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Uphall Church And Burial-ground
Burial Ground (Medieval), Church (12th Century), War Memorial (20th Century), Bell (16th Century)
Site Name Uphall Church And Burial-ground
Classification Burial Ground (Medieval), Church (12th Century), War Memorial (20th Century), Bell (16th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Uphall Kirk; St Nicholas; Strathbrock; Uphall North Church: War Memorial Plaque
Canmore ID 49292
Site Number NT07SE 4
NGR NT 05981 72211
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/49292
- Council West Lothian
- Parish Uphall
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District West Lothian
- Former County West Lothian
Strathbrock St Nicholas, Ecclesmachan Road, from 12th century
A vision of old Scotland on its ancient hilltop graveyard gazing south towards the Pentlands. The original plan was simplicity itself; square tower at the western end (two-storey now capped by a bellcote), long rectangular nave and originally square chancel (now extended). The plan, like so many Scottish kirks, is very Swedish. Of the original 12th-century church, there survive the nave walls, and beautiful south door, with its shafts, scalloped capitals and roll mouldings. Barrel-vaulted aisle of the Shairps of Houstoun, c.1620, but only a forestair, 1644, survives of the Buchan Loft.
The north aisle, 1878, is by Wardrop & Reid, who also rebuilt the upper stage of the tower and added the belfry. The 1503 bell is from an earlier church. The ground storey of the tower is the burial place of the Earls of Buchan, a wall tablet commemorating Thomas, Lord Erskine, Lord Chancellor of England, and the Hon. Henry Erskine, Lord Advocate of Scotland 1783 and 1806. Stained glass, 1922, by P MacGregor Chalmers and, 1962, by William Wilson.
Tombstones include a table-top Adam & Eve with a tree loaded with apples, and a bronze monument, 1866, by Sir John Steell to Lt-Col. John Drysdale. Manse, late 17th century, uphill from the kirk, was built as Uphall House for Katherine, Dowager Lady Cardross. Later over-scaled two-storey hexagonal bay, and much more diminutive Victorian window bay.
Taken from "West Lothian: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Stuart Eydmann, Richard Jaques and Charles McKean, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
NT07SE 4 05981 72211.
See also NT07SE 112
(NT 0597 7220) The parish church of Uphall, anciently Strathbrock, was dedicated to St Nicholas. It is a much altered 12th century building, the chancel being extended in the 13th century. The Shairp aisle was added in 1620, and other additions made in 1644 and 1878. The building was completely renovated and restored in 1937-8, to expose the medieval features of the building.
A 15th century font, found c.1784 when digging a foundation for a pillar within Uphall church, is now at the RC chapel (see NT07SE 112, NT 0786 7224).
Jougs used to be fixed to the church wall a little W of the SW doorway. G Hay 1957; I G Lindsay 1948; H Scott 1961; RCAHMS 1929, visited 1926;
J Primrose 1898; SDD List 1964
The church is as described and in normal use. The font is in use at the RC church.
Visited by OS (DWR) 5 March 1974
The font which is now situated within the Roman Catholic Church (NT07SE 112) is a relic of the church of St Nicholas. Unearthed by the Earl of Buchan when he was digging the foundation for a pillar in the Parish Church of Uphall some time in the last quarter of the 18th century. After recovery it was transferred to the Earl's house at Kirkhill, but when he moved to Dryburgh, the font was removed to Pyot Hall where it became a water trough for cattle. In the late 19th century the font was 'rediscovered' and restored to its original use by the Dowager-Countess of Buchan who provided it with a new pedestal.
The font is octagonal, and possibly dates from the 15th or ealry 16th century. On six of the eight sides are inscriptions: I.H.S, M and Sta ecclesia Nicholai (the Holy Church of Nicholas).
The church bell is also inscribed round the frieze with the words 'In onore Sancti Nicholae Campana Ecclegie de Strabocrk Anno Dni Md Ve III' ('In honour of St Nicholas the bell of the Church of Strathbrock, in the year of our Lord 1503'). In addition the bell has a shield bearing the of coat of arms of the family of Seton of Touch.
Information from the Rev. J Peat, April 2002
Field Visit (31 August 1926)
Parish Church, Uphall.
The parish church of Uphall stands on an eminence a quarter of a mile north of the village. It is a much altered Norman building, comprising west tower, nave, and chancel, the last of which appears to have been extended 16 ½ feet [5m] eastward in the 15th century. On the south has been added the 17th-century transeptal aisle of the Shairps of Houston, and, on the north, a modern aisle. The tower measures some 18 ½ feet [5.6m] square externally. Nave and ·chancel are now thrown into one chamber having a total length internally of 65 feet 8 inches [20m]. The internal width at the western end is 16 feet, and at the eastern end 13 ½ feet. The tower has been rebuilt above the main wall-head level; the lower part, mainly of early masonry, has been adapted, as the burial place of the Buchan family, and is entered from the west through a modern doorway.
The masonry of the original work is mainly cubical, the stones showing 13 to 15 inches on face. At ground-level is a slight chamfered base-course. The entrance to the nave is in the south wall beside the tower (Fig. 240). It has recessed nook-shafts (restored), with cushion capitals and chamfered bases. The arch-head is boldly moulded, is covered by a chamfered and quirked hood-mould, and rises from rectangular abaci. In the south wall of the chancel is a doorway built up and with a modern window formed above it. The east most window in the wall, an arched doublet set within a deeply chamfered frame, dates about 1490. The east gable has two small round-headed windows, built up and partly obscured by a modern porch. The Shairp aisle is built of ashlar and is vaulted. It has a heavy corbelled eaves-course, and the windows and door are boldly moulded. The two-light window in the gable may be dated about 1618. On the forest air leading to a loft on the north of the chancel is the inscription: ANNO 1644.
Internally the church retains no features of interest other than the benatura beside the entrance. The chancel arch has been removed.
BELL. In the modern belfry in the tower hangs a bell removed from St Nicholas Church which stood at Kirkhill, less than a mile east ward of this building. It is 13 3/8 inches in diameter and bears an inscription in Gothic lettering: "IN ONORE SANCTE NICHOLAE CAMPANA ECCLE[S]IE DE STRABORK* ANNO D(OMI)NI/McVcIII (1503). On the waist are the founder's mark and a shield charged: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, three crescents within a double tressure flory-counter-flory, for Seton; 2nd and 3rd, three escutcheons, for Hay of Tullibody; the quartered coat being that of Alexander Seton of Touch. The canons have been filed off and the crown staple is broken (1).
FONT. Also removed from St Nicholas's Church is a font erected in the Roman Catholic Church at Broxburn on a modern base. It is an octagon on plan, 25 ¾ inches in diameter, each side being 10 ¾ inches wide; the depth is 14 inches. One face has been broken and repaired with cement. Occupying six sides is an in scription in Gothic lettering: S(AN)C(T)A KATERIN[A] / [SANCTUS] NICOLA(S or sign for US) M/IHS/M/IHS/.
The single letters are for Iesus Hominum Salvator and Maria.
RCAHMS 1929, visited 31 August 1926
(1) Cf. Proc. Soc, Ant. Scot., xlvi i (1912-13), 93-4
*For Strathbrock, the old name of the parish, Anglicised as Broxburn
Standing Building Recording (March 2013)
NT 059 722 A Level 2 standing building survey was undertaken in March 2013 of the Category C listed steading (former manse outbuildings) prior to their conversion to a house. The building consisted of a two-storey gabled rubble built rectangular structure with a slated roof. The building is aligned NNW–SSE and measures c30.5m by 5.7m. The SSW end has a crow-stepped gable with a further crow-stepped gable sited c8m to the NNE. The NNE gable is not stepped and is slightly curved. Chimneys are visible on the two crow-stepped gables and there is a smaller chimney towards the NNE end of the roofline.
The ESE (rear) elevation has seven windows and one doorway. There are three windows with wooden slats, two brick infilled windows, three stone infilled windows and one brick infilled doorway. The WNW (front) elevation has eight windows and seven doorways. There are three windows with wooden slats, three stone infilled windows, one boarded window and one open window, four single open doorways with wooden door, two double doorways/entrances and one partially stone infilled doorway. The SSE crow-stepped gable has one doorway and one stone infilled window. No windows or doorways were visible in the NNW gable. The interior of the structure is currently divided into five areas.
From documentary and cartographic evidence it can be concluded that the earliest part of the outbuildings date to c1695 and is contemporary with the old manse. The earliest section is the SSE end and would have consisted of a two-storey gabled building with crow-stepping on both gables. The moulded doorway on the lower floor would have been the main access to the building and access to the upper section would have been from an external stair (probably wooden) at the front of the structure (WNW elevation). This doorway appears to have been later infilled, and used as a window, before being completely blocked. Roy’s Military Map suggests that the structure had been extended by the mid-18th century.
When the structure was extended (to the NNW) it appears that Areas 1, 2 and 3 were single storey and Area 4 had an upper and lower floor. A doorway was created in the original (NNW) gable end which allowed access to the upper floor of Area 4. This area, which was probably a hayloft, could also be accessed from a stair in Area 3. The external access possibly ceased to be used around about this time and was altered to become a window. The bowing in SSE wall of Area 3, which is the external wall of the original NNW gable, is a common feature of a wall that has a fireplace. If a fireplace does exist in this wall, it is no longer visible, but the chimneys on both crow-stepped gables suggest there may have been at least one fireplace and that the second chimney was added for symmetry. The presence of a fireplace would suggest that the original structure may have been used as a house.
The extension to the original structure consisted of numerous doorways and windows, some of which were later blocked. The doorway in the rear wall, now blocked, must have originally given access to Area 2, which may have been used winnowing barn. Quoin stones visible on both the rear and front elevations indicate where the original structure ended.
Archive: RCAHMS. Report: WoSAS
Funder: James Watson
Rebecca Shaw, Rebecca Shaw Archaeological Services, 2013
(Source: DES)
Watching Brief (22 September 2014 - 7 October 2014)
An archaeological watching brief carried out by CFA Archaeology Ltd at Strathbrock Parish Church, Uphall, West Lothian. The area monitored included the installation of a new service trench along the pathway leading to the church and the demolition of the existing redundant boiler house. An internal inspection hole dug to connect the external water main to the interior of the church was also monitored. During the removal of a flight of steps leading down to the boiler house, the topmost step was found to be a gravestone with an inscription on each side. One was probably 17th century and was very worn. The second inscription was 18th century and was dedicated to the memory of Thomas Rob (d.1760). Disturbed human remains were also recorded in a manhole trench. The remains included a badly crushed skull and parts of upper arms and thigh bones. All of these remains were reinterred close to where they were found. The excavation of the new service and the excavation work carried out within the aisle revealed no archaeological remains.
Information from OASIS ID: cfaarcha1-194431 (M Kirby) 2014
