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Careston Parish Church
Burial Ground (Post Medieval), Church (17th Century) (1635), War Memorial (20th Century)
Site Name Careston Parish Church
Classification Burial Ground (Post Medieval), Church (17th Century) (1635), War Memorial (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Parish Kirk And War Memorial
Canmore ID 35115
Site Number NO56SW 13
NGR NO 52821 60341
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/35115
- Council Angus
- Parish Careston
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Angus
- Former County Angus
NO56SW 13.00 52830 60340 Parish Church
NO56SW 13.01 52836 60334 Kirkyard Walls
NMRS REFERENCE
Architect: D. Wishart Galloway 1905 (remodelling).
EXTERNAL REFERENCE
Scottish Record Office
Description on Drawing Room chimneypiece. Careston House.
No date GD164/Box 7/XIII
Careston Parish Church was recorded as part of the Threatened Buildings Survey on 3rd August 2023. The survey was prompted by the proposed closure and sale of the church as part of the re-organisation of the Church of Scotland’s estate.
The T-plan church was built for Sir Alexander Carnegy of Careston and Balnamoon in 1636. His family burial vault and loft forming the north aisle. The finial on the north gable is dated 1636 and the Carnegy coat of arms is above the entrance to the aisle. The pulpit originally stood in the middle of the south wall opposite the Laird’s loft. The church was remodelled in 1808 which is commemorated in the sun dial at the western end of the south elevation. This included the shutting off of the north aisle to form a vestry and the moving of the communion table and pulpit to the east end. The wooden columns and canopy of the Laird’s loft were moved to the west end to form a family pew.
In 1905 the church was radically remodelled by David Wishart Galloway for Mr and Mrs Shaw Adamson of Careston in memory of Mrs Shaw Adamson’s mother Mrs Campbell of Stracathro. He restored the Laird’s Loft including re-instating the original arch that was discovered in pieces beneath the floor. He remodelled the church creating an ‘ecclesiastically’ correct interior with a raised chancel, thus suggesting a fashionable Medieval or Pre-Reformation arrangement within a Post Reformation building. The porch was added with a memorial inscription and the main body of the church was largely rebuilt with the north aisle being restored. Wishart Galloway designed all the furnishings including the pine pews and the elegant oak stalls, pulpit, lecturn and communion table. (The communion table has gone with the congregation to Edzell Parish Church). Stephen Adam designed the striking Christ in Majesty window at the east end c.1910. This is in memory of Rt Hon. James Campbelll of Stracathro. Henry Holiday designed the flanking War Memorial windows in 1919-20, the north one in memory of Thomas Paisley and the southern in memory of William Adamson.
Note (1984)
Carestone, Parish Church and Burial-ground NO 528 603 NO56SW 13
This T-plan church was built in 1636, shortly before the erection of the parish of Careston (1639). It was extensively altered in 1808 and restored in 1905.
RCAHMS 1984.
(NSA, xi Forfar, 537; Galloway 1906-9; Hay 1957, 245).
