Desk Based Assessment
Event ID 726750
Category Recording
Type Desk Based Assessment
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/726750
NX55NE 5 58273 56209
(NX 5827 5621) Church (NR) (Remains of)
OS 6" map (1957)
For (successor and present) Parish Church (NX 58225 55951), see NX55NE 103.
The roofless remains of the old parish church of Anwoth are oblong in plan, measuring c.70' by 18' 4" within 3' 6" thick walls, oriented W-E, with a doorway in both the W and E walls. Abutting on the S wall at the E end of the church is a comparatively modern tomb-house 13' 6" by 13'. The church was built c.1626; the date 1627 is inscribed above the door, but according to Saunders, this was recently done, being the date Samuel Rutherford became minister. It was dismantled in 1826 when the new church was built (at NX 5822 5574). Within the church is the early 17th century Gordon tomb, as illustrated, and also a cross-slab, dating to c.1100 a few yards W of the tomb, close to the N wall. It measures 2' 8" by 1' 4 1/2" and is 2 1/2" thick. It was found in the churchyard in 1892, when it was placed in its present position.
Anwoth church is first mentioned in the 12th century, when it was granted to Holyrood Abbey. In the churchyard is a monument erected to John Bell of Whiteside, a covenanter shot in 1685.
Information from OS.
RCAHMS 1914, visited 1911; F Saunders 1912; W G Collingwood 1925; A J M'culloch 1947
