Forgan, St Fillan's Church
Church (Medieval) - (Post Medieval), Tile(S)
Site Name Forgan, St Fillan's Church
Classification Church (Medieval) - (Post Medieval), Tile(S)
Alternative Name(s) Forgan Church; Old Parish Church Of Forgan
Canmore ID 33121
Site Number NO42NW 18
NGR NO 44571 25953
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/33121
- Council Fife
- Parish Forgan
- Former Region Fife
- Former District North East Fife
- Former County Fife
NO42NW 18.00 44571 25953
(NO 4457 2595) St Fillan's or Forgan Church (NR) (In Ruins).
OS 6" map (1919).
NO42NW 18.01 NO 44551 25946 Churchyard
NO42NW 18.02 Centred on NO 4446 2595 Field Survey Area; Metal Artifacts [miscellaneous]
"St Fillan's or Forgan Church. The ruins of this church lie within a graveyard two miles south east of Newport. The building is oblong, measuring internally 66ft 8 inches from east to west by 19 feet 4 inches, with an aisle 17 feet 8 inches by 16 feet 2 inches projecting on the north. The walls stand almost complete to the wallhead but are so densely covered with ivy that no details are visible. The aisle and the east end have at one time been fitted with galleries. The opening into the former is a wide semi-circular arch with imposts, probably dating from the late 16th or early 17th century."
"A tombstone lying half buried within the chancel...is referred to in the county list as that of Mrs Catherine Faill, 1578". "The Parish church of St Philans or Forgun that was one of the kirks of the priory of St Andrews (R Sibbald 1803) (Fife 9 SW 2).
RCAHMS 1933
"The old kirk of Forgan...presents no architectural features of special interest, nor is there anything in its construction to show the date of its erection, though the simplicity of its form suggests that it belonged to an early period, probably the beginning of the fourteenth century." It was used as the parish church until 1841 when the new church was built.
A H Millar 1895
St Fillan's Church is as described by RCAHMS, the walls being of plaster covered rubble masonry, the aisle walls being 0.6m thick, the others 1.0m. The building is ivy covered and is in ruins.
Visited by OS (DS) 22 October 1956
As described by the previous authorities.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 2 June 1964
Sixty fragments of medieval floor tiling found while levelling soil outside the S wall of the chancel of the ruined church.
J di Falco 1971.
A watching brief was kept by Scotia Archaeology Ltd during the demolition of the walls and their foundations on the N, E and W sides of the Berry family enclosure, located on the S side of the churchyard. There was no evidence of structures pre-dating the ?late 19th/early 20th-century walls or of inhumations within the 0.65m-wide and 0.3m-deep trenches that resulted from the removal of these structures.
Sponsor: NE Fife District Council.
A Barlow and D Reed 1993.
Field Visit (26 May 1927)
St. Fillan's (1) or Forgan Church.
The ruins of this church lie within a graveyard two miles south-east of Newport. The building is oblong, measuring internally 66 feet 8 inches from east to west by 19 feet 4 inches, with an aisle, 17 feet 8 inches by 16 feet 2 inches, projecting on the north. The walls stand almost complete to the wall-head but are so densely covered with ivy that no details are visible. The aisle and the east end have at one time been fitted with galleries. The opening into the former is a wide semi-circular arch with imposts, probably dating from the late 16th or early 17th century.
TOMBSTONES.
(1) A stone lying half buried within the chancel has, in the upper part, a death's head within a roundel, and below a shield bearing: A fess between two mascles in chief and a trefoil slipped in base (en.2).
(2) Outside of the church, on the south, is a stone, measuring 6 feet 11 inches by 3 feet 4 inches, with a shield flanked by the initials D.W. for David Wilson, surmounted by a wreath and bearing: A saltire between three cinquefoils and a boar's head erased in base.
(3) A third stone, measuring 3 feet 2 inches by 6 feet 5 inches, lies to the east of (2). It bears the initials G.T. and E.S. flanking a shield parted per pale: dexter, a rose, on a chief three hearts; sinister, a cinquefoil, on a chief three roses.
RCAHMS 1933, visited 26 May 1927.
(1) “The parish church of St. Philans or Forgun, that was one of the kirks of the priory of St. Andrews." -Sibbald's History of Fife (ed. 1803), pp. 418-19). (2) The stone is referred to in the county list as that of Mrs. Catherine Traill, 1578, but the Traill arms bear a chevron, &c.
