Monymusk Parish Church Monymusk, Scotland
Listed Building Data
Monymusk Parish Church has been designated a scheduled monument in Scotland with the following information. Please note that not all available data may be shown here, minor errors and/or formatting may have occurred during transcription, and some information may have become outdated since listing.
- Historic Scotland ID
- 349689 (entity ID)
- Building ID
- 15987
- Canmore ID
- 18048
- Category
- A
- Name
- Monymusk Parish Church (augustinian Priory Church of the Blessed Mary of Monymusk)
- Parish
- Monymusk
- County
- Aberdeenshire
- Easting
- 368486
- Northing
- 815248
- Date Listed
- 24 November 1972
Listed Building Description
Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.
Late 12th/early 13th century, originally Augustinian Priory Church, comprising aisle-less nave 52' 11" x 26" and chancel 52' 10" x 21' with W. tower 22' x 19' and about 60' high, thin coursed granite with sandstone dressings; simple round-arched W. door with hoodmould, plain round arch from tower to nave, chancel arch with 3 shafts and cushion capitals. Altered in post-Reformation times, particularly 1685/93, minister's door and other openings inserted in S. wall mid 18th cent. with chamfer; reconstructed 1822, walls lowered to 22' 6", re-roofed, S. flank remodelled to standard pattern of 2 large windows flanked by 2 smaller ones, (new work has granite dressings) piended N. aisle added, 14' of tower taken down, 6' re-erected and slated spire added. Altered July 1851, chancel largely abandoned and unroofed as burial enclosure. Spire demolished 1891 and bad crenellated parapet substituted. Partial restoration. A. Marshall Mackenzie 1929, church re-orientated to E., W. part of chancel restored and chancel reopened, N. aisle closed off and converted to vestry etc. Monuments: Forbes-Leslie of Abersnithick late 16th century and large Grant series, Sir Archibald + 1820 by Pistell, Commander Arthur + 1850, M.W. Johnston etc.; clock Wm. Lunan 1792, clock face 1865; Mowat bell 1748; part of jougs extant.
Listed Building Statement of Special Interest
Text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.
Place of worship in use as such. The use of this site as a Christian place of worship predates the earliest surviving building phases (second quarter of the 12th century) . There were grants of land to Céli Dé (Servants of God – members of ascetic Christian monastic and eremitical communities) at Monymusk in 1130, probably to an established religious community. That same year a Papal Commission established that the Culdees would have a dormitory, a refectory and an oratory with burial right in the parish cemetery. A number of early Christian cross-incised stones from the burial ground further indicates that Monymusk was an early Christian centre. The Culdee community was transformed into an Augustinian priory dedicated to the Virgin by no later than 1245. The church has a three-compartment plan, consisting of a rectangular chancel of uncertain initial length, a wider rectangular nave and a square west tower. This basic form was most likely established around the second quarter of the 12th century. Listed building record updated 2017.
Listed Building References
Text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.
Cowan, I B. (1967) The parishes of medieval Scotland, Scot Rec Soc, vol. 93. Edinburgh. Page(s): 150-1. Fawcett, R. (2002) Scottish medieval churches: architecture and furnishings. Stroud. Page(s): 72, 80, 93, 168, 206, 341, 366, 367. Hay, G. (1957) The Architecture of Scottish Post Reformation Churches. Pages 22, 59. MacGibbon, D. and Ross, T. (1896-7) The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century', 3v. Edinburgh. Page(s): 215-8 Vol.1. MacPherson, W M. (1895) Materials for a history of the church and priory of Monymusk. Aberdeen. Ritchie, J. (1911) Some old crosses and unlettered sepulchral monuments in Aberdeenshire', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol. 45, 1910-11. Page(s): 347-9. Sharples, J. Walker, D. and Woodworth, M. (2015). The Buildings of Scotland - Aberdeenshire: South and Aberdeen. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, pp.676-678. Simpson, W D. (1925) The Augustinian priory and parish church of Monymusk, Aberdeenshire', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol. 59, 1924-5. Page(s): 34-71. Simpson, W D. (1943) The Province of Mar, being the Rhind Lectures, Aberdeen University Studies, 121. Aberdeen. Page(s): 109, 152.
