stirling-1963-vol-1/05_204

Transcription

No. 169 -- ECCLESIASTICAL MONUMENTS -- No. 170
long by 31 ft. 3 in. wide over walls 2 ft. 5 in. thick, and
was originally T-shaped on plan. The 6-inch O.S. map
shows that there was originally a small aisle in the middle
of the N. side, as at Killearn (No. 161) and Kippen (No.
171), but the wall has been breached at this point to
admit large agricultural machines and no trace of the
aisle can be seen. The masonry is rubble of pink and
grey sandstone, with pinnings. Along the sides there is a
cavetto-moulded eaves-course and the roof is slated. The
S. wall has a central door 6 ft. 2 in. high with a round
window, 2 ft. in diameter, 4 ft. 6 in. above it. On either
side of the door there is a large window, and a smaller
window to E. and W. of these again. All the openings
apart from the small round window are square-headed,
with flat arches, and the larger windows have decorative
keystones. At each end there is a door 7 ft. 5 in. high
with a window above it. The N. side shows no features
of interest. In the interior, corbels for galleries can be
seen on E., N. and W., and the internal arrangements
may thus have been similar to those described under
No. 159. On this showing the pulpit would have been
over the S. door, which is significantly rather low, and
would have been illuminated by the small round window.

575890 -- NS 58 NE -- 1 October 1952

169. Parish Church and Graveyard, Fintry. The
parish church of Fintry stands within its graveyard on a
slight mound, in the area formerly occupied by the old
Clachan (cf. 282). Although it was only built in
1823 ¹ the presence of at least one pre-Reformation stone
in the graveyard indicates that a church has stood here
for many centuries, and the Martyrology of Aberdeen
records a dedication to St. Modan the Abbot. ² A parish
of Fintry is mentioned as early as about 1207-1216. ³
The present church (Pl. 39 D) is an uninteresting build-
ing, quite typical of the taste of its period and resembling
to a marked degree a contemporary church at Killearn
(cf. p. 323). It measures 57 ft. 6 in. in length by 36 ft. in
breadth over walls 2 ft. 10 in. thick; a tower, which
contains the entrance in its N. side, projects 10 ft. 8 in.
from the W. gable and is 13 ft. 2 in. wide. The masonry
is squared rubble with backset dressings. The walls rise
from a plinth of slight projection to a moulded eaves-
course, which returns on to the gables; the gables finish
in plain tabling and the roof is slated. In each side-wall
there are three high, pointed, windows with splayed and
grooved margins, in the E. gable two round-headed
windows containing Gothic tracery, and in the W. gable
a small pointed window N. of the tower, to light the
vestry. On both the N. and S. sides of the tower there is
a small pointed window at the level of the eaves of the
church, and in the N. side a larger window, set lower, to
light the stair within. The uppermost stage is marked
off by a string-course, and bears on each face a large
diamond-shaped panel defined by a moulding and con-
taining an empty roundel. Corbelled out at the top of the
tower is a crenellated parapet, with finials at the corners.
The base of the tower is occupied by a vestibule, from
which access is gained to a lobby cut off from the W. end
of the church and opening into it by two doors. A small
vestry is contrived on the north and the entrance to a
heating chamber on the south of the entry to the lobby.
A stone stair without a newel rises inside the tower to give
access to the gallery, beyond which the further ascent
to the top of the tower must be made by ladder, through
a trap-door. The pulpit is in the centre of the E. end,
and the seating faces it; the gallery extends across the W.
end only and is supported on two cast-iron pillars.

BELL. The bell, which is mounted in the open on the
top of the tower, bears on the waist the initials GA
and on the inscription-band the inscription 1626
FINTRIE W. MAINE. George Auld was minister of
Fintry from 1586, having been reader from 1574 to
1585; William Mayne was admitted to the Incorporation
of Hammermen of Glasgow in 1624. ⁴

TOMBSTONES. One pre-Reformation stone can be
identified in the graveyard, a slab 6 ft. 4 in. long, 1 ft.
10 in. wide at the head and 1 ft. 6 in. at the foot. In the
centre there has been incised the outline of a sword with
tapering blade and depressed quillons; the upper part of
the hilt has weathered away, but the original total length
was probably about 4 ft. - the blade itself being 3 ft. 4 in.
long. On the dexter side of the blade there is a pair of
shears, partly obliterated by weathering, and on the
sinister side an axe. All three designs have been very
rudely executed and are also badly wasted.
The following stones, all recumbent, bear dates earlier
than 1707: (i) A slab commemorating William Kay and
Jonat Cunninham, who died in 1689. The main
inscription is cut round the margin, and on the space
within appears RK divided by a mill-rind, with the date
1692 below. This is followed by the couplet

O PAINTED PICE OF LIVING CLAY
O BE NOT PROUD OF THY SHORT DAY. ⁵

(ii) A slab dated 1680, commemorating Elizabeth
McFarland in a marginal inscription. (iii) A slab dated
1671, commemorating Andrew Dine and Margret
Mushet with the initials DM and IC appearing below
the main inscription. This may once have stood as a
headstone as its upper end is shaped. (iv) A duplicate of
the last, though without the shaped top. (v) A slab on
which only the date 1610 can be made out. (vi) A slab
dated 1701, bearing the initials IW MR / AA IR.

626861 -- NS 68 NW ("Church") -- 5 May 1954

170. North Church, Buchlyvie. This church was built

1 N.S.A., viii (Stirlingshire), 46.
2 Forbes, Kalendars of Scottish Saints, 128.
3 Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis, Bannatyne Club (1843),
88. See also Strathendrick, 1 ff.
4 P.S.A.S., lxxxiv (1949-50), 78. The bell is here fully
described and details of the inscription are illustrated.
5 These same lines were noted on a stone of 1645 at Holy-
rood, and on another, of 1702, at North Leith (Inventory of
Edinburgh, pp. 138, 253.

-- 169