Kilmarnock, Riccarton Parish Church
Church (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Kilmarnock, Riccarton Parish Church
Classification Church (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 42797
Site Number NS43NW 23
NGR NS 42824 36394
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/42797
- Council East Ayrshire
- Parish Riccarton
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Kilmarnock And Loudoun
- Former County Ayrshire
NMRS REFERENCE:
NS43NW 23.00 42824 36394 Church
NS43NW 23.01 42806 36409 Burial Ground
See also NS43NW 27
The pre-Reformation Riccarton parish church stood in the centre of the burial ground; it is first noted, as a chapel, in 1229. Chalmers states that it was almost wholly rebuilt in 1772. From the presbytery records it would appear to have been rebuilt in 1725. It was replaced by the present church (at NS 4282 3639) in 1823. The ruins of the old church are still visible. (Unroofed yards are shown on OS 25" 1856 at NS
4280 3633).
NSA 1845 (J Porteous); J Paterson 1863; G Chalmers 1820
No traces of this church exist in the old graveyard.
Visited by OS (JLD) 9 September 1954
Previous field report confirmed.
Visited by OS (JRL) 3 July 1982
NMRS REFERENCE:
ARCHITECT: John Richmond.
EXTERNAL REFERENCE:
Scottish Record Office
Alterations to Riccarton Church.
'Care must be taken that the middle of my seat in Riccarton Church be exactly opposite to the pulpit as it was before the church was repaired. Those concerned should have looked to it before any door was made'.
Letter from Alexander Lord Polwarth (later Earl of Marchmont) to John Dick.
1724 GD 158/2515/ Page 48
Archaeological Evaluation (12 March 2008)
NS 4282 3639 An evaluation was undertaken on 12 March 2008. The trenches revealed a sequence of accumulation and re-deposition, the earliest preceding the expansion of the church in 1910. A single surviving wall course with a facing of modern brick survived beneath a substantial quantity of made ground. Any traces of previous occupation have been removed from the site by later landscaping.
Archive: RCAHMS. Report: WoSAS
Funder: Riccarton Parish Church
Alan Matthews (Rathmell Archaeology Limited), 2008
