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Marykirk, Aberluthnott Parish Church

Church (Medieval)

Site Name Marykirk, Aberluthnott Parish Church

Classification Church (Medieval)

Alternative Name(s) Marykirk Church; Church Of Abirlothenot

Canmore ID 35890

Site Number NO66NE 3

NGR NO 68644 65590

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/35890

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Aberdeenshire
  • Parish Marykirk
  • Former Region Grampian
  • Former District Kincardine And Deeside
  • Former County Kincardineshire

Archaeology Notes

NO66NE 3 68645 65543

(NO 6864 6553) Thornton Aisle (NR)

OS 6" map, (1959)

The remains of the medieval parish church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

A Jervise 1875-9.

The church consisted of a nave, 96ft long and 17ft broad to which the surviving portion, a burial aisle of the Thornton family, was added on the S in 1615. It also had a burial aisle of the Barclays of Balmakewan on the N, which bore the date 1653.

The church of Abirlothenot, the original name of the parish, was dedicated in 1242, but the finding of what appear to be medieval gravestones in the wall in the late 18th century suggests that this was not the original church. One of these stones, which were about 6 ft long and coffin-shaped "was carved round the edge; had the impression of a large broad sword suspended at no great distance from the top, the whole length of the stone. Opposite to this sword was engraved a figure of an elliptic form from which proceeded a lance or spear, nearly the same length'.

The stocks lay at the entrance and the jougs were fixed to the church wall. The present church was built (at NO 6864 6558) in 1806.

Statistical Account (OSA) 1796.

There is no trace of St Mary's Church apart from the Thornton Aisle and (at NO 6865 6554), 17ft to the N, the Barclay Aisle.

The Thornton Aisle is a rectangular building measuring 6.7m N-S by 5.6m over all with a wall 0.7m thick. At the S end of the W wall, above a blocked doorway, is the date 1615. The N wall has a blocked-in archway. The Barclay Aisle is an ivy-covered barrel vault measuring 6.7m N-S by 5.3m over all, bearing the Barclay crest on the E side of the S wall. The burial ground, which is now only occasionally used, has a number of old gravestones including one on its side against the N wall of the Thornton Aisle, but none fit the description given by Jervise (1875-9).

Visited by OS (R L) 1 September 1971.

(NO 6864 6553) Church (NR) (remains of)

OS 1:10,000 map, (1978)

Activities

Field Visit (September 1981)

Marykirk, Old Parish Church and Burial-ground NO 686 655 NO66NE 3

All that remains of the old parish church of Marykirk, formerly Aberlethnott, are the Barclay and Thornton aisles, which stand in the burial-ground to the S of the present church. A church at Aberlethnott is first recorded in the early 13th century, but the two aisles are of 17th-century date.

RCAHMS 1982, visited September 1981

(Stat. Acct., xviii, 1796, 611-13; Jervise 1875-9, i, 132; Cowan 1967, 3)

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