Pricing Change
New pricing for orders of material from this site will come into place shortly. Charges for supply of digital images, digitisation on demand, prints and licensing will be altered.
Recording Your Heritage Online
Event ID 563442
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Recording Your Heritage Online
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/563442
St Mary's Parish Church, from late 12th/early 13th century. Originally the church of the Augustinian Priory (and with beginnings in the earliest Celi Dei of Aberdeenshire), the priory function is evident in the great length of the first chancel, equal to that of the nave (although three-quarters is now the Grant burial enclosure). From the village green the church is almost hidden; only the slightly squat tower (14ft taken off 1822) with unfortunate crenellations (1891) is visible. An impression of immense age emanates from the thin coursed granite and the sandstone dressings round the simple arched west door with its hood-mould.
The Romanesque church is visible in the round arches to the nave and chancel, the latter with three-shafted columns and cushion capitals. Reformed times wrought many changes, beginning, 1685-93, and continuing with a minister's door and other openings in the south wall in the 18th century. New windows, two large and two small flankers, as well as a north aisle were created in 1822 to form a T-plan kirk, and 14ft of the tower were removed and a spire added. The chancel was given up for a burial enclosure in 1851; the spire demolished in 1891. All this hurly-burly came to an end in 1929 with A M Mackenzie's sensitive restoration which reclaimed part of the chancel, re-orientated the church to the east and converted the north aisle to a vestry.
Now all is white, calm and orderly, with large clear windows to the nave and good recent glass (with local scene) in the chancel. Even the tiers of Grant family memorials divert rather than oppress (eg the aspiring Arthur Henry Grant, 1849-1917, who '... unsuccessfully contested West Aberdeenshire in 1892, 1895, 1900 in the Conservative interest...'; or the heart-felt plaque to Mr Robert Grant, d.1841, who, '... by a codicil to his will bequeathed a proportion of his property to Lady Grant and her three eldest daughters, which became available on the death of his widow at the advanced age
of 92)'.
Taken from "Aberdeenshire: Donside and Strathbogie - An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Ian Shepherd, 2006. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
