Archaeology Notes

Event ID 760522

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/760522

NJ61SW 25 61496 12981

The church of Tough was dedicated to the Nine Maidens of St Donald. In 1832 the Commissioners of Teinds united the parishes of Tough and Keig. They were severed again on 5 February 1834.

H Scott 1915-61.

1838.

G Hay 1957.

The parish church and burial-ground of Tough lie on a SW-facing slope on the W side of the Lyne Burn. The burial-ground is an irregular shape on plan, and is enclosed by a rubble and mortar wall, beyond which the ground drops steeply on the E and SE towards the burn. On the SE, where the slope is steepest, the difference in level between the interior of the burial-ground and exterior is up to 1m. A modern extension to the burial-ground has been added to the NE.

There are no visible remains of the predecessor of the present 19th century church, which stands in the upper, SW, end of the graveyard. The enclosure has been extended here and terraced into the slope to accommodate the church. The burial-ground contains many 19th and 20th century headstones, and a number of ledger stones of the 18th and 19th centuries. The oldest legible monument is a headstone dated 1724, which is propped against the N wall.

A mortsafe lies against the W wall of the burial-ground, comprising a tapering cage of riveted iron bars, to each end of which is fastened a roughly shaped granite block. It measures 2.5m in overall length by 0.65m in maximum breadth and 0.37m in height. Built into the wall immediately above this is a stone, 0.44m long by 0.16m high, which bears the date 1732 in incised characters within a rectangular frame.

Visited by RCAHMS (IF), 6 August 1996.