Kirkintilloch, Oxgangs
Burial Ground (Medieval) - (Post Medieval), Church (15th Century), Watch Tower (18th Century)
Site Name Kirkintilloch, Oxgangs
Classification Burial Ground (Medieval) - (Post Medieval), Church (15th Century), Watch Tower (18th Century)
Alternative Name(s) St Ninian's Church And 'the Old Isle', The Auld Isle
Canmore ID 45231
Site Number NS67SE 4
NGR NS 66511 73098
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/45231
- Council East Dunbartonshire
- Parish Kirkintilloch (Strathkelvin)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Strathkelvin
- Former County Dunbartonshire
NS67SE 4 665 731.
(Name: NS 6652 7310) Old Aisle Burial Ground (NAT) Site of (NAT) St Ninian's Church (NR)
OS 1:1250 map, (1969)
The old aisle church of Kirkintilloch, dedicated to St Ninian, was found about 1140 (Horne 1910). It was in use as the parish church until the mid-17th century, when it was replaced by St Mary's Church (NS67SE 3). Although it is asserted (OPS 1851) that the ruins of the church could still be seen in the burial ground, in 1859 (Ordnance Survey Name Book [ONB] 1859) no traces of it remained, and though it was believed to have stood near to the watch-tower at the burial ground, its exact site could not be pointed out.
Watson (1894) states that this watch-tower is built of stones taken from the old church, probably about the beginning of the 18th century. Listed 'A', it is described by Hay: "Over a rusticated entrance archway of 18th century type is a small square watch-house, reached by an open fore-stair and surmounted by a bird-cage belfry in which hung the 'deid bell' that was tolled as funeral processions approached".
Orig Paroch Scot 1851; Name Book 1859; G Chalmers 1890; T Watson 1894;
J Horne 1910; G Hay 1957.
Field Visit (19 February 1954)
There is no trace of this church. The watch-tower stands at NS 6654 7310 and is in good condition.
Visited by OS (J F C) 19 February 1954.
Field Visit (January 1982)
Kirkintilloch, St Ninian's Church and Burial-ground NS 665 731 NS67SE 4
There are no visible remains of this church, until the mid-17th century the parish church of Kirkintilloch. It is on record in the late 12th century and a dragonesque head (NMAS KG 121) possibly of 10th- to 12th-century date, carved in sandstone, was found in the burial-ground about 1917.
RCAHMS 1982, visited January 1982
(OPS 1851-5, i, 48-9; Chalmers 1887-1902, vi, 911-13; Watson 1894, 46-9; Horne 1910, 38-41; Fletcher 1952; Cowan 1967, 121)
Photographic Survey (21 September 2009 - 29 September 2009)
NS 6654 7310 A Level 1 external photographic survey and written description of the site was produced between 21– 29 September 2009.
Funder: Hunter and Clark
Allison Borden – Headland Archaeology Ltd
Publication Account (2009)
In 1451, Sir Robert Fleming of Biggar founded a chaplainry in the parish church of St Ninian, endowing it with annual rents, a tenement and garden in the town of Kirkintilloch. Almost a century later, in 1545, after Malcolm, Lord Fleming, erected a church under a joint parsonage in his barony of Biggar, the church at Kirkintilloch became a collegiate church. At the time of the Reformation the value of the parish church to the monks of Cambuskenneth Abbey was £80. After the Reformation, John, Earl of Mar, acquired the property of Cambuskeneth Abbey, and sold or transferred Kirkintilloch tithes and church to the Earl of Wigtown. It continued to serve as the parish church until the 1640s, when it was demolished and a new church was built in Kirkintilloch. Little now remains of the old church. The Old Belfry at the Auld Aisle (Category A-listed) may have been part of St Ninian’s church, but is more likely to have been built in the seventeenth century with the stones from St Ninian’s church after it was demolished.
Information from ‘The Scottish Burgh Survey, Historic Kilsyth: Archaeology and Development’ (2009).
External Reference
EXTERNAL REFERENCE
Glasgow, Mitchell Libarary. William Graham. Vol II p.54 - photo (13/437 Harry F Ashton. Watch tower or Belfry entrance.
