Archaeology Notes

Event ID 718001

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/718001

NT54SE 28.00 59404 43425

NT54SE 28.01 59409 43405 Churchyard

NT54SE 49 59361 43468 Glebe House (Manse)

(NT 59404 43425). It is not known when Legerwood parish church was built; from an inscription that it bears, it appears to have been considerably repaired in 1717.

Name Book 1857

On plan, this church has consisted of a rectangular nave and chancel dating from the Norman period. The nave, which measures 47ft 10ins by 27ft 9ins externally, has been used as the parish church since the Reformation, but it is now so altered and repaired that no outstanding features of interest remain. The chancel, however (noted as roofless and ruinous - 3) is one of the best examples of Norman work in the district, measuring about 17ft 4ins square within walls varying from 2 to 3ft in thickness. For many years it was used as a private burial vault, the opening of the chancel arch being filled up with solid masonry. This has recently been removed and the interior space again added to the church. Indications of a splayed base-course exist at the foot of the nave walls, which seems to show that the modernised nave has been built on the old foundations.

A piece of stone, carved in relief with a Celtic interlaced design, is built into the S wall of the church, near the W end, and on the corner is a double sundial dated 1682.

RCAHMS 1915, visited 1912; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1896