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The remains of Insch Old Church, also known as St Drostan's, stand in a graveyard at the east end of the market town of Insch. A church here was gifted to Lindores Abbey in the late 12th century and a number of rebuilds on the site have occurred. The latest church was built in the 18th century and repaired in the 1790s. However, it was declared unsafe in 1830 and a new church was built to replace it in the 1880s. Only the west gable of the church survives. It is built in granite with a central rectangular doorway with ashlar surrounds on the west face. On the apex of the gable is a substantial rubble base, upon which is built a bellcote dating from 1613. It has an ashlar base and the bellcote itself is elaborate, with fine ashlar stonework incorporating carved uprights and finials, dog-tooth detailing and scroll moulding. Two medieval grave monuments have been positioned at the foot of the west face of the gable. One is a slab of red sandstone, known as the Radulfus stone, thought to commemorate Radulfus (Radulphus, Radulph, Ralph), chaplain of the Bishop of Aberdeen between 1172 and 1194. The stone is decorated with a deeply incised wedge-armed cross in a circle at the bottom left and a single line inscription which reads ‘ORATE PRO ANIMA RADULFI SACERDOTIS’ (Pray for the soul of the priest Radulfus). To the left of this is a badly eroded half figure statue, the head and torso of the effigy of a knight. This stone is thought to date to the 13th – 14th century. Although the detail of the face is now lost, details of the knight’s costume are still visible. The churchyard is a rubble walled enclosure, built of pinned rubble with gatepiers to the street. The graveyard contains the First World War Commonwealth war grave of Private Peter Beattie, Gordon Highlanders.
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Historic Environment Records (HER)