Field Visit
Date 26 May 1927
Event ID 1098895
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1098895
St. Fillan's (1) or Forgan Church.
The ruins of this church lie within a graveyard two miles south-east of Newport. The building is oblong, measuring internally 66 feet 8 inches from east to west by 19 feet 4 inches, with an aisle, 17 feet 8 inches by 16 feet 2 inches, projecting on the north. The walls stand almost complete to the wall-head but are so densely covered with ivy that no details are visible. The aisle and the east end have at one time been fitted with galleries. The opening into the former is a wide semi-circular arch with imposts, probably dating from the late 16th or early 17th century.
TOMBSTONES.
(1) A stone lying half buried within the chancel has, in the upper part, a death's head within a roundel, and below a shield bearing: A fess between two mascles in chief and a trefoil slipped in base (en.2).
(2) Outside of the church, on the south, is a stone, measuring 6 feet 11 inches by 3 feet 4 inches, with a shield flanked by the initials D.W. for David Wilson, surmounted by a wreath and bearing: A saltire between three cinquefoils and a boar's head erased in base.
(3) A third stone, measuring 3 feet 2 inches by 6 feet 5 inches, lies to the east of (2). It bears the initials G.T. and E.S. flanking a shield parted per pale: dexter, a rose, on a chief three hearts; sinister, a cinquefoil, on a chief three roses.
RCAHMS 1933, visited 26 May 1927.
(1) “The parish church of St. Philans or Forgun, that was one of the kirks of the priory of St. Andrews." -Sibbald's History of Fife (ed. 1803), pp. 418-19). (2) The stone is referred to in the county list as that of Mrs. Catherine Traill, 1578, but the Traill arms bear a chevron, &c.
