Angus HER - NO34NE0016 - ST FERGUS'S CHURCH, GLAMIS

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Main Details

Primary ReferenceNO34NE0016
NameST FERGUS'S CHURCH, GLAMIS
NRHE Card No.NO34NE16
NRHE Numlink 32062
HES SM No. NULL
HES LB No. 11555
Site Form Standing Structure
Site Condition Complete 2
Details Church, still in ecclesiastical use. There was a medieval church dedicated to St Fergus on the site, first on record in 1178, but it is probably Early Christian. The 15th century Strathmore Aisle is probably the transept of this former church. The previous church was demolished in 1790, and the current church was built in 1792, with the Strathmore Aisle attached to the south-east corner. It is shown on the 1st edition OS map as a rectangular church with a projection on the south-east corner, attaching it to the remains of Fergus Church. On the 2nd edition OS map, the eastern elevation of the church has been extended so the south-east corner no longer projects. There are also additions on the south and west elevations and the graveyard has been extended to the north. A chancel was added to the church in 1933-4 by George Bennett Mitchell and Son, architects, at which time the interior was also refurbished. The church was re-dedicated to St Fergus on 6th May 1934. It is a plain, rectangular-plan aisleless church. It is constructed from squared and snecked rubble with dressed ashlar quoins. It has round-headed openings, a deeply-chamfered hoodmoulded doorway and Y-tracery and stone mullions to the windows. There is a four-stage entrance tower on the west elevation. The tower reduces at each stage, and is square on the first and second stage, becoming octagonal at the third stage. It is topped with an octagonal bell-tower spire with a fish weathervane. There is a gabled porch at the ground floor of the south elevation. There are stepped ashlar skews with square skewputts and a grey slate roof. There are stained glass windows by Gordon Webster, 1969, to the eastern windows on the north and south elevations. Inside, there is a wide chancel arch to a raised chancel, with fixed elder's chairs and a fretwork organ screen. There are marble memorial tablets on the west wall. The addition on the east gable is a small single-storey rubble-built sessions house with dressed ashlar quoins and a piended slate roof. There is a World War II memorial wooden cross housed inside the church. The full transcription of the memorial is held in the AAS Digital Archive. Pictish stone fragments housed in the kirk were moved on loan to Meffan Museum in December 2013. The Strathmore Aisle has been altered in the 17th century and later. It is a small rectangular-plan burial aisle constructed of red sandstone ashlar, with dressed margins and quoins. It has segmental-arched and Tudor-arched openings. There is an armorial shield on the door on the south elevation, dated and initialled possibly 1742 and ES, although the inscriptions are not clear. The doorway is set within a roll-moulded and chamfered doorway. This is surmounted by a sundial dated 1771 on a carved corbel in the gablehead, finialled with a stone lion and shield on a square plinth. The west elevation features a canopied black marble mural tablet with Corinthian columns, carved spandrels and a decorative cornice. There is also a pedimented stone and a round-headed red marble tablet. The north elevation has a small advanced piend-roofed link to the church and a gablehead finial of a griffon with a shield displaying a lion rampant. The east elevation has a projecting flat-roofed bay with pilastered angles featuring blank, possibly eroded, shields. There are ashlar-coped skews and flat skewputts on the grey slate roof. Inside, there is a stone groin-vaulted roof with bosses, corbels and keystones carved with coronets, lions of Glamis, lions of Glamis and Ogilvy and grapes in bold relief. The ogee-arched ambry is flanked by shields with the lion of Glamis on one, and the lion of Glamis and Ogilvy impaled on the other. There is the tomb of Patrick Lyon (died 1459) and Isabella Ogilvy (died 1484), husband and wife. A stone stair leads to the burial vault of the Lyon family beneath a stone pavement. The graveyard is enclosed by 18th century and later coped rubble walls. There are carved skull and crossbones stones set into the wall to the north-west and south-west gates. There are channelled and rusticated ashlar square-plan gatepiers with orb finials on swept plinths and wrought-iron gates at the north and east. A fragment of carved medieval stone was found in the graveyard, and a cross-slab is also reported as coming from the graveyard (although see NO34NE0002).
Last Update13/03/2020
Updated Bycpalmer
Compiler 
Date of Compilation 

Google Map for NO34NE0016

National Grid Reference: NO 3864 4687



Event Details


Excavations and Surveys


Artefact and Ecofact

Ecofact

Samples
Palynology
Ecofact Notes

Monument Types

Monument Type 1Monument Type 2Monument Type 3OrderProbability
TABLETSMURAL AF100
COLUMNS CORINTHIANAG100
STONES PEDIMENTEDAI100
BAYS PROJECTINGAJ100
AUMBRIESOGEE AK100
ROOFSSTONEGROIN-VAULTEDAL100
CARVINGS RELIEFAM100
TOMBS  AN100
AISLESFAMILY AO100
WALLSRUBBLECOPEDAP100
GATEPIERSASHLARRUSTICATEDAQ100
CORBELS CARVEDT100
FINIALS LIONAH100
GATEPIERSSQUAREFINIALLEDAR100
FINIALSBALL AS100
GATESWROUGHT-IRON AT100
STONES CARVEDAU100
CROSS-SLABS  AV100
CHURCHESRECTANGULAR A100
CHURCHESRUBBLE-BUILT B100
QUOINSASHLAR C100
OPENINGS ROUND-HEADEDD100
DOORWAYS HOOD-MOULDEDE100
DOORWAYS CHAMFEREDF100
WINDOWS TRACERIEDG100
MULLIONSSTONE H100
TOWERSENTRANCE I100
SPIRESOCTAGONAL J100
WEATHER-VANES FISHK100
PORCHES GABLEDL100
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