Field Visit
Date 6 July 1911
Event ID 1117018
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1117018
Glasserton Church.
The parish church of Glasserton is situated at Glasserton Park, about 2 ½ m. to the SW. of Whithorn. The oldest portions of the existing building probably date from about the end of the 17th century.
Belfry. The belfry at the apex of the W. gable is said to have been taken from the old church of Kirkmaiden, now in the same parish, and to have been rebuilt in its existing position. It is square on plan, having a plain stone pillar at each angle, resting upon a square base, and supporting a moulded architrave and ogee-shaped canopy which terminates in a rounded finial. The whole of the upper portion seems to have been hewn out of one stone. Judging by its form and construction it also seems to date from the 17th century.
Mural Monument. Built into the N. wall of a small, roofless burial aisle, at the E. end of Glasserton Church, is a monument (fig. 1)bearing arms:- Quarterly, 1st and 4th, A bend between six cross-crosslets fitchée (for Mar); 2nd and 3rd, A heart, on a chief three stars (for Douglas). Above the shield a rose between two branches of thistle: beneath, two leaves of thistle. Two rows of human faces, seemingly of five males in the upper row and six females in the lower, cross the tablet above the following inscription:- HEIR LYIS D. G. D. LADY GARLIES QUHA DECEISSIT THE XIII DAY OF AUGUST YE ZEIR OF GOD 159-. The monument is partially surrounded by a raised bevelled bordure chequy, signifying the connection with the Stewarts of Garlies, Earls of Galloway, who formerly resided at Glasserton. Its total height is 3' 10", and breadth across the upper portion 1' 11". At the base the inscription is carried beyond the line of the frame at one side.
Cross Head (fragment). Within the church are lying the broken fragments of the round head of a Celtic cross, which was found at the stone base of the pulpit when some work was being done in the church about twenty years ago, and accidentally broken by a workman's hammer. In the centre is a round boss, surrounded by a circular head, and bosses similarly occupy the rounded hollows at the intersections, while a narrow groove has been carried round the outline of the head.
Visited 6th July 1911.
