Carnock, Old Parish Church And Graveyard

Old Parish Church, Carnock.

The old parish church, now a ruin, stands in the churchyard at the northern end of the village. It dates from the 13th century but was partly rebuilt and otherwise repaired in 1602 by Sir George Bruce of Carnock, whose initials with this date and a rose are cut on the south-east skew-put. The church, which is single-chambered, is oblong on plan, measuring 42 by 17 ½ feet internally. The masonry, where unaltered, is fairly cubical and is built in courses 11 inches in height. The west gable, both doorways, the south porch, and all of the windows, save those in the east gable and one in the north wall, are additions. The original windows are lancets with obtusely pointed heads, and the rebate for the case is always external. Above those in the east gable there has been another window, of which one jamb only remains. The inserted windows are or have been lintelled. The doorways are round-arched. Within the church, the east gable is recessed beneath the windows to accommodate the altar, and on the north or left-hand side of it, at a height of 1 foot 11 ½ inches above the floor level, is another recess 2 feet 2 inches in width, 1 foot 6 ½ inches deep, and 3 feet 6 inches in height, with a round-arched head. This second recess has been shelved and provided with a door, but these features are not original. Galleries were another later addition.

In the east wall of the porch, near its junction with the nave wall, is a small sinking with an ogival head. It measures 6 inches in height by 4 ½ inches in width and has a depth of 1 ¾ inches. The west gable is surmounted by a 17th century belfry.

INSCRIBED STONES. On the inner side of the north wall of the church is a stone inscribed: MR.W. ROW /PASTOR . ANNO /DO . 1638, while a stone below it is inscribed: GEORGE / BRVCE / OF CARNOK.

SUNDIAL. At wall-head level, beside the south-west angle of the church, is inserted a semi-octagonal sundial dated 1683.

SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS.

(1) At the east end of the church is the burial enclosure of John Row, the historian and minister of Carnock. On the back is a panel bearing the inscription, which has been renewed in places: [translated from Latin] "Here lies Master John Row, a most faithful pastor of this church. To the end of his life he was a stout champion of the truth and of the Scottish Covenant, and hated from the bottom of his heart the pseudo Episcopal hierarchy and the rites of Rome; in the apostacy of many of his fellow-ministers he firmly stood four-square. He married Grizel Ferguson, with whom he lived in closest amity for fifty-one years. This church was his charge for fifty-four years and he died 26 June 1646 at the age of seventy-eight. She too died 30 January 1659."

Above this panel is a raking pediment, enriched with scrolls and with a thistle-shaped finial. In the upper part of the tympanum are two panels bearing in Hebrew the inscription BETH OLAM, meaning "house of eternity" ("long home" in Eccles. xii, 5) or "grave."* In the lower part is a shield, accompanied by the initials M.I.R. and G.F., which is parted per pale: dexter, a double-headed eagle displayed between two shake-forks, in chief two mullets; sinister, between three boars' heads erased, on a chevron, a mullet. At the foot of the pediment is a later inscription: HERE LYES ADAM STOBIE OF WESTER LUSCAR / BORN 1620 DIED 1711 & MARGRAT GIBBON HIS SPOUSE / GRAND CHILD TO MR IOHN ROW BORN 1630 DIED 1670.

(2) South of the church lies a table-stone commemorating ANDROW GIBSON BURGES AND GILD BROTHER OF DUNFARMLINE who died in 1624. His initials and those of his wife G.L. are cut in a panel on the lower part of the stone, which also contains a garland enclosing a shield parted per pale: dexter, a chevron between two keys fesswise, for Gibson; sinister, a key in fess between three mullets in chief and a hunting horn garnished in base.

(3) Lying loose against the inner face of the north wall of the church is a fragment of an early memorial, the present dimensions of which are 2 feet 1 inch by 11 inches by 3 ¾ inches thick. The fragment, which has evidently been used as rubble packing, bears on the upper surface (a) a spiral, 7 ½ inches in diameter, and (b) part of what may be a foliaceous ornament, 10 inches in length, although it has the appearance of a male human figure with arms upraised and a triquetra between the legs. One edge of the stone is moulded.

RCAHMS 1933, visited 22 June 1928

*John Row (1), father of this John (2), introduced the study of Hebrew to Scotlnad, and John Row (3), son of (2), published the first grammar and dictionary of Hebrew to appear in Scotland.

This church is a rectangular building with a small porch, now a burial vault, on the S. The walls, although recently renovated, are in a ruinous state, but the W gable stands to its original height. The rubble masonry is of 17th - 18th century character, but lancet windows in the N and E walls denote an early period. There are a number of date-stones on the walls: one, over the S porch entrance is inscribed 1657. A sundial on the SW corner bears the date 1683; another in the SE corner has some letters and the date 1602. Beside John Row's tombstone is a lintel dated 1623, with the initials M R and G F. Stones, which were previously on Carnock Bridge, are now in the N wall of the church and read "M R IO PASTOR ANNO DO 1638" and "George Bruce of Carnock". The carved stone referred to above now lies against the E wall. It is quite small and bears a spiral (?) ornamentation in relief. It appears to be a fragment of an Early Christian cross-slab.

Visited by OS (J L D) 8 July 1953.

Recording of gravestones in the churchyard of Carnock Old Parish Church by Mrs Betty Willsher in 1986.