Died 756. Saint Baldred, a Scottish bishop said to have succeeded Saint
Kentigern (Mungo) at Glasgow.
He ended his life as a hermit on the coast of the Firth of Forth. Like a
sentinel at the entrance of the Firth of Forth, just over a mile from
North Berwick the great Bass Rock rises 460 ft out of the sea. To the
east, towering over the cliffs of East Lothian, is Tantallon Castle,
seemingly an impregnable stronghold for the Doublas family and there is
an old proverb "Ding down Tantallon - Mak a brig to the Bass" showing
that it was thought it to be as difficult to bring down the castle as it
would to throw a bridge across to the rock. On this inhospitable island
Baldred, who had once been a disciple of St. Kentigern, made his
hermitage devoting himself to penance and prayer, with only the gannets
for company.
The missionary zeal that Baldred had learned in his years with St.
Kentigern did not completely leave him and it is evident that he crossed
over to the mainland and evangelized the areas round Aldham in
Haddington and Tyningham where he had churches and there is a well that
bears his name. His sanctity earned him a reputation for miraculous
powers and there is a boulder near Aldham which it was believed that he
used as a boat to cross to the rock. The Aberdeen Breviary recounts how
he removed a dangerous reef, that had caused numerous wrecks, by
standing on it and sailing it like a ship to a position where it would
do no harm. His cave is near to the sea shore and on the Bass Rock the
remains of his chapel are still visible. At Tantallon there are ruins of
another chapel dedicated to him.
St. Baldred died at Tyningham and was buried there but the monastery was
destroyed by the Danes in 951. His relics were lost until they were
discovered by Elfrid, a priest from Durham, in the twelfth century, who
caused them to be enshrined with those of St. Bilfrid, a monk from
Lindisfarne, and these two share March 6th as the commemoration of their
translation
(
Bowen).
Some identify him with Saint Balther, the hermit of Tinningham
(
Benedictines).