Weem, Old Parish Kirk And Burial-ground
Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (17th Century), Mausoleum (19th Century)
Site Name Weem, Old Parish Kirk And Burial-ground
Classification Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (17th Century), Mausoleum (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Old Kirk Of Weem; Weem Old Church; St Cuthbert's Church; St David's Church; Dull Crosses; Menzies Mausoleum
Canmore ID 25668
Site Number NN84NW 6
NGR NN 84296 49797
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/25668
- Council Perth And Kinross
- Parish Weem
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Perth And Kinross
- Former County Perthshire
Weem 2 (St Cuthbert), Perthshire, cross-slab
Measurements: L 0.93m, W 0.39m, D 0.12m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NN 8429 4979
Present location: within Weem Old Parish Church.
Evidence for discovery:
Present condition: very battered and worn, top broken.
Description
This irregularly shaped slab bears a long cross-shaft carved in relief, the head of which is missing.
Date: seventh or eighth century.
References:
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
Dull 11 (St Adomnan), Perthshire, cross
Measurements: H 1.68m above the floor, W across arms 1.03m. W across shaft 0.56m, D 0.20m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NN 810 490
Present location: in Weem Old Kirk, now the Menzies Mausoleum.
Evidence for discovery: recorded in the mid nineteenth century by Stuart, when this cross and Dull 12 were in re-use as gateposts. This is said to have been one of four garth crosses at Dull. The original sites of the four crosses are marked on the OS 1st edition 6-inch map (sheet XLVIII, 12, surveyed 1862) at NN 807 491 (Dull 10), NN 804 489, NN 810 490 and NN 812 489, and their location as gateposts is shown at the entrance to Camserney Cottage to the east of Dull at NN 8167 4891. NSA records that the three stones, which stood in a line running east/west, consisted of one large and two smaller crosses and that the larger cross was in the middle. This suggests that Dull 11 was the middle stone, flanked by Dull 12 and 13. They were moved to Camserney Cottage, the home of the factor for Castle Menzies, in the 1830s (Mackay 1954, 176), and from there to Weem Old Kirk later that century.
Present condition: good, apart from the damage caused by re-use as a gatepost.
Description
This monolithic cross has a substantial shaft and upper arm, with side arms of lesser thickness (0.15m).
Date: early medieval.
References: NSA 1845, 766-7; Stuart 1867, pl 17 left; ECMS pt 3, 342.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
Dull 12 (St Adomnan), Perthshire, cross
Measurements: H 1.16m above the floor, W across arms 0.83m, W of shaft 0.45m, D 0.15m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NN 80706 49135
Present location: in Weem Old Kirk, now the Menzies Mausoleum.
Evidence for discovery: recorded in the mid nineteenth century by Stuart, when this cross and Dull 11 were in re-use as gateposts. This is said to have been one of four garth crosses at Dull. The original sites of the four crosses are marked on the OS 1st edition 6-inch map (sheet XLVIII, 12, surveyed 1862) at NN 807 491 (Dull 10), NN 804 489, NN 810 490 and NN 812 489, and their location as gateposts is shown at the entrance to Camserney Cottage to the east of Dull at NN 8167 4891. NSA records that the three stones, which stood in a line running east/west, consisted of one large and two smaller crosses and that the larger cross was in the middle. This suggests that Dull 11 was the middle stone, flanked by Dull 12 and 13, but the order of the last two is uncertain. They were moved to Camserney Cottage, the home of the factor for Castle Menzies, in the 1830s (Mackay 1954, 176), and from there to Weem Old Kirk later that century.
Present condition: good, except that the upper arm and part of the central boss are missing. In Stuart’s drawing, the boss is intact and the upper arm survives as a stub. There is also damage caused by re-use as a gatepost.
Description
The upper arm of this monolithic cross is missing and at some stage after about 1850 its stub was chiselled away to create a flat surface between the tops of the side-arms. The intention may have been to create a tau cross. It has a large central boss (0.27m in diameter and projecting c 0.02m) incised with an equal-armed cross with a hollow at the intersection of the arms.
Date: early medieval.
References: NSA 1845, 766-7; Stuart 1867, pl 17 right; ECMS pt 3, 342.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
Weem 1 (St Cuthbert), Perthshire, cross-slab
Measurements: H 0.75m, W 0.37m, D 0.12m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NN 8429 4979
Present location: within Weem Old Parish Church.
Evidence for discovery: none.
Present condition: battered and worn and missing its base. The lower part of the cross-shaft has also broken away.
Description
This irregularly shaped slab bears a plain cross carved in relief. The upper arm is slightly expanded and is carved in one with the shaft, while the side-arms are carved in slightly lower relief with rounded terminals.
Date: seventh or eighth century.
References:
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
Weem 3 (St Cuthbert), Perthshire, cross
Measurements: H 0.81m above ground, W across arms 0.44m, across upper arm 0.33m, at base of shaft 0.30m, D 0.11m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NN 8429 4979
Present location: in the kirkyard at Weem Old Kirk, set upright to the south of the kirk.
Evidence for discovery: none. It is possible that this is the missing smaller garth cross from Dull (Dull 13).
Present condition: weathered.
Description
This is essentially a plain wide slab with small projecting side-arms.
Date: seventh or eighth century.
References:
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
Weem 4 (St Cuthbert), Perthshire, stone basin
Measurements: W 0.68m by 0.61m, H 0.29m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NN 8429 4979
Present location: within Weem Old Parish Church.
Evidence for discovery: none.
Present condition: weathered.
Description
This roughly hexagonal basin or font has been carved from a boulder, with a hollow 0.39m across and 0.14m deep in which peck-marks are clearly visible.
Date: early medieval.
References:
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
Weem 5 (St Cuthbert), Perthshire, cross-base
Measurements: L 0.66m, W 0.50m, D c 0.20m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NN 8429 4979
Present location: built into the west wall of a lean-to extension to the north loft of Weem Old Kirk. This extension appears to be subsequent to the alterations of 1753.
Evidence for discovery: none.
Present condition: weathered, and the socket has been modified in order to make it into a monolithic window.
Description
This is a plain squarish block with a rectangular socket, 0.24m by 0.08m. The socket has been deepened through the stone and its sides splayed, in order to make it into a monolithic window. There are glazing grooves just within the outer face of the opening, which Gifford dates to the seventeenth century (2007, 742), which suggests that its present location may be the second time that the stone has been re-used as a window.
Date: early medieval and later.
References: Gifford 2007, 742.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
Weem ( Dull 11) (St Adomnan), Perthshire, cross
Measurements: H 1.68m above the floor, W across arms 1.03m. W across shaft 0.56m, D 0.20m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NN 80706 49135
Present location: in Weem Old Kirk, now the Menzies Mausoleum.
Evidence for discovery: recorded in the mid nineteenth century by Stuart, when this cross and Dull 12 were in re-use as gateposts. This is said to have been one of four garth crosses at Dull. The original sites of the four crosses are marked on the OS 1st edition 6-inch map (sheet XLVIII, 12, surveyed 1862) at NN 807 491 (Dull 10), NN 804 489, NN 810 490 and NN 812 489, and their location as gateposts is shown at the entrance to Camserney Cottage to the east of Dull at NN 8167 4891. NSA records that the three stones, which stood in a line running east/west, consisted of one large and two smaller crosses and that the larger cross was in the middle. This suggests that Dull 11 was the middle stone, flanked by Dull 12 and 13. They were moved to Camserney Cottage, the home of the factor for Castle Menzies, in the 1830s (Mackay 1954, 176), and from there to Weem Old Kirk later that century.
Present condition: good, apart from the damage caused by re-use as a gatepost.
Description
This monolithic cross has a substantial shaft and upper arm, with side arms of lesser thickness (0.15m).
Date: early medieval.
References: Stuart 1867, pl 17 left; ECMS pt 3, 342.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
NN84NW 6 84296 49797.
(NN 8429 4979) Church (NR)
OS 6" map, Perthshire, 2nd ed., (1901)
The old parish church of Weem dedicated to St Cuthbert (Fitties 1879) is an oblong building, measuring internally 62' E-W x c. 19', with a N transept, 21' x 17'.
This building is supposed to have been built by Sir Robert Menzies c. 1488. After 1820, it was abandoned for the more modern building a few hundred yards E. The old church has since been used as a mausoleum of the Menzies family.
Two old stone crosses within the church were originally at, or near, the village of Dull, and served as door or gateposts at the entrance of a sanctuary, from where they were removed c. 1850.
R S Fittes 1879; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1887-92; M Ferguson 1891.
Now generally known as the 'Old Kirk of Weem' (information from notice board) or occasionally 'Weem Old Church'. It is in good repair and is still in use as the Menzies' mausoleum. According to notes in the church, a church at Weem was founded by St Cuthbert who conducted a mission in the area c. 651-61 and constructed an oratory and cistern at 'Chapel Rock', said to be the existing St David's Well (see NN84NW 9), also erecting a stone cross. A church at Weem is mentioned in charters of 1235, and Weem is described as a parish. The date of the present building is uncertain; it is pre-Reformation and probably built to replace an earlier structure at the same time as the Place of Weem (NN84NW 8) by Sir Robert Menzies in 1488. It was altered in 1609 and in the 18th century. It has been known both as 'St Cuthbert's Church' and 'St David's Church', the latter presumably from Sir David Menzies who became a Cistercian monk and was rector of the parish from 1440, but neither dedication is generally applied today.
The two Dull crosses are still preserved in the Kirk, and also two weathered fragments of a cross shaft from St David's Well (see NN84NW 9).
Visited by OS (J M) 12 November 1974.
No change to previous field report.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (J R L) 1 December 1978.
EXTERNAL REFERENCE:
Scottish Record Office.
Repair of Church. William Lindsay, wright, Perth.
Roof with Rannoch Wood.
"Sleat" it with "Scylic".
Heighten side walls 2'.
Pull down East and West Geavells to level of side walls when heightened.
Rebuilt with stone.
Heighten floor of North loft 18".
Slop the 2 windows next the pulpit and make them 6' x 3'.
Make a door and stair for West loft and a door to that part of Church below the North loft. #75.13s. (Final cost #137).
1753 GD50/142/6/29/2.
Publication Account (2004)
Sir Alexander Menzies rebuilt the pre-reformation rectangular church in 1609, adding a burial aisle to the north to create the existing T-plan church. Although there are rectangular openings on the south front, the gables have arched windows. Deborah Howard recognised these as the only pointed arch openings in a surviving Scottish Church built between 1560 and 1620. Inside is the magnificent Menzies tomb of 1616 proudly boasting the patron's ancestry from Huntly, Edzell and Lawers. Further alterations and repairs took place in 1753. The church moved into the New Kirk in 1870 and the Menzies Mausoleum was formed with its rubble interior and painted hatchments. Two cross-shaped stones at the church were moved here from the village of Dull.
Information from ‘RCAHMS Excursion Guide 2004: Commissioners' Field Excursion, Perth and Angus, 31 August – 2 September 2004’.
Watching Brief (19 August 2022)
NN 84296 49793 A watching brief was carried out during the removal of paving slabs for damp inspection purposes at Weem Auld Kirk (Menzies Mausoleum) near Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross. No features or finds relating to the earlier use of the Church were identified.
Archive: NRHE (intended)
Funder: The Menzies Charitable Trust
Charlotte Hunter – GUARD Archaeology Ltd
(Source: DES Volume 23)
OASIS Id: guardarc1-437794 (C Hunter) 2022
