Standing Building Recording

Date 3 February 2016 - 8 April 2016

Event ID 1024214

Category Recording

Type Standing Building Recording

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1024214

NT 23041 86381 In 2015 Fife Council was awarded a HLF grant to record, conserve and consolidate the ruined church in Burntisland. A detailed measured survey was undertaken, 3 February – 8 April 2016, as part of the initial phase of works. The church is thought to have been built in the 13th century, originally forming part of the town of Wester Kinghorn, later to become Kirkton, and was dedicated to St Serf. It was abandoned in the late 16th/early 17th century in favour of a newer larger church to the S.

The Kirk now exists as an enclosed former chancel to the E with the remains of one single gable wall of the nave to the W. The adjoining walls between the two have only partially survived and exist in part as footings. Two small walls to the S of the chancel form a S aisle to the kirk, which now only survives in part and only a few courses above ground level. To the S of this is a small building known as The Cell, which was possibly an original vestry. Roofless, this once had a vaulted roof (springing from the N and S walls) with only fragmentary remains of its features such as the opening in the S and E elevations and blocked doorway to the W. The

chancel arch is modest by contemporary standards and, as with many other kirks that were abandoned relatively early, was blocked to create a smaller doorway when the ruins were converted for used as a burial aisle.

Archive: NRHE (intended)

Funder: Fife Council

Diana Sproat – AOC Archaeology Group

(Source: DES, Volume 17)

OASIS ID: aocarcha1-242103