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Girvan, Old Parish Church And Burial-ground
Church (Medieval) - (Post Medieval), Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Site Name Girvan, Old Parish Church And Burial-ground
Classification Church (Medieval) - (Post Medieval), Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Girvan, Old Street, Graveyard
Canmore ID 62076
Site Number NX19NE 8
NGR NX 1863 9829
NGR Description Centred at NX 1863 9829
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/62076
- Council South Ayrshire
- Parish Girvan
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Kyle And Carrick
- Former County Ayrshire
NX19NE 8 1863 9829
For surrounding Girvan, Old Street, Graveyard (centred NX 18641 98260), see NX19NE 74.00.
(NX 1863 9829) The site of the former parish church mentioned in 1296 and dedicated to St Cuthbert lies in the centre of a graveyard (NX19NE 74.00). It appears to have measured about 50 by 28ft and Morris, in tracing the foundation in 1907 could find only fragments of walling. He also found medieval grave-stones, one of which, the shaft of a cross with interlacing and a cross in high relief, he interpreted as Celtic, but since the cross has a calvaried base this is most unlikely. There is a reference in 1696 to a "new" church near a bridge over the river, which presumably means it was on this site, but in 1780 another parish church was built at NX 1876 9812 and this was replaced in 1884 by yet another. (See also NX19NE 10).
J Paterson 1852; R Lawson 1892; G Chalmers 1824; J A Morris 1913
Site of original church confirmed (R Valentine, town clerk). Only a rectangular hollow, circa 16m by 9m with no trace of masonry remains. The hollow is 0.5m deep on the east side and 1m on the west. There are many defaced old gravestones in the churchyard. A notice board at the present church states "Old Parish Church of Girvan - dedicated to St Cuthbert circa 1156".
Visited by OS (JLD) 6 October 1955
Hollow, 18m by 10m, at site of original church surveyed at 1:2,500.
Visited by OS (RDL) 6 February 1963
There is no change or additional information to the previous field reports.
Visited by OS (JRL) 20 April 1977.
Field Visit (April 1982)
Girvan, Old Parish Church and Burial-ground NX 186 982 NX19NE 8
A rectangular depression in the burial-ground probably indicates the site of the old parish church of Girvan. Although a church is on record in the 13th century, a reference in 1696 to the 'new church' suggests that the medieval building may have been replaced by that date. In 1907 part of the shaft and head of a disc-headed cross, possibly of 10th- or 11th-century date, were found in the burial-ground, where they have been erected upon a modern base; three medieval grave-slabs and 'several other medieval stones' were found at the same time.
RCAHMS 1983, visited April 1982
(Paterson 1863-6, ii, 243-5; Chalmers 1887-1902, vi, 538-40; Morris 1913; Cowan 1967, 73).
