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Banchory-ternan Old Church And Graveyard
Burial Ground (Medieval), Church (Medieval), Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Site Name Banchory-ternan Old Church And Graveyard
Classification Burial Ground (Medieval), Church (Medieval), 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
