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Fowlis Wester, Fowlis Wester Parish Church
Archway (19th Century), Burial Ground (Medieval), Church (Medieval), Grave Slab (Medieval), War Memorial (20th Century)
Site Name Fowlis Wester, Fowlis Wester Parish Church
Classification Archway (19th Century), Burial Ground (Medieval), Church (Medieval), Grave Slab (Medieval), War Memorial (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Foulis Wester Church; St Beannus Church; St Bean's Church, War Memorial Plaque
Canmore ID 26195
Site Number NN92SW 7
NGR NN 92805 24080
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/26195
- Council Perth And Kinross
- Parish Fowlis Wester
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Perth And Kinross
- Former County Perthshire
Fowlis Wester 3 (St Beanus), Perthshire, cross-slab fragment
Measurements: H
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NN 9281 2408
Present location: inside the church, clamped to the wall.
Evidence for discovery: found in 1927 during the restoration of the church, reused in the beam filling at the wallhead.
Present condition: broken but carving good.
Description
This fragment represents the central portion of a small cross-slab carved in relief. The slab is bordered by an ornamented moulding with interlace on the left-hand edge and key pattern on the right. The cross has rectangular terminals extending to the edges of the slab and rounded armpits, and the head appears to have been filled with uninterrupted interlace which tuns into diagonal key pattern when it reached the shaft. The background is plain.
Date: eighth or ninth century.
References: Waddell 1932.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
Fowlis Wester 4 (St Beanus), Perthshire, cross-slab fragment
Measurements: H
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NN 9281 2408
Present location: inside the church, clamped to the wall.
Evidence for discovery: found in 1927 during the restoration of the church, reused in the beam filling at the wallhead.
Present condition: broken fragment with one intact edge.
Description
This fragment comes from the lower left-hand portion of a cross-slab and is carved in relief, with a flatband moulding at the intact edge, and part of the shaft of a cross outlined by a roll moulding and filled with interlace.
Date: eighth or ninth century.
References: Waddell 1932.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
The simple rectangular form of the pre-reformation church at Fowlis Wester survives. A burial aisle was added to the north in 1641 forming the existing T-plan church. In 1802 the church was ‘repaired’ which included the insertion of round-headed astragaled windows and the creation of a door in the centre of the south wall. A photograph held by RCAHMS, dated c.1885, shows the church in its 'Georgian Dress'. (See SC 911714). A pre-1927 photograph, in the vestry, shows the interior as a rectangular plastered space with no internal access to the north aisle. In the 19th century a Gothic arched doorway was broken through the north wall of the aisle. In 1927 Capt and Hon. Mrs Drummond Moray employed J Jeffrey Waddell (1876-1941) to ‘restore’ the church to its 'medieval appearance'. The programme of works was drastic in that all of the harl and the plaster were removed and new Gothic windows inserted, all under a new roof. Access to the north aisle was opened up through an archway and a vestry created beyond. This involved the blocking of the 19th century north doorway. The east end appears to be the only area that was not rebuilt, retaining the pre-Reformation sacrament-house and leper squint. During the work various sculptured stones were uncovered from the walls including the 1644 pediment of the churchyard gate. These, along with the Cross of Fowlis, are preserved within the church. The interior was fitted out with a complete set of furnishings with Celtic inspired decoration. The church has 20th century stained glass including the Ascending Christ in the west window.
Waddell, a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, was convinced that there were further early sculptured stones within the fabric. RCAHMS holds a portrait of him sitting in one of the pews.
(Information from RCAHMS (STG), 2003
NN92SW 7.00 92805 24080
For Pictish Cross-slab ('Cross of Foulis') formerly in the square at Fowlis Wester (NN 9278 2404) and now held in church, see NN92SW 5. For cross-slab found in (1927) restoration, see NN92SW 10. For cross-incised stone set into path in churchyard, see NN92SW 29.
(NN 9281 2408) Church (NR)
OS 6" map (1958)
'The parish church is a plane narrow rectangular building of no pretensions to symmetry. The date of foundation of this church is not known. The site of this church was chosen by the Earl of Strathearn, standing on the Seat Knowe, watching the spot on which the rays of the setting sun irradiated. It was repaired in 1641 and again in 1841. The entrance to the church from the south, is by a gate archway of hewn stones. On the stone above the arch is written in antique letters and orthography "Take heed to thy foot when thou go into the house of God" 1644. It is seated for 461 persons.'
Name Book 1864
The pre-Reformation church was granted to Inchaffray Abbey by Gilbert, Earl of Strathearn, about 1210. It was restored in 1927.
H Scott 1915-61
Fowlis Wester is a very long narrow church, no doubt on medieval foundations but much altered at various times, very drastically so in 1927 when an attempt was made to re-medievalise it by modernising most of what was left. The only recognisable medieval feature is a small aumbry in the east wall.
I G Lindsay 1950
Fowlis Wester church is of medieval origin, having been adapted and developed by the addition of a transeptal aisle; it was further expensively 'restored' in a pseudo-medieval manner in 1927. The kirkyard is distinguished by a simple archwayed gateway which incorporates an earlier pediment inscribed 'TAK/HEED.TO.THY/FOOT.WHEN.THOV/ENTREST.INTO.THE/HOVS.OF.GOD.1644'.
G Hay 1957
1. Parish Church (St. Beanus). Originally a simple long low rubble late medieval oblong with blind N wall. T-plan N addition opening into church by low segmental arch with datestone 1641. 'Repaired' (?reconstructed) 1802, thoroughly re-medievalised 1927 by Jeffrey Waddell (of Glasgow), architect, with much Celtic ornament in the furnishings but retaining a few details from the original, sacrament-house, bell-cote etc. Small cross-slab, 1678 coat of arms and original pediment of churchyard gate are preserved within the church. Ecclesiastical building in use as such.
2. Churchyard walls, gate and grave-stones. Rubble walled enclosure with simple rubble arched gateway with pediment stone (renewal of 1927) inscribed [as noted by Hay]. Gravestones mainly 19th century.
SDD List, 1963.
The church, still in use, is as described by Lindsay. A notice in the church reads: 'The Parish Church of St. Beannus granted by Earl Gilbert of Strathearn to the Canona of Inchaffray Abbey, along with all the dower lands, in the year 1210 AD and, thereafter, till the Reformation, was served by priests and readers from the abbey'. Its correct designation is now Fowlis Wester Parish Church.
Visited by OS (RD) 12 December 1966
Fowlis-Wester (Dunblane) was granted to Inchaffray by Gilbert, Earl of Strathearn, c. 1210 in order that the abbey might apply the revenues to its own uses, this was confirmed and a vicarage settlement agreed by the dean and chapter of Dunblane in 1239. It is apparent in the vicarage settlement that the parsonage and part of the vicarage teinds had been annexed to the abbey, the vicarage being portionary. It remained so at the Reformation, when it was held by one of the canons.
I B Cowan 1967.
Trenching within the recess below the laird's loft on the N side of the church revealed the outer face of the building's (?) primary N wall, which had been built directly upon glacial till.
J Lewis 1991.
The parish church of Fowlis Wester stands within its graveyard on a knoll on the N side of the village. A collection of photographs in the vestry records its appearance prior to the restoration of 1927. Although the building was refenestrated at that date, and structural details are obscured by the pointing, a number of earlier features survive. A blocked rectangular window is visible in the south wall, and above it the lintel of a larger opening. Beside this, a fragment of an armorial panel, which measures 0.5m by 0.27m and is carved in high relief, bears a shield displaying a chevron and two stars. A stone incised with the date 1641 within a cartouche is built into the W wall of the north aisle. Inside the church, there is a medieval aumbry in the east gable bearing the inscription IHS + MA in relief. The aumbry measures 0.5m by 0.57m overall (the actual opening 0.21m by 0.24m) and at present 0.3m deep, and it has hinge and bolt sockets in the north and south jambs.
A medieval coped grave-slab lies 2m E of the E gable of the church; it measures 1.76m long and tapers from 0.54m wide and 0.21m deep at the head to 0.44m and 0.18m respectively at the foot. The stone is curved in cross-section. On its S face it bears the incised figure of an axe, and on the N face an unusual sword lacking quillons. Neither of the end panels bears decoration. It rests upon low brick supports at either end, but has now fractured towards its lower end. The stone is said to have been brought to Fowlis Wester from the churchyard of Tullichettle, Comrie (NN71NE 7), although a second tradition relates that it was brought from Inchaffray Abbey (NN92SE 4).
An inscribed lintel is built into the outer face of the W wall of the kirkyard (NN 9278 2409), 0.9m from the NW corner and 1.3m above ground level. The lintel is of red-brown sandstone and measures 1.37m long by 0.16m deep; the opening, which is chamfered, is 1.02m wide. Over the opening is the date 1682 with a central five-pointed star carved in relief.
The cross-slab NN92SW 10 was found during the reconstruction of the church and now stands in the north aisle, together with the Class II stone (NN92SW 5) that formerly stood in the village square. The two other cross-slab fragments (NN92SW 10) also found in 1927 are clamped to the wall of the aisle.
Visited by RCAHMS (IF), 9 November 1995.
J Brown 1896; J F and S Mitchell 1974.
NN 9281 2408 An archaeological excavation was undertaken in August 1997 prior to proposed remedial works at Fowlis Wester Church. Two trenches were excavated at its SE and NE corners, adjacent to the E gable end of the structure. In both trenches the stratification was similar, showing a high density of human remains within the graveyard immediately E of the church. The upper 0.6?0.9m of deposit consisted of mixed backfill, presumably derived from the constant cutting and backfilling of graves. This layer contained an abundance of disturbed human bone and modern artefacts, as well as a single sherd of medieval pottery. All but one of the graves encountered were of modern origin, and likely date to within the last century. The date for the lowest grave exposed cannot definitely be ascertained, although its location against the church wall and immediately above bedrock may indicate an early date.
The excavation showed that the church foundations rest directly upon bedrock. The subsidence and cracking of the N and S walls (which instigated the need for remedial work) cannot therefore be caused by the building subsiding as a result of its position on top of graves, at least in this area, as previously thought.
All of the finds and human remains recovered during these excavations were reinterred in their respective trenches.
Sponsor: Balmoral Stone.
R Strachan 1997
NN92SW 7.00 92805 24080
NN92SW 7.01 92824 24091 Churchyard
Photographic Survey (1987)
Recording of gravestones in Fowlis Wester Parish Church by Mrs Betty Willsher in 1987.
Publication Account (2004)
The simple rectangular form of the pre-reformation church survives. A burial-aisle was added to the north in 1641 forming the existing T-plan church. In 1802 the church was 'repaired' which included the insertion of round-headed astragaled windows and the creation of a door in the centre of the south wall. A pre-1927 photograph, in the vestry, shows the interior as a rectangular plastered space with no internal access to the north aisle. In 1927 Capt. and Hon. Mrs Drummond Moray employed J Jeffrey Waddell (1876-1941) to 'restore' the church to its 'medieval appearance'. The programme of works was drastic, all the harl and the plasted was removed and new gothic windows inserted, all under a new roof. Access to the north aisle was opened up through an archway and a vestry created beyond. This invovled the blocking of the 19th century north doorway. The east end appears to be the only area that was not rebuilt, retaining the pre-Reformation sacrament-house and leper squint. During the work various sculptures stones were uncovered from the walls including the 1644 pediment of the churchyard gate, these along with the Cross of Fowlis, are preserved within the church. Waddell, an FSA Scot, was convinced that there were further early sculptured stones within the fabric. The interior was fitted out with a complete set of furnishings with Celtic inspired decoration. A portrait of Waddell in the NMRS shows him sitting in one of the pews. There is also some fine 20th-century stained glass including the Ascending Christ in the west window.
Information from ‘RCAHMS Excursion Guide 2004: Commissioners' Field Excursion, Perth and Angus, 31 August – 2 September 2004’.
