fife-kinross-clackmannan-1933/03-315

Transcription

KILRENNY.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [KILRENNY.


a corruption of that of St. Irenaeus, Bishop of
Lyons. Others would connect it with Ringan
(i.e. St. Ninian) or with St. Ethernan. Possibly
there is no saint's name in question at all. The
word may be merely the old Gaelic form
irnaidhe (Mod. Gaelic ùrnuigh) "a prayer,"
formerly also used in the sense of "oratory."²

1 Stat. Acct., i (1791), p. 409 ; Wood's East
Neuk of Fife, p. 368. 2 Watson's Celtic Place
Names of Scotland, pp. 519-20.

xxii N.E. 21 June 1927.

SECULAR BUILDINGS.

328. Innergellie. - The present mansion was
built in 1740 and the stables in 1746. Above
the entrance, however, is inserted an armorial
panel, doubtless from an earlier house. It is
dated 1650 and initialled S.I.L., for Sir James
Lumsden, and D.C.R., for Dame Christian
Rutherford, his wife. The helm is mantled and
wreathed ; the crest is a right hand holding a
sword. On a label above the shield is the
motto : VIRTVTE ORTA OCCIDVNT RARIVS. The
shield is parted per pale : dexter, on a chevron
three mullets between a wolf's head couped and
a buckle in chief, and an escallop in base, for
Lumsden of Innergellie ; sinister, three martlets
or swallows between a star in chief and an orle
in base, for Rutherford. On the lawn is a
fragment of a 17th-century sundial, and on the
terrace are fragments of carvings representing
animals.

DOVECOT. - The dovecot is rectangular,
measuring 13 1/2 by 28 feet and dating from the
late 17th century. The masonry is rubble,
harled. The flanks are stepped, and there is one
string-course in the wall.

HISTORICAL NOTE. - In 1642 Colonel Sir
James Lumsden of Invergellie had a charter
de novo of the various portions of the Invergellie
lands, including the tenandry which had formerly
belonged to his father, the late James Lumsden
of Airdrie, and the part "with the mansion"
which had formerly belonged to David Archibald
of Blackhall, &c. &c.¹ In 1650 he is "General-
Major James Lumsdane of Invergellie, knight,
then (1643) designed Colonel Sir James Lums-
dane."² Dame Christian Rutherford had been
infeft in 1653 in an annuity from Invergellie.³

1 Reg. Mag. Sig., s.a., No. 1266. 2 Laing
Charters, No. 2408. 3 East Neuk of Fife, p. 383.

xxii N.E. 19 July 1927.

329. Dovecot, Caiplie. - On the south of the
Anstruther-Crail road, 2 1/4 miles south-west of
Crail, is an oblong 17th-century dovecot built of
rubble and harled. The flanks are stepped, and
the door, which faces south, is giblet-checked.

xxiii N.W. and N.E. 20 June 1927.

330, Dovecot, Renniehill. - This dovecot lies
within 50 yards of another on the adjoining
property of Innergellie (No. 328). It is rect-
angular with stepped flanks and measures
externally 25 1/2 by 14 1/4 feet. It probably dates
from the 17th century but has been considerably
renewed a century later. On the back wall,
above the string-course, there is a circular gun-
loop, about 6 inches in diameter. The west
skew-put seems to bear a fragmentary date
[16]25, and that on the east the letters D.I.

xxii N.E. 18 July 1927.

STANDING STONES.

331. Skeith Stone. - Standing in a field about
600 yards south-west of Rennyhill Farm, and
about 700 yards north of the public highway
from Anstruther to Crail, is a roughly rect-
angular boulder of sandstone known as the
Skeith Stone. It is set with its main axis
north-north-west and south-south-east and
has on the east face a double-ringed wheel
design in incised scultpture, 3/4 inch in depth,
the wheel having eight petal-shaped spokes,
averaging 13 inches in length and 3 inches
in greatest breadth. The boulder is 3 feet
8 inches in height, 3 feet 4 inches in width,
and averages 1 foot in thickness. It in-
clines with a very decided slope towards the
north-north-west, and has been wedged up
behind with a piece of sandstone, to prevent it
from falling backwards. The west face is badly
weathered. Investigations carried out in the
neighbourhood of the stone in 1868 satisfied the
excavators that it did not mark a burial site.¹
It is not noted as an antiquity on the O.S. map.

1 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., viii (1868-70), pp. 56-7.

xxii S.E. 7 July 1925.

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