Archaeology Notes

Event ID 706485

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/706485

NS79SE 44.00 79564 91677

NS79SE 44.01 7959 9166 to 7959 9169 Cross-slabs

(NS 7965 9171) Church (NR)

(NS 7957 9168) Belfry (NR)

OS 6" map (1958)

The remains of the old parish church of St Ninians occupy a site which has been in continuous ecclesiastical use since at least the mid-12th century. The parish church of Eccles, as it was first called, is mentioned in a document of about 1150, while about a century later it is referred to as the church of St Ninian of Kirketoun, a name which the village retained until the 18th century. In 1746, the church was used as a powder magazine by the Jacobite army, and on its retreat an explosion completely destroyed most of the building.

Of the churches that presumably succeeded each other on the same site, there survive only part of a detached pier with its capital, the E portion of the chancel, and the steeple which is virtually intact. This latter was begun in 1734. Taken together, however, the remaining evidence suggests that the church of 1746 consisted of an aisled nave of 15th century date to which a square-ended chancel was added in the first half of the 16th century. The steeple replaced an earlier tower in the same position.

The chancel remains stand 99'10" E of the steeple; built of sandstone ashlar, it measures 25'2" x 25'6" over 2'10" thick walls. A burial aisle, which still survives, was added to the N of the chancel about 100 years after the chancel was erected. It measures 10'11" x 16'5".

RCAHMS 1963, visited 1955

The remains of the church and tower are as described.

Visited by OS (JP) 19 December 1973