Dorrery, Gavin's Kirk
Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Chapel (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Dorrery, Gavin's Kirk
Classification Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Chapel (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Temple Gavin
Canmore ID 7767
Site Number ND05SE 5
NGR ND 0774 5469
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/7767
- Council Highland
- Parish Halkirk
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Caithness
- Former County Caithness
ND05SE 5 0774 5469.
(ND 0774 5469) Chapel (NR) (In Ruins)
OS 6" map, Caithness, 2nd ed., (1907)
'Gavin's Kirk', also known as 'Temple Gavin', was a chapel which has consisted of a nave and chancel, the former measuring 15 by 12ft and the latter 8 by 7ft. The total length of the interior has been 27ft and the exterior walls were 3 1/2ft thick.
T Pennant 1774; RCAHMS 1911.
It stands within an enclosed graveyard enlarged before 1872 (when the present wall was erected): at this date the earlier and perhaps coeval wall was still traceable.
Name Book 1872.
The remains of this chapel are as described above. The collapsed walls now stand to a maximum height of 1.0m and are in an extremely poor condition.
The graveyard, also in a poor state of preservation, is known as Dorrery Graveyard.
Revised at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (N K B) 15 February 1965.
(ND 0774 5469) Gavin's Kirk (NR) (remains of)
OS 6" map, (1964)
The chapel ruins are thickly overgrown and specific details are not recoverable, but it appears generally as described. The course of an old stony bank outside the W and N wall of the present graveyard is presumably remains of the pre-1872 graveyard. The last burial here was about 1954.
Visited by OS (J M) 10 July 1981.
