Details |
Church, built as the church of the Augustinian Priory located nearby, but which became the parish church in the mid 16th century. It has been much altered and rebuilt especially in the 19th century. It is built of thin coursed granite rubble with sandstone window and door surrounds. The present church incorporates two principal features of the original building: the lower part of the west tower and the chancel arch. The tower, built of thin coursed granite with sandstone dressings, now stands 15.5m high. Originally 18m, the upper part was removed in the 1820s and a slated spire added, itself removed in the 1890s when a crenellated parapet was added. The tower has very small openings, including a narrow round-arched door at ground level and small slit windows, some blocked. The clockface was added in 2000. The original chancel was considerably longer than the present one, much of the remainder given over to a private burial enclosure in the mid 19th century. The fine chancel arch has moulded columns made up of three attached shafts and cushion capitals. The north column had been damaged when the chancel was originally closed up and this necessitated new stone being inserted when the chancel was restored in the 1920s. The north aisle was added in the early 19th century. The church was restored in 1929 by A Marshall Mackenzie. The work confirmed the early origin of the extended chancel, which had been obscured with ivy. Inside the walls have a number of notable memorial monuments. The church houses a class II Pictish symbol stone, the Monymusk Stone (NJ71NW0012), a 7 foot high granite slab, decorated with an equal arm shafted Celtic Cross, ornamented with knot work, the 'step' symbol and an ornamented disc, which was originally found in a field at Nether Mains. The stained glass includes an unusual depiction of the Monymusk Stone (Celi De) and Bennachie. Two other cross stones found within the grounds lie inside the tower. Two others are still in position but a fifth is not to be seen. Within the churchyard many of the oldest gravestones have been repositioned along the church wall and boundary walls, although an unusual coffin-shaped stone is still in situ in the graveyard. The graveyard contains three First World War Commonwealth war graves.
|