Drumdelgie Parish Church
Church (Medieval)
Site Name Drumdelgie Parish Church
Classification Church (Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) St Peter's Church, Cairnie
Canmore ID 17322
Site Number NJ44SE 5
NGR NJ 4874 4102
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/17322
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Cairnie
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
4874 4102.
(NJ 4874 4102) St Peter's Church (NR)
OS 6" map 1959.
The remains of the church of the former parish of Drumdelgie, suppressed c. 1615 although the church, dedicated to St Peter, and first mentioned in 1230, was still usable in 1640.
The church is oriented and has measured c. 24' wide and 55' in length over walls c. 3' thick. It is now quite ruinous but the foundation is entire and the wall survives to a maximum height of 9'. The interior is used for burials. The font is preserved in the vestibule of the parish church.
The graveyard is of considerable extent surrounded by a substantial dyke.
Name Book 1871; A Jervise 1879; J Pirie 1906.
St Peter's Church measures 14.6m E-W by 5.5m within walls 0.8m thick on the N and S, and 0.9m thick at the gables. The W gable is still standing to a height of 2.5m and elsewhere the walls average 1.0m high. The burial ground is no longer used.
Visited by OS (ISS) 30 November 1972.
Field Visit (21 March 1990)
The ruins of the old parish church of Drumdelgie stand within a roughly square, walled burial-ground on a terrace on the W bank of the River Deveron. For the most part the walls of the church are between 0.6m and 1m in height, but fragments of the W gable still stand about 3m high; internally the church measures 14.6m from E to W by 5.6m transversely. At first sight, the level of the burial-ground appears to be higher than the surrounding field, but this is probably no more than the result of cultivation to either side. The thin mortared wall of the burial-ground stands on a much broader boulder foundation on the E, and several other large boulders protrude through the grass on the S. Two 18th century grave-stones were identified in the burial-ground and the rest appear to be of 19th century date.
Visited by RCAHMS (SH) 21 March 1990.
