The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
n/a (now)
Augustinian house, former
The extensive ruins of the abbey on the island of Inchcolm, in the Firth of Forth, preserves only a few carved features of the Romanesque church and priory, in particular parts of the nave exterior and the W doorway. The 12th-century church was built with a simple, aisleless nave and rectangular east end. There were no transepts. This was extended to the E, in the later 12th century, with a new rectangular chancel, the original chancel then built into a tower. During the 13th century, a new cloister was built, with a new doorway into the church from the E walk. The W end of the church had a later-medieval porch built onto it, apparently at the same time that the nave and tower were re-configured in the 14th century to form a new upper level, possibly as housing for the Abbot. Alongside this there appears to have been a reconstruction and re-organisation of the cloister buildings. A small building W of the abbey church has often been thought to have been built before the priory was founded. The proposals have suggested that the main part of the cell was constructed in the 11th century, with changes made in later centuries. Suggestions for dates for the building vary, with some as late as the 16th century. There are no carved decorations within the structure or any other features which would allow for a definitive construction date to be given. A few surviving pre-Romanesque carved stones are displayed in the on-site museum. The abbey was an important religious site within the diocese of Dunkeld. A few churches on the mainland were gifted to the canons of Inchcolm and these were also part of the diocese of Dunkeld.
Country House
A large stone cross, now kept in Kinneil House, was found during excavations of the nearby Kinneil church ruins in 1951. It was built into walling of the S extension (Laird’s Aisle). Both the house and the church are located close to the Roman Antonine Wall, near one of the Roman fortlets. The stone cross is decorated with a relief of a crucified Christ, and its dates vary from the 11thc through to the 12thc.
Ruined parish church
The ruins of the church centre around a rectangular structure with N and S additions. Dates in the 16thc and 17thc for the primary post-Reformation additions have been suggested, but there is no surviving documentation concerning this work. Major construction on the the church is only first recorded for 1739-40, when certain renovations were carried out. Minor repair and maintenance is documented in succeeding decades, including for replastering in 1776, but no major construction is recorded after 1740. Following much consideration in the early 19thc about the cost of renovating the church, it was decided to rebuild on a completely different site. The new church was begun in 1818.
During the 1993 excavations, earlier activity beneath the church was found, but there was no evidence of a pre-Romanesque church. Foundations of the Romanesque church were discovered with a chamfered plinth beneath the N and S walls and for the original W wall, which was further E than at present. These showed that the first church was about half the length of the present structure.
Within the surviving nave walls of the church are reused stones from the Romanesque church. Other carved stonework, with roll mouldings, survive and are laid out in the E part of the church, now overgrown. There is also a single head of beakhead form built into the E exterior of the S extension.
Ruined parish church
The surviving stonework shows that the 12th-c church consisted of an aisleless nave and chancel, but it is unknown whether the chancel was square ended or had an apse. A drawing in 1817 shows the plan of the chancel at that date as square ended. The Romanesque chancel arch and S nave doorway (filled in) survive, with chevroned arches. There are also large sections of Romanesque string coursing on the exterior of both the nave and chancel. During or shortly after the Reformation, the so-called ‘Congleton Aisle’ was added onto the N side of the nave. But, in 1612, the church at Gullane, by Act of Parliament, was translated to Dirleton, as its site in Gullane was deemed too remote from the centre of the parish, and because church and churchyard were continually being overblown with sand. After this, the church became effectively abandoned, with the nave and chancel converted to use as private burial spaces. A late 18th-c etching shows the chancel arch as still open at this date. By 1817, the eastern and western burial extensions had still not been built, but a small burial area (the Cochrane Aisle) had been created on the exterior corner where the Congelton Aisle and chancel meet. By 1896, the chancel arch and Congelton arch had been filled in and E (Yule Aisle) and W (Forrest Aisle) burial extensions created. Various grave stones, a few of which show early decoration, are to be found in the churchyard on the S side of the church ruins.
Ruined parish church
The church is now ruinous, only the W gable and foundations remaining. The excavated plan of the church shows that it originally consisted of a rectangular nave and narrower rectangular chancel. A S extension was added at a later date; this is traditionally referred to as the 'laird's loft'. The church was disused from about 1670 and a fire occurred in 1745. Excavations show that there is likely to have been an earlier structure on the site, but it has not been determined whether this was a church or something else. The present building possesses no surviving sculptural features; a simple base for a nook-shaft was recorded in 1951 but subsequently went missing. The most significant item from the church is a large stone cross, excavated on the site in 1951, which is now housed at nearby Kinneil House (See: Bo’Ness, Kinneil House).
Ruined parish church
The ruined church is composed of two compartments, the eastern one used as a burial enclosure. Built into one of the S nave windows is a reused decorated stone fragment, and in the adjoining churchyard there is a coped, tegulated grave cover. After the Reformation, the barony of Ancrum passed first to the Duke of Richmond and Lennox, and later to the Earl of Roxburgh. Towards the end of the 17thc, the parishes of Longnewton and Ancrum were annexed. At one time there were two villages, Over and Nether Ancrum. Both were burned during the English attacks of 1544-5. The church was rebuilt in 1761-1762 and further work undertaken in 1831-1832. It was finally replaced with a church newly built near the village green in the late 19thc. After this the old church was reduced to form a romantic ruin for William Scott of Ancrum. After the Reformation, the barony of Ancrum passed first to the Duke of Richmond and Lennox, and later to the Earl of Roxburgh.
Ruined parish church
The medieval church does not survive, but some ashlar may have been reused in the construction of a burial vault on the site. In 1627, the church was described as in a ruinous state, the roof already decayed. Certain repairs were made in 1669, but in 1688 a report noted further faults with the roof. In 1750, it was finally decided to unite the parish of Kirknewton with that of East Calder, following which a new church was built on an entirely different site. In 1780, much of the church appears to have been demolished, and in 1844 it was reported that there were ‘scanty remains’ on the site of the old church. Until the 1950s/60s, a hogback type grave cover was to be seen in the churchyard, S of the ruins. It has since disappeared, but a photograph and various descriptions survive.
Ruined parish church
The Wheel Kirk was sited beside the Wheel Causeway in Liddesdale. Although the church and village have long disappeared, in 1914 excavations were carried out on the site of the church, when various carved stones and the foundations of the church were unearthed. The excavations showed a two-celled church with a rectangular nave and narrower, rectangular chancel. It is uncertain when the church was abandoned, but it appears to have occurred after the Reformation. In 1600 the 'Quheill' Church in Liddesdale is mentioned as 'waist' and valued at £10. On 9 December 1604, the Wheel Kirk was united to Castleton. The church was still marked on Blaue's map in 1648, but by the mid-19thc nothing survived above ground.
Parish church
There have been numerous changes to the church. Repairs were undertaken in 1616, but in 1754 the chancel was shortened. Then, in 1774, after the collapse of the W gable, the nave was shortened. In 1784 further work on the church was carried out and still more in 1813. New windows and a new porch were constructed in 1857-8, at which time, the medieval tympanum was moved from its position over the S nave doorway to the outer arch of the new porch. Finally, in 1910-12 the chancel was rebuilt and other work carried out.
Parish church
In the 16thc, the parish of Deerness was united with the parish of St Andrews W of it. The medieval parish church of Skaill in Deerness was taken down and rebuilt in late 1790s on a new site about 40 feet NW of the earlier church. The last of the foundations of the earlier church were removed in the 1870s. The present church is the 1790s church, remodelled in the 20thc. The medieval church of Skaill was described and drawn by George Low in 1773/4, who said that the chancel was vaulted and that there was another room above this. The church was unusual in that it had two round towers flanking the E end. A coped grave cover carved with tegulation was located until at least 1930 in the NE corner of the graveyard. By 1946, it had been the moved inside into the Session House, where it remains.