Aberdeenshire HER - NJ91NE0001 - OLD PARISH CHURCH, PETTENS, BELHELVIE

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Main Details

Primary ReferenceNJ91NE0001
NameOLD PARISH CHURCH, PETTENS, BELHELVIE
NRHE Card No.NJ91NE1
NRHE Numlink 20286
HES SM No. NULL
HES LB No. 2800
Site Form Standing Structure
Site Condition Incomplete
Details Graveyard, mort houses and remains of a church. The Church of Belhelvie was dedicated to St Neachtan, but at a later date St Columba was made the patron. The church was confirmed to the Bishop of Aberdeen in 1157, along with authority to erect his chapter. By 1256 the church had been erected into a prebend of the cathedral of Aberdeen, with the parochial duties being discharged by a vicar pensioner. The church is now ruined but was a T-plan church, represented by high west gable with bellcote (dated 1762) and part of south aisle (containing fine but weathered monument to Innes of Blairton). The east wall of the church is probably part of the wall of a Roman Catholic Church. The cemetery is unusual in having two mort houses, one dated 1835. The other, possibly converted from an old aisle, is of uncertain date. It comprises a vaulted chamber 2.5m by circa 2m, turfed, with an arched and chamfered approached by five steps. The water stoup from the medieval church was in the garden of Belhelvie Manse but there is now no trace of it. The bell which was in the bellcote was inscribed 'Henrick-ter-Horst-Me-Fecit-Daventriae-1633' and was stolen in 1966. There is a tombstone of 1722 in the angle of the masonry fragment of the what may have been the south transept, and also a heraldic tomb on the other side of the wall. The churchyard is a rubble-walled enclosure. Within the churchyard are four Commonwealth war graves. A possible font found in a garden at Cowhill (NJ92SE0019) has been suggested to be the missing holy stoup from this church.
Last Update02/05/2024
Updated Bycherbert
Compiler 
Date of Compilation19/12/1977

Google Map for NJ91NE0001

National Grid Reference: NJ 9694 1963



Event Details


Excavations and Surveys


Artefact and Ecofact

Ecofact

Samples
Palynology
Ecofact Notes

Monument Types

Monument Type 1Monument Type 2Monument Type 3OrderProbability
CHURCHES REMAINS OFB100
AISLES REMAINS OFC100
DOORPIECES CHAMFEREDD100
BELLCOTESBIRD-CAGE F100
BELLS INSCRIBEDE100
STOUPSSTONESITE OFI100
MORT-HOUSES  G100
GRAVESWARCOMMONWEALTHH100
GRAVEYARDS  A100