Kincardine
Burgh (16th Century), Chapel (Medieval)
Site Name Kincardine
Classification Burgh (16th Century), Chapel (Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) St Catherine's Burying Ground
Canmore ID 36120
Site Number NO67SE 5
NGR NO 6667 7462
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/36120
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Fordoun
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Kincardineshire
NO67SE 5 667 747.
(NO 666 748) Site of (NAT) Kincardine (NR)
(County Town 1531-32) (NAT).
(NO 6695 7496) East Port (NR) (Site of).
(NO 6648 7451) West Port (NR) (Site of).
(NO 6666 7474) Cross (NR) (Site of).
(NO 6666 7462) St Catherine's Burying Ground (NR).
OS 6" map, (1959)
The site of the town of Kincardine, whose origin is presumably connected with the building of the 13th century castle (NO67SE 10), and which was created county town in 1531-2. It continued in this capacity until the end of the 16th century when Stonehaven took over in consequence of Kincardine's having neither Tolbooth nor lodgings fit for the accommodation of officials of the justiciary. After this the town seems to have deteriorated to such an extent that by 1789 only a few houses remained in the vicinity of the two ports and the cross. By 1863 these too had disappeared.
The sites of the East and West Ports represent the extremities of the town on the highway between Kincardine Castle (NO67NE 10) and Fettercairn. The market cross, which was extant in 1572, is said to have stood at the published site until it was removed to Fettercairn in the mid-18th century (but see NO67SE 8). St Catherine's Burying Ground was the graveyard of the Chapel of St Catherine of Sienna of which no trace exists, and of which no dedicatory date is known. The advowson is on record in 1532 and 1637. The only remaining gravestones bear the dates 1739 and 1786.
It is surrounded by a stone wall within which is a row of trees.
The sites of these features were taken from an Estate Map of 1789; and the proprietor, in 1863, Sir J S Forbes, who remembered some of the buildings of the town being removed, was the authority for the positioning of the town name (Ordnance Survey Name Book [ONB] 1863).
Name Book 1863; A Jervise 1880-5; New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845; W Cramond 1894; A C Cameron 1899; J C Watt 1914.
No trace of Kincardine. St Catherine's Burying Ground, now disused, was in a field of standing crop at the time of investigation and could not be visited, but according to the farmer, only one gravestone remains.
Visited by OS (R L) 18 August 1971.
Field Visit (October 1981)
Kincardine, Chapel and Burial-ground NO 666 746 NO67SE 5
A medieval chapel dedicated to St Catherine probably stood in the disused burial-ground 600m SW of Kincardine Castle.
RCAHMS 1982, visited October 1981
(Crawford 1789; NSA, xi, Kincardine, 84)
Field Visit (October 1982)
Kincardine NO 666 747 NO67SE 5
The site of the village of Kincardine, which was probably an ancient burgh but only comes on record in 1531 /2 when it was erected in liberum burgum, lies to the SW of Kincardine Castle (NO67NE 10). An estate plan of 1789 records the probable positions of the East and West Ports (NO 669 749 and 664 745 respectively), the market cross (see also NO67NE 8) and St Catherine's Chapel (NO67SE 5). At the beginning of the 17th century Kincardine was superseded by Stonehaven as the county town, and by 1790 only a few houses and 'seventy or eighty souls' remained.
RCAHMS 1982, visited October 1981
(NSA, xi, Kincardine, 84; Crawford 1789; Jervise 1885, i, 141; Mollyson 1893, 195-6; Cameron 1899, 148; Watt 1914, 205-8; Pryde 1965, 58, no. 213)
