral-building French scribing tradition to deal with unruly red oak... and yes, yes we are (according to Maclin), as we don’t know in precise terms why.

Design, logging, milling, scribing and traditional joinery was accomplished primarily by Julian and Maclin Williamson over an 8 year period beginning in 2015. “King of the Chisel” Aaron Williamson helped a lot in the beginning stages, as well as friends who graciously gave us days here and there.

The core structure itself was raised in three days by our friends who put themselves at risk, volunteered their labor, expertise, equipment and tools out of love and friendship. They were and are farmers, teachers, riggers, stagehands, police sergeants, speed enthusiasts, an astrophysicist, a navy seal, a chef, a priest and a fellow timber framer. Everyone had a unique and vital skill to bring, and the raising was accomplished by these working as a team. Their signatures grace the western ridge beam. The party in the frame end of the third day at sunset on winter solstice 2023 will forever be indelible in my mind.

“No man was more honored in the character of his raisers than I. They are destined, I trust, to assist at the raising of loftier structures one day” -Thoreau

where did the timbers come from?

The foundation girders, posts, upper and lower girts and braces up to the tie beam are mostly red oak, all of which grew their entire lives on this farm within sight of this building. They were growing when my grandfather (Julian Sr.) was a boy. I played under them and loved them as a child. My grandchildren have helped prepare them for this frame. All of them but two were from trees felled by storm or age, ranging from 125 to 165 years old.

The tie beam up, including the roof trusses, purlins and top plates are cedar (aromatic red). They were rescued by Julian Jr. from burn piles on a single farm near Somerville, Tennessee. These raw timbers were the inspiration for the timber frame to start with, and the dimensions of the structure as a whole were determined by the length (23 feet) of the 3 central cedar tie beams.

These are the largest red oak and cedar trees our land can produce, as these forests were not previously logged.⠀⠀

alignment of St. Fillan’s:

the structure aligns with sunset on the winter solstice, determined after four consecutive years of celestial observations from the hill on which it sits.

what’s it for?:

•First, a workshop dedicated to the completion of its own self and other timber frames.
*A place to observe the stars, including:
•The winter and summer solstices
•Rogation Day, a medieval English festival devoting to “beating the bounds” and asking God’s blessing on agriculture. Traditionally celebrated April 25th.

•Music and drink (Ale, dark enough to swallow stars, preferably brewed by Father Ross.) •to be determined

Relics of St. Fillan & names of the posts

why name the posts after relics?

They sound interesting, and it keeps our attention when we’re ordering the locations of the frame members in our mind... better than, say, letters and numbers in the long term. Besides, we spend more time with these timbers than most doctors spend with their patients, teachers with their individual students, preachers with their congregants. Each of these posts came from a real tree we rescued from the floor of the forest, and whose growth characteristics and imperfections make it particularly suited to its location in the frame. Numbers and letters seem too impersonal.

Corners:
Fillan (NE) the Scottish saint.
Priory (SE) the monastery for a handful of monks Fillan desired to build.
Quigrich (SW) literally “the stranger”. The name of St. Fillan’s crozier (bishop’s staff). Was said to cure diseases in cattle by stirring a watering trough with it. This is one of the relics preserved by the Dewars (see below) for more than 1000 years. It now resides in the National Museum of Scotland.
Gaes (NW) pronounced “Gesh”) “An idiosyncratic taboo, whether of obligation or prohibition, similar to being under a vow or curse, yet the observance of which can also bring power or blessings” -Wikipedia. The wolf was under a Gaes to work in place of the ox he had killed.

Doorposts:

Wolf (NE) who killed the ox. Interestingly, “Fillan” means “little wolf” which makes me think the Saint and the wolf are in essence the same.
Ox (SE) killed and eaten by the Wolf while plowing the foundation for St. Fillan’s priory.

The Dewars (west doorposts)
The guardians of the relics of St. Fillan. These were branches of the highland clan MacNab designated shortly after his death. Laymen, not churchmen, not usurp-able by either secular or sacred authority. The charge was placed on a particular individual in his time, but additionally on the heirs of the family down successive generations. They were given “a toft” of land to support them in their task. Their guardianship remained continuous for more than 1000 years. It was the Dewar of the Mayne who brought the relic of St Fillan’s arm to the Battle of Bannockburn 500 years after the saints death. The remaining relics now reside in the National Museum of Scotland. Incidentally, the same family started Dewar’s scotch...

Dewar na Mayne (SW) Guardian of the relic of the Mayne, St. Fillan’s glowing arm. Dewar na Quigrich (NW) Guardian of the relic of St. Fillan’s bishop’s staff.

Middle posts:

Mayne St. Fillan’s glowing arm. Was kept in a reliquary. Present with Robert the Bruce, but now lost.
Bernane St. Fillan’s bell. A squarish bell without a clapper. St. Fillan could summon it by magic and it would come flying through the air to him. Was said to cure migraines. This relic still exists, and might still cure migraines, if someone were to give it a try...

Fergey/Feart Literally (and evocatively) means “Wrath”. This relic is lost to time and what exactly it was is unknown.
Messer Another relic lost to time. It is supposed it is a letter, book or “missal” written with the aid of his glowing arm.

Cave A cave in Pittenweem, Scotland where St. Fillan retired to live his last years as a hermit. Stones Along the West Highland Way between Tyndrum and Crainlarich near where we camped flows the stony river Fillan, in which there is a deep pool alongside the ruins of St. Fillan’s priory. Three dips in the pool are said to cure madness.