Fetteresso Old Parish Church And Graveyard
Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Fetteresso Old Parish Church And Graveyard
Classification Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Kirktown Of Fetteresso; St Ciaran's Church; Fetteresso, Old Parish Kirk
Canmore ID 36887
Site Number NO88NE 1
NGR NO 85293 85662
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/36887
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Fetteresso
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Kincardineshire
NO88NE 1 8529 8565.
(NO 8529 8566) St Ciaran's Church (NR) (In Ruins)
OS 6" map, (1938)
The ruins of the former parish church of Fetteresso, dedicated in Mat 1246 and used until 1813, probably stand on the site of the church of St Ciaran (515-549).
The greater part of the church seems to have been re-built in the second half of the 17th century, although the NW doorway and portions of the N wall adjoining appear to belong to the 13th or 14th century.
The walls and gables are still preserved and measure internally, 81ft by 17 1/2ft. A wing thrown out on the north bears the date 1720, and a small adjunct on the west of this is dated 1857. The belfry, in which the bell still hangs, is dated 1737.
The interior of the church is used as a private burial ground.
New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1896-7; J B Burnett 1986; W J Watson 1926.
The church is as described above, except that the bell has been removed. It is known locally as St Ciaran's Church - this being the accepted spelling.
Visited by OS (R D) 28 July 1965.
The roofless ruin of this church stands within a walled burial-ground in the Kirktown of Fetteresso. The T-plan building comprises a rectangular church (24.7m from E to W by 5.5m transversely within walls 0.8m in thickness), to which an N aisle was added in 1720. The church probably incorporates medieval masonry in its SW and N walls, and there is an arch-pointed doorway at the W end of the N wall. During 18th-century renovation the church was shor tened to its present length, and galleries were provided at both ends. In the S wall there are nine blocked openings and a stoup cavity; the stoup has been removed to the walled garden at Fetteresso Castle (NO88NW 2); a recumbent grave stone probably medieval in date, (formerly a quoin in the N aisle) is now in the New Kirk of Fetteresso (NO 869 863). Fetteresso church was dedicated in 1246 by David de Bernham.
RCAHMS 1984, visited October 1983.
Statistical Account (OSA) 1794; Name Book 1865; A Jervise 1875; W Kelly 1889; I B Cowan 1967; J B Burnett 1986.
