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Standing Building Recording
Date 22 May 2017 - 4 July 2017
Event ID 1037127
Category Recording
Type Standing Building Recording
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1037127
NJ 79100 64460 (NJ76SE 0002) St John’s is a small medieval parish church that continued in use after the Reformation until it was replaced in the 19th century. A programme of detailed recording was undertaken, 22 May – 4 July 2017, to record structural differences that reflect the changes of religious practice. Local tradition dates a church on this site to 1004. However, there is no reliable documentary evidence of its existence until the late 12th century.
The E end of the church, which is c8–10m long, has generally been regarded as the earliest part. It would have been the chancel of the pre-Reformation church, and a number of features can be identified. There is an aumbry in the E wall. A recess in the E end of the N wall has been
tentatively identified as a piscina, a hypothesis which may be tested when the concrete render is removed. A recess beside a door in the S wall may have held a holy water stoup. Later, the building was extended to a length of 29m externally; this longer rectangular plan is comparable to other churches in the region which had been extended in the late medieval or
post-medieval period. After the Reformation, it is probable that new doorways were made in the E and W gables and a belfry added to the W gable.
Archive: Aberdeenshire SMR
Funder: Aberdeenshire Council
Hilary and Charlie Murray - Murray Archaeological Services Ltd
(Source: DES, Volume 18)
