Banchory-ternan
Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (Period Unassigned), Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Site Name Banchory-ternan
Classification Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (Period Unassigned), Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Tilquilly Vault
Canmore ID 36675
Site Number NO79NW 21
NGR NO 70685 95721
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/36675
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Banchory-ternan
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Kincardineshire
Reference (1943)
A relic of St Ternan's Monastery still remaining at Banchory is a slab with two incised Celtic crosses, built into the Tilquilly vault in the chuchyard. Recently discovered by J W Robertson, Aberdeen.
W D Simpson 1943.
Field Visit (December 1981)
NO79NW 21 7069 9572.
There are no visible remains of the medieval 'cross-church' that is said to have stood in the burial-ground 110m SSW of the present parish church. A burial aisle, which was erected in 1775 for the Douglasses of Tilquillie, stands in the middle of the burial-ground and incorporates a cross-slab in re-use as a quoin at the SW angle. The slab measures 0.3m in length by 0.92m in breadth and bears the inscribed outline of two crosses, one set above the other; the upper is a Latin cross with rounded armpits and splayed shaft, and the lower is a plain cross. Simpson (1935) suggests that there was an Early Christian monastery (dedicated to or founded by St. Ternan) at Banchory. (See also NO79NW 5 and NO79NW 10).
Anderson records documentary evidence for a bell and other relics of the Celtic church in a church at Banchory Ternan.
RCAHMS 1984, visited December 1981.
C Innes 1842; New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845; A Jervise 1875-9; J Anderson 1881; W D Simpson 1935; W D Simpson 1943; I B Cowan 1967.
Field Visit (9 September 2004)
The lower cross also has rounded armpits.
Visited by RCAHMS (JB) 9 September 2004
