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Field Visit
Date 31 August 1926
Event ID 1144284
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1144284
Parish Church, Uphall.
The parish church of Uphall stands on an eminence a quarter of a mile north of the village. It is a much altered Norman building, comprising west tower, nave, and chancel, the last of which appears to have been extended 16 ½ feet [5m] eastward in the 15th century. On the south has been added the 17th-century transeptal aisle of the Shairps of Houston, and, on the north, a modern aisle. The tower measures some 18 ½ feet [5.6m] square externally. Nave and ·chancel are now thrown into one chamber having a total length internally of 65 feet 8 inches [20m]. The internal width at the western end is 16 feet, and at the eastern end 13 ½ feet. The tower has been rebuilt above the main wall-head level; the lower part, mainly of early masonry, has been adapted, as the burial place of the Buchan family, and is entered from the west through a modern doorway.
The masonry of the original work is mainly cubical, the stones showing 13 to 15 inches on face. At ground-level is a slight chamfered base-course. The entrance to the nave is in the south wall beside the tower (Fig. 240). It has recessed nook-shafts (restored), with cushion capitals and chamfered bases. The arch-head is boldly moulded, is covered by a chamfered and quirked hood-mould, and rises from rectangular abaci. In the south wall of the chancel is a doorway built up and with a modern window formed above it. The east most window in the wall, an arched doublet set within a deeply chamfered frame, dates about 1490. The east gable has two small round-headed windows, built up and partly obscured by a modern porch. The Shairp aisle is built of ashlar and is vaulted. It has a heavy corbelled eaves-course, and the windows and door are boldly moulded. The two-light window in the gable may be dated about 1618. On the forest air leading to a loft on the north of the chancel is the inscription: ANNO 1644.
Internally the church retains no features of interest other than the benatura beside the entrance. The chancel arch has been removed.
BELL. In the modern belfry in the tower hangs a bell removed from St Nicholas Church which stood at Kirkhill, less than a mile east ward of this building. It is 13 3/8 inches in diameter and bears an inscription in Gothic lettering: "IN ONORE SANCTE NICHOLAE CAMPANA ECCLE[S]IE DE STRABORK* ANNO D(OMI)NI/McVcIII (1503). On the waist are the founder's mark and a shield charged: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, three crescents within a double tressure flory-counter-flory, for Seton; 2nd and 3rd, three escutcheons, for Hay of Tullibody; the quartered coat being that of Alexander Seton of Touch. The canons have been filed off and the crown staple is broken (1).
FONT. Also removed from St Nicholas's Church is a font erected in the Roman Catholic Church at Broxburn on a modern base. It is an octagon on plan, 25 ¾ inches in diameter, each side being 10 ¾ inches wide; the depth is 14 inches. One face has been broken and repaired with cement. Occupying six sides is an in scription in Gothic lettering: S(AN)C(T)A KATERIN[A] / [SANCTUS] NICOLA(S or sign for US) M/IHS/M/IHS/.
The single letters are for Iesus Hominum Salvator and Maria.
RCAHMS 1929, visited 31 August 1926
(1) Cf. Proc. Soc, Ant. Scot., xlvi i (1912-13), 93-4
*For Strathbrock, the old name of the parish, Anglicised as Broxburn
