29th January
St Walloch (or Voloc or Macwoloc), Bishop, 5th or 6th century

Walloch (or Voloc or Macwoloc) is beiieved to have been Irish as his name is possibly identical with the Irish name Faelchu. He is said by the Aberdeen Breviary to have left his native land to spread the Faith in Scotland He voluntarily took upon himself a life of great austerity to satisfy for his own sins and those of others.

St Walloch was the last missionary to be sent out from Whithorn to the north-east of Scotland, where he was known as 'Walloch the foreigner', for he was not a native, and his origin is unknown.

His evangelical labours were devoted to the northern parts of the country chiefly. He lived in a little house woven of reeds and wattles, for his attraction was towards everything poor and humble. His simple and holy life and the miracles he worked had an immense influence in spreading the light of faith amongst the ignorant and half-barbarous people to whose welfare he had devoted himself, and many were converted to the Truth.

Three churches owe their origin to St Walloch, the church of Logie-Coldstone on Deeside, Wallakirk (Walloch's Kirk) at Dunmeth in the Parish of Glass, and Dullan near Balvenie Castle in Banffshire. In the old churchyard of Logie-Coldstone there is a beautifully proportioned cross carved on an egg-shaped stone. It is known as St Walloch's Cross, while outside the churchyard there is a rough monolith (below) called The Woolock Stone. These two relics are all that remain on Deeside to commemorate this early missionary.

At Wallakirk there is Walloch's Well, and nearby, on the River Deveron, are rock-bound pools bearing the name of Walloch's Baths. To these pools annual pilgrimages were made in May by parents with ailing children who were bathed in the waters in the hope of effecting cures. The elderly and the sick drank the waters from the well. Walloch's Stone at Balvenie is all that commemorates the Saint in Banffshire. St Walloch was consecrated a Bishop and died in extreme old age in the year 733, with angels standing round his death-bed. His Feast Day was celebrated on the 29th of January.

An annual fair held in his honour in January at Logie has long since been abandoned. The local rhyme is still sometimes heard in the neighbourhood:

Woodlock Fair in Logie-Mar
The thirtieth day of Januar.