Field Visit
Date 11 June 1928
Event ID 1098229
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1098229
St. Fillan's Church, Aberdour.
This old parish church, for long disused and ruinous but recently restored for worship, stands within its churchyard at the eastern end of the village beside the Castle (No. 17). The approach to it passes through the remains of a 17th century structure, evidently part of the Castle property. The church is a Romanesque building of two divisions, consisting of nave and chancel, both square-ended. It was considerably altered in the 16th century when the nave was enlarged by the addition of a south aisle entered through a south porch, while in the 17th century a low transeptal aisle was added on the north side.
The earliest masonry is cubical ashlar. The chancel is low-set and is mainly original, but the south door dates only from the 17th century. There is one window to the north and a second to the east and two others (which have been considerably restored) to the south, all being narrow lights with semi-circular heads chamfered at the arris. In the nave the eastern window of the north wall is original, but the western window is formed from a doorway of about the 16th century, by the insertion of a glazed case; a window above the doorway is a 17th-century insertion. The transeptal aisle is mainly built of ashlar. In its gable lie the entrance and a window. A moulded string-course, running above the former, abuts on the moulded margin of the latter, above which is a triangular pediment bearing two monograms of initials which are, apparently, D.P.C.M., with the date 1608, the family being that of Phin of Whitehill (1).
Both gables of the nave were raised in the 16th century, for the roof of that time, like the modern one, was set at a steeper pitch than the Romanesque roof, and the west gable was further altered by the insertion of a 16th-century two-light Gothic window. So much masonry had then to be removed that the upper part of the gable has virtually been rebuilt; the lower part, however, as seen from the inside, is original. The gable is surmounted by a belfry dated 1588, in which hangs the bell of Dalgety Church (NT18SE 2). The walls of the south aisle, except the east gable which was rebuilt in the 17th century, date from the 16th century, but they include, like the porch, a considerable amount of modern work, these parts having been greatly destroyed prior to restoration. The aisle had a western window of the 16th century, which in the 17th century was partly demolished and was replaced by a doorway intended to give admission to an internal gallery at the west end of the church. With the removal of the gallery, however, this doorway was built up. The south porch is slightly later than the aisle. Its gable, containing the arched outer entrance, is mainly original and the lintelled entrance in the church wall is entirely so. On the eastern side of the latter a roughly formed benatura was constructed when the porch was added.
The interior of the church (Fig. 93) is plain. There is some evidence to suggest that the floor of the nave was at one time at a higher level than at present, and sufficient evidence to prove that the aisle arcade has been inserted in a pre-existing Romanesque wall. The arcade is three bays in length and stops short of the west gable. Its piers are circular and have simply-moulded capitals and bases. The arches are built in a single order and are chamfered. The grooving on the south side of the Romanesque masonry adjoining the west ern respond may indicate the position of the original entrance to the church. The western end of the nave was at one time occupied by a low burial-vault, and, when this was removed, Romanesque masonry was exposed beneath the sill of the west window, showing that the nave had not been lengthened. Above the vault lay the gallery previously mentioned, an outer entrance to which had to be made in the west wall of the aisle, a door which is now filled in having to be opened from the aisle to give access. The transeptal aisle is vaulted and opens to the nave through an archway, the sill being some 3 feet 6 inches above the floor of the nave and at the same level as the sills of the late doorway on its westside and of a Romanesque doorway, of which only part remains, on the east. The Romanesque windows are widely splayed internally and have semi-circular rear-arches and stepped breasts.
The chancel arch is semi-circular and is built in two unmoulded orders enclosed towards the nave by a trigonal hood-mould. The jambs also are in two orders, the inner being a semishaft. Abacus and capital, respectively rectangular and chamfered, are continued as an impost. The bases are missing, but there are remains of a chamfered sur-base. The floor of the chancel is elevated above that of the nave while that of the sanctuary is higher still. Beneath the north window a locker has been inserted. It bears on the lintel the date 1670 and initials, apparently M.W.A. The fragment of dog-tooth ornament lying at present in the locker was brought recently from Iona.
FONT. An octagonal basin of stone, measuring 2 feet 1 ½ inches in diameter by 1 foot ½ inch in height, was unearthed during the restoration of the church and has been erected on a modern shaft.
CONSECRATION CROSS. On the north wall of the sanctuary, west of the window, is a consecration cross with a diameter of 1 foot 2 ½ inches.
SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS.- On the outside of the south wall of the aisle is a mural tablet to Robert Blair, minister at St. Andrews and at one time chaplain to Charles I, who died in 1666. Another stone, lying near the west wall of the churchyard, commemorates Major Francis Cooke WHO WAS A MARTIAL MAN FOR THE SPACE OF 26 YEIRS AND DECEASED THE 10 DECEMB(E)R 1646 BEING OF THE AGE OF 42 YEIRS. The lower part of this stone bears a shield with a sword above it and the scabbard below. The shield bears: A chevron between three combs of six teeth, all within seven roses. Flanking it are the initials F.[C]., M.C., I, and M.S. On the right side of the shield is a later inscription.
Beneath the west window is an incomplete slab, apparently of the 17th century, which bears the following lines: PANS*. O. PILGRIM / THAT. PASSITH . BY. THIS. WAY/VPON . THYN . END /AND . THOV . SAL. FEAR. TO . SIN/AND . THINK. ALSO/VPON . THE . LATTER. DAY/WHEN . THOV . TO . GOD . MAN**· COVNT/THEN . BEST . THOV . NOW. BEGIN.
RCAHMS 1933, visited 11 June 1928
(1) Aberdour and Inchcolme, by Wm. Ross, LL.D., p. 32
* That is, ‘meditate’ (Fr. pense)
** That is, ‘must’
