Crail, Marketgate, Churchyard. Durie & Hamilton Tombstone.

Description Crail, Marketgate, Churchyard. Durie & Hamilton Tombstone.

Date c. 1890

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

Catalogue Number SC 739333

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of F 1960

Scope and Content Mural Monument to Robert Durie, Crail Parish Churchyard, Crail, Fife The old tree-lined churchyard of Crail Parish Church contains an important collection of mural monuments dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. The Scottish photographer, Erskine Beveridge, made a detailed photographic record of the mural tombs and their epitaphs on a visit to the churchyard c.1890. This memorial to Robert Durie (1573-1636) lies in the west wall of the churchyard, and has evidently been partially rebuilt, probably in 1792 when most of the west wall was reconstructed. The lower section consists of a large central slab, inscribed in Latin and Scots, flanked by paired colonnettes and scrolls, most of which are now missing. The upper section, topped with a pediment, bears a shield, the initials 'M R D', and the date '1636'. On the left-hand side of the central slab is a carved hour-glass, an emblem of mortality, commonly found on 17th-century Scottish monuments, which indicates the passing of time. On the right-hand side is a bold St Andrew's cross superimposed on three vertical lines. Its significance is obscure, but it also occurs on the memorial to William Bruce of Symbister, a 17th-century monument in the south wall of the churchyard. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/739333

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap