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Allangrange, St John's Chapel; Allangrange Ruined Chapel And Private Burial Of Fraser Mackenzies Of Allangrange

Burial Ground (Medieval) - (Post Medieval), Chapel (13th Century)

Site Name Allangrange, St John's Chapel; Allangrange Ruined Chapel And Private Burial Of Fraser Mackenzies Of Allangrange

Classification Burial Ground (Medieval) - (Post Medieval), Chapel (13th Century)

Canmore ID 13609

Site Number NH65SW 5

NGR NH 62525 51501

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/13609

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Highland
  • Parish Knockbain
  • Former Region Highland
  • Former District Ross And Cromarty
  • Former County Ross And Cromarty

Archaeology Notes

NH65SW 5 62525 51401

(NH 6252 5149) St. John's Chapel (NR)

OS 6" map, (1959)

Of St. John's Chapel, which is alleged to have belonged to the Knights Templar, only the east gable, with a triple lancet window, and portions of the side walls remain.

D MacDonald, A Polson and J Brown 1931.

The extant ruins of St. John's Chapel consist of the N wall 2.6m high, the E wall, with the triple lancet window, at gable height, and the S wall, 3.3m high, containing two small windows. The W wall has been removed and replaced with an iron railing with a gate in its centre giving access to the central area of the chapel, which is used as a burial ground. Gravestones have been built into the inside face of both the N and S walls, and there are also several in the central area. The remaining walls are all 1.0m wide, and the area enclosed by these measures 10.0m E-W by 6.2m transversely.

Revised at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (R B) 17 March 1966.

NH 62566 51555 A watching brief was undertaken in July 2003 as part of a garage development to the SW of Allangrange Chapel. No archaeological features or deposits were revealed.

Full report lodged with Highland SMR and the NMRS.

Sponsor: Mr Gammie.

S Farrell 2003.

Activities

Field Visit (June 1979)

Allangrange, Chapel NH 625 515 NH65SW 5

The remains of this chapel, which was dedicated to St John, are reduced to the E gable and short lengths of the N and S walls; the chapel is now used as a burial-ground. There is a triple lancet window of late 13th-century date in the gable which has been externally re-faced.

RCAHMS 1979, visited June 1979

Macdonald and Polson 1931, 14

Field Visit (2001 - 2004)

Derek Hall managed an Historic Scotland funded project to record monastic granges in Scotland. Gazetteers were produced for each former regional council area in 2001-02 and in 2002-03 following the disruption to fieldwork by a foot-and-mouth outbreak, with an overall review in 2003-04. The results of the project, together with the results of a similair project on monastic industries, were published in 2006 as Scottish Monastic Landscapes by Derek Hall, Tempus.

Watching Brief (May 2019 - July 2020)

NH 6252 5150 A programme of archaeological monitoring was carried out during conservation works at St John’s Chapel, Allangrange (SM5469; Canmore ID: 701346). Conservation works at the chapel included the removal of trees and vegetation from within the enclosure, rebuilding, and repairs to the enclosure and chapel walls, the lowering of ground soil levels, and the instatement of a path. The monument consists of the remains of a chapel, dedicated to St John, which potentially dates from the late 15th century. Alleged to have belonged to the Knights Templar, the chapel sits within a later octagonal walled enclosure to the NE of Old Allangrange House. Its upstanding walls comprise the E gable and part of the adjoining side walls. The W gable had been removed and a central gate provided access to the nave of the chapel to be used as a burial ground for the Fraser-Mackenzie’s of Allangrange

Intermittent site visits were carried out during works to the

chapel between 2019 and 2020 and a watching brief was carried out during all groundworks. This included a period in May 2019 when part of the enclosure wall was removed prior to rebuilding as well as a visit in July 2020, during vegetation clearance and internal groundworks to create a footpath around the building. A narrow trench was hand excavated against the western (interior) side of the enclosure wall for repair and recording of the wall, revealing a single skin of stonework from rough repair work in a previous phase.

For construction of the footpath, soil layers were slightly lowered using a mini-digger and hand excavation adjacent to the chapel wall. Sandstone foundation slabs were revealed against the N wall during these works. The alignment of the stones ran below the wall close to the W end of the chapel wall. This change was thought to be associated with curation/rebuilding of the wall end after demolition of the original W gable wall. There were no other archaeological features identified during the soil stripping. Mixed small finds were recovered from throughout the soil layer on the interior, representing glass and ceramic vessels, a probable door knob plate and an iron fastening, all dating from the mid-19th and early 20th centuries.

Mary Peteranna – AOC Archaeology Group

(Source: DES Vol 22)

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