Archaeology Notes

Event ID 679743

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/679743

NO01SW 13.00 01905 14490

(NO 0190 1448) Church (NAT)

OS 6" map, (1959).

NO01SW 13.01 NO 0181 1439 Manse

The church of Dunning dedicated to St. Servanus, or St. Serf, has a Norman Tower, and the west gable wall, and part of the north and east walls are original. The church was first mentioned in AD. 1219. It originally possessed a chancel, remains of which were recently found. Attached to the wall outside the church is a Branks (Holland 1918), and inside the porch is a cross-slab sculptured on three faces.

D MacGibbon and T Ross 1896-7; J R Allen and J Anderson 1903; T H Holland 1918.

St. Serf's church, still in use, is as previously described.

The cross-slab is inside the church and measures 1.2m high by 0.5m x 0.1m. The branks are attached to the outside of the church yard wall, at NO 0188 1447.

Visited by OS (W D J) 5 November 1965.

Dunning (Dunblane) was granted to Inchaffray by Gilbert, Earl of Strathearn, shortly after its foundation in c. 1200; the church was confirmed to the canons in 1203. Corporal possession of the church had not been obtained in 1234, but must have been obtained shortly after, as a vicarage settlement takes place in 1239. Both parsonage and vicarage continued with the abbey at the Reformation, the cure being a vicarage pensionary.

I B Cowan 1967.

NO 0190 1448 A watching brief was undertaken in February 2001 during minor excavations at St Serf's Church (NMRS ) with reference to the laying in of waste water pipes. The site of the works consisted of an external staircase positioned against the N wall of the nave. The excavations took place below the stair in the space between the outer face of the nave and the external stair support wall, an area which appeared to be made up of loose infill deposits.

The work involved the excavation of the whole area below the stair to a depth ranging from 300-450mm. The site of the present excavations has obviously been heavily disturbed on more than one occasion, with the subsequent removal of topsoil levels.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland

D Stewart and G Ewart 2001.

NO 019 144 A watching brief was undertaken in March 2002 during the excavation of pipe trenches through the graveyard at the NW corner of St Serf's Church ( ). The trenches clearly cut through previously disturbed material. The structural elements comprised a ruined wall and broken step slab. It seems likely that the wall is part of a demolished boiler house known to have sat in the angle between the N transept and the external stair against the nave N wall. The rubbish surrounding the structure reflects the recent clearance of this end of the site. The slab seems an original step from the original external stair. It was probably left in situ due to its derelict state.

Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.

Sponsor: HS

G Ewart 2002.

NO 019 144 The installation of a small display board was monitored in August 2004. The board was located on the path,

towards the entrance to the graveyard enclosure, but nothing of archaeological interest was revealed within the shallow cutting required for its erection.

Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.

Sponsor: HS.

G Ewart 2004.