Crail, Parish Church. View from north west.

Description Crail, Parish Church. View from north west.

Date c. 1890

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 739197

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of F 1943

Scope and Content Crail Parish Church, Crail, Fife, from the north-west Crail Parish Church was built in the late 12th century as a simple Romanesque building consisting of nave and chancel, and was gradually altered and enlarged over the centuries. This photograph of the church was taken by Erskine Beveridge c.1890. The nave, rebuilt in the early 13th century when the north and south side aisles were added, was reconstructed in 1815 by Robert Balfour, who added a new roof sloping continuously to the raised wall-head of the north nave aisle (left). The tall west tower, dating from the early 13th century, is built of coursed masonry divided by string-courses into six stages, and lit by lancet windows in the west wall. The top belfry stage, with its corbelled parapet and squat octagonal stone spire, was added in the early 16th century. Projecting from the north side is an enclosed staircase with a stone lean-to roof which rises to the belfry. The church is one of the very few surviving churches of medieval aisled form in Fife, and one of the few to be found in Scotland outside the major burghs. The free-standing tower, perhaps the oldest in Fife and intended to be one storey higher, was built at the same time as the aisles. In the early 16th century the church gained collegiate status, and this encouraged more growth, with an enlarged chancel and a spire to top the tower. By this time the church had become very grand, with nine altars and rich interior ornamentation. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/739197

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap