Archaeology Notes

Event ID 668983

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/668983

NJ61NE 4.00 68486 15248

NJ61NE 4.01 6850 1524 stones: cross-incised

NJ61NE 4.02 68460 15245 gate piers

For adjacent manse, see NJ61NE 56.

See also Monymusk Priory (NJ 6855 1528), NJ61NE 8.

For Pictish cross-slab (from NJ c. 703 151) held in the church, see NJ71NW 12.

(NJ 6850 1525) Church (NAT)

OS 6" map, (1959)

'The Church of St Mary of Monymusk', mentioned in a land grant of 1078, is now a mainly modern building through it incorpoartes Norman and medieval work. It may also have served the Augustinian priory of Monymusk (NJ61NE 8) as well as the parish, and this may account for the abnormally long chancel, now partly unroofed and used as a burial enclosure by the Grants of Monymusk. Apart from the chancel the church has consisted of the nave and western tower.

The Norman remains consist of the lower part of the tower and the chancel arch. Restoration of the Church about 1940 confirmed the early origin of the extended chancel, which had been obscured by ivy, its NE angle being ancient and a late medieval window was uncovered in the south wall.

The rest of the church is modern, a north side having been added in 1822.

There are five stones in the graveyard which suggest an early orgin for the site. One (A) is of 'grave-marker' type standing 9" high 16 paces east along the wall from the gate linking the graveyard with the manse garden. It bears an equal-armed cross with expanded terminals. Another (B) is an equal-armed cross carved on one of the paving-stones below the tower and to the right of the door leading into the church. The others are stone (C) bearing an equal-armed, wheeled and shafted cross on each side; one (D) bearing an equal armed cross; and one (E) bearing a cross of swastika form. See also NJ61NE 4.01.

A Moroccan dinar of 1098 was found during grave-digging in 1823.

W D Simpson 1925; W M MacPherson 1895; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1896-7; W D Simpson 1943; J Ritchie 1911.

The church of Monymusk was dedicated to St Mary. It belonged to the Priory of Monymusk, which was in the parish. This monastic site was occupied from very early times by an ancient Celtic Abbey. In 1179 it was converted into the Augustinian Priory of Monymusk. There is still in the fabric of the church some early Norman building.

H Scott 1915-61.