stirling-1963-vol-1/05_195

Transcription

No. 153 -- ECCLESIASTICAL MONUMENTS -- No. 156
garden with angels above; the one at the E. end is an
allegorical composition with a central figure of Christ.

751851 -- NS 78 NE -- 25 June 1954

153. Graveyard, Kirk o' Muir. This small graveyard
adjoins the abandoned farm buildings of Kirk o'Muir,
half a mile SE. of Cairnoch on the road from Carron
Bridge to Fintry. On only two stones, both recumbent
slabs, could inscriptions of before 1707 be read; one of
these bore the date 1695 with the initials AA and IA,
and the other 1705 with the initials IL and ID. "K. of
Moore" is shown on Pont's map of the early 17th
century, ¹ but Edgar's map, surveyed in 1745 though not
published until 1777, marks it as "Ruins".
A chapel dedicated to St. Mary appears to have been
founded here in the middle of the 15th century, and to
have stood for about two hundred years; thereafter the
district had no church for about a century, until the
erection of Buckieburn Church (No. 152) in 1750. ²

700840 -- NS 78 SW ("Kirk o' Muir, site of")
25 April 1953

154. Parish Church, Kilsyth. The parish church,
which was built in 1815, ³ may be compared with the
High Church of Campsie (No. 156) and Larbert parish
church (No. 146) as an example of contemporary taste.
It is a conventional Gothic building, with a crenellated
W. tower (Pl. 39 A) and conspicuous finials on its
buttresses and E. gable.

716777 -- NS 77 NW ("Ch.") -- 17 September 1953

155. Graveyard and Church Site, Kilsyth. The old
graveyard occupies the NE. portion of the modern
cemetery, which lies on the outskirts of the town beside
the road leading to Auchinstarry Bridge. No trace
remains of the old parish church, which stood in the N.
corner of the graveyard, but the 19th-century structure
covering the Kilsyth family vault marks its former
position. ⁴
Only eleven stones were identified as dating from
before 1707, and many of these bear later inscriptions,
not noted here, as well as their original dedications. It
is clear that a great many older stones have been
appropriated and recut at later periods; this probably
helps to account for the dearth of stones earlier than
about 1720, after which date memorials become much
more common. The early stones are as follows. (i) A slab
bearing a shield charged, probably for Somerville: Two
mullets and a cross-crosslet fitchée between three cross-
crosslets fitchée in chief and another three in base.
Above the shield appear the initials AS and below it the
date 1611. (ii) A slab bearing the date 1617 in relief
on a small sunk panel, accompanied by an axe and an
object resembling a dumb-bell. (iii) A slab inscribed
[?R] L IT MI / 1689 / AL AR / RL LN, with the
Cordiners' knife. (iv) A slab inscribed II ML / 1677.
(v) A slab inscribed RG MB / 1700. (vi) A slab bearing
the date 1635, but with the initials of its original
inscription illegible. (vii) A slab dated 1635. (viii) A slab
inscribed JF EF / 1644 / RF JM. These letters and
figures may, however, have been cut only in 1765, the
date accompanying some later initials. (ix) A slab bearing
what seem to have been several lines of initials, now
illegible, ending with IG; these are followed by 1663 /
WS MK (in ligature) / 1695 / -- MB. (x) A slab
inscribed 1633 / AC IM, with later initials and date.
Unless this represents a 17th-century inscription recut
in 1851, the whole work probably dates only from that
time - a 17th-century style having in that case been
adopted for the earliest portion. (xi) A slab inscribed
C [?] G [?I] / [1] 699. (xii) Just later than the terminal
date is a heraldic slab, the upper two-thirds of which
are occupied by a shield charged: Quarterly, 1st and 4th,
three fancy inescutcheons; 2nd and 3rd, two bars ⁵;
over all, an escutcheon charged: Three escutcheons.
These are evidently the arms of a cadet of the Hays of
Yester. Below the shield is an inscription commemorat-
ing the Rev. James Hay, minister of Kilsyth, who died
on 11th July 1710, the year being illegible on the stone.

717772 -- NS 77 NW ("Cemetery") -- 14 October 1953

156. The High Church of Campsie. The present
parish church of Campsie replaced the old building at
the Clachan (No. 157) in 1828, during the incumbency
of Dr. Norman MacLeod. ⁶ Plans for a new church were
prepared by John Baird (1798-1859), the Glasgow
architect, and are preserved in H.M. General Register
House, Edinburgh ⁷ ; these were intended for a building
on the site of the old church and can be dated to the year
1826. They probably have their origin in a proposition
made at a heritors' meeting in 1825, to the effect that a
"plain substantial rough ashlar building with a belfry" ⁸
should be erected on the old site. This description
corresponds with the plans, which show a nearly square
structure in the Gothic manner, simple in style, but with
façade enriched by a projecting porch on the top of
which is a small belfry. Shortly before this David
Hamilton had submitted a plan, said to be a copy of the
church he had erected at Larbert a few years
previously (cf. No. 146), but it was strongly criticised
by Sir Archibald Edmonstone, one of the principal

1 Reproduced by Blaeu, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, v, Sterlin-
ensis Praefectura.
2 Stat. Acct., xviii (1796), 403; T.S.N.H.A.S. (1900-1),
23 ff.
3 Ordnance Survey Name Book, Kilsyth parish, 68.
4 Stat. Acct., xviii (1796), 299.
5 The intention may have been to represent three bars.
6 Cameron, J., The Parish of Campsie, 32 ff., where much
information about the change of site is given.
7 16 B, 82
8 Campsie Heritors' Minute Book, 1805-53, 116, in H.M.
General Register House, Edinburgh.

-- 160