Archaeology Notes

Event ID 670294

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/670294

NJ83SE 32 86906 31179

For (successor and present) Tarves parish Church (NJ 86904 31196), see NJ83SE 48.00.

See also NJ82NE 1.

The church of Tarves was dedicated to St Englat and belonged to the Abbey of Arbroath. Near the present church, built in 1798, is St Englat's Well and in the River Ythan is St Englat's Ford.

H Scott et al 1915-61.

The old church is said to have been dedicated to St Englatius, a fictitious person whose name, according to Watson (W J Watson 1926), has been compounded from the Gaelic word oenglais, 'choicebrook'. According to the Martyrology of Oengus, the celtic founder of the church was St Murdebur or Muirdebar, who came from Leinster about the year 600. Tanglan's Well is still shown near the church and on the River Ythan is Tanglandford.

In the churchyard the original rubble masonry of the medieval church remains, though obscured by modern pointing, on either side of the Tolquhon monument which was built in 1589.

Four 17th century gravestones are set up against the S wall of the present church.

W D Simpson 1948; W Stokes (ed.) nd; W J Watson 1926.

The so called dedication to 'St Englatius' is a piece of nonsense, the founder of the church being St Murdebur or Muirdebar.

W D Simpson 1955.

The MoW plaque at the site at NJ 8689 3118 states; 'The Tolquhon Tomb. This tomb was erected in 1589 to the memory of William Forbes, 7th laird of Tolquhon and his wife Elizabeth Gordon in an unusually imaginative way. It shows the free use of both medieval and classic ornament which was characteristic of the later 16th century in Scotland'.

The fragment of wall of the old church incorporating the Tolquhon Tomb is 5.0m long, 1.0m thick and c.2.5m high. The locally accepted dedication is St Murdebur or Muirdebar.

The 17th century gravestones remain at the W end of the S wall of the present church, which is still in use. There is no local knowledge regarding Tanglan's Well or St Englat's Well, and Tanglandford or St Englat's Ford could not be located.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (RL) 11 April 1972.

Tolquhon Tomb (south of parish church) scheduled.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 3 July 2000.