Madderty Parish Church

NN92SE 92 9475 2173

Incorporates site no. NN92SE 5

In the foundation charter of Inchaffray was also granted the church of St Ethirnanus (7th century) of Madderty.

R S Fittis 1879

Madderty (Dunkeld, Fife and Strathearn) was granted to Inchaffray by its founder, Gilbert, Earl of Strathearn, c.1200; the church was confirmed to the abbey by Pope Innocent III in 1203 and John II, Bishop iof Dunkeld, c.1211. Further confirmations by successive bishops of Dunkeld granted the church in its entirety, although a secular priest was to be presented to the cure. However, in 1238 it was further conceded that either a chaplain or one of the canons might serve the cure, this latter course evidently being the one that was followed, both parsonage and vicarage remaining so annexed at the Reformation.

I B Cowan 1967

Church. Dated 1668 on E gable; rebuilt 1689. M. I. G. initials on S wall. Simple harled crowstepped rectangle with ogee-capped birdcage bellcote at W gable and ornamental finial at E. Re-roofed by William Lindsay Wright in 1765, gothicised by G T Ewing in 1897: rose window in W gable, 1-3-3-1 cusped lancets on S wall, tall single lancet on E wall, porch added centre N aisle.

Churchyard. Rubble-walled enclosure with some good 18th-century stones. Session house of c.1840 at NE angle.

SDD List 1968.

The parish church of Madderty occupies a knoll overlooking low-lying ground in a tributary valley of the Pow Water; it is well maintained and still in use.

The building is a simple rectangle on plan, being orientated E- W with a short N aisle. Both the E and W gables are steeply pitched and crow-stepped; the former embodies a date-stone of 1668, carved in relief. The openings are of the reconstruction of 1897 which is commemorated by a date-stone in the head of the N gable of the aisle. In the S wall a further stone bears the initials I M G. Photographs in the NMRS (PT/3653 and PT/3956) record the building prior to the insertion of the present openings, and also details of blocked doors and windows revealed during renewal of the harling in 1975.

No fabric earlier than the 17th century can be identified in the building, but two halves of a medieval font have been mounted upon the piers of the E gate of the churchyard (NN 9478 2175). The font is octagonal in plan, measuring overall 0.72m in diameter and 0.4m in depth, and tapering in two stages to an octagonal base. The bowl of the font is 0.48m in diameter, but it is now filled by stones and mortar. A round drain can be seen in the underside of the fragment on the N pier.

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, IF), 24 October 1995.

NN92SE 92.00 9475 2173

NN92SE 92.01 94782 21757 Churchyard, Session House