stirling-1963-vol-1/05_205

Transcription

No. 171 -- ECCLESIASTICAL MONUMENTS -- No. 172
by Seceders in Buchlyvie who had previously formed
part of the congregation of the Holm Associate Church
at Edinbellie (No. 168). It stands NW. of the main
street of the village, on the road leading to Auchentroig.
It is a completely plain building (Pl. 37 B), harled and
covered with a slate roof above a cavetto eaves-course,
and measuring 72 ft. 8 in. in length by 31 ft. 2 in. in
breadth externally. The S. face, which has backset
corners, originally had three doors and four windows, all
round-headed and showing backset margins, crooks for
shutter-hinges, and raised wedge-shaped springers and
long keystones; some of the keystones are decorated
with palmettes and grotesque masks, and the central one
bears the building-date 1751. Above that of the W. door
appears a hand holding an open book which reads
THE / LAW / CAME BY / MOSES / BUT / GRACE & /
TRUTH BY / JESUS / CHRIST. Today, however, there
are two doors and five windows, as the central door
has been made into a window. In either gable there is a
central square-headed window at gallery level, and in
the N. side five round-headed windows which have had
their backset margins refaced in cement. These windows
may be secondary. The interior has been modernised.

573938 -- NS 59 SE ("U F Church") -- 5 September 1952

171. Old Parish Church, Kippen. All that now remains
of this church is the W. gable, with fragments of the
adjoining side-walls which have been extended in
modern masonry to form a burial-enclosure. The gable, which
has been repaired of late years, is built of large coursed
rubble of red sandstone, the quoins, dressings and crow-
steps being of light-grey sandstone. It is 25 ft. wide by
3 ft. 6 in. thick; contains, at gallery level, a wide window
with flat top and rounded upper corners; and is sur-
mounted by a square bell-cote with Classical columns
and a weather-vane (Pl. 38 D). The S. side has a recon-
structed door close to the SW. corner, the lowermost
rybats of which on the W. side are, however, original;
and at the wall-head, which is 9 ft. 6 in. above ground
level, there are the remains of a moulded cornice. The
N. side shows the same moulded cornice, and contains
rather more of the original masonry. The approximate
plan of the remainder of the building is indicated by
variations in the ground level; its total original length
appears to have been about 73 ft., and an aisle about 15 ft.
deep by 18 ft. wide projected from the centre of the N.
side.
The church bell, which hangs in the bell-cote, is not
readily accessible, but a recently published account ¹ gives
the inscription as a WALTERO LECKIE DE DESHERS
DONATA FVIT HAE CCAMPANA A D / 1618 &
APAROCHIA DEKIPPEN RECONDITIA & AVCTA A D
1726 / D MICHAELE POTTER PASTORE ("This bell
was given by Walter Leckie of Dashers A.D. 1618 and
it was recast and enlarged by the parish of Kippen
A.D. 1726 when Mr. Michael Potter was minister").
The church was either built or rebuilt in 1691, the E.
portion was reconstructed in 1737, and a complete repair
was carried out in 1779. ² A door-lintel which may date
from the work of 1737 is mentioned under No. 284. It
is not certain that the church has always stood upon the
same site, for according to local tradition ³ the pre-
Reformation church and graveyard occupied a knoll
immediately W. of the Keir Hill of Dasher (No. 485).
This tradition gains some support from the fact that no
gravestone of earlier date than 1707 was found in the
churchyard. On the other hand it may be based upon
nothing more than a misunderstanding of the events of
1665, at which time a scheme for the removal of the
church to a more central position in the parish was
proposed but not carried out. ⁴

651948 -- NS 69 SE ("Ch") -- 17 September 1952

172. Parish Church, Gargunnock. The parish church
(Pl. 41 A) stands above the steep right bank of the
Gargunnock Burn, overlooking the SE. end of the
village (No. 286). It is said to have been "rebuilt" in
1774, ⁵ but this must presumably mean a complete
reconstruction from the ground up as no signs can be
seen in the fabric of earlier work.
On plan the church is oblong, measuring 50 ft. by
29 ft. over walls 2 ft. 8 in. thick, and an aisle, open
internally to the body of the building, projects 15 ft. 8 in.
from the middle of the N. side. The fabric is of good
rubble, with dressed masonry at quoins and voids and
a cavetto-moulded eaves-course. Until recently the
exterior was harled. All three gables are crow-stepped;
the E. and W. gables bearing respectively a cross and a
crescent, as finials, and the aisle gable a bell-cote topped
by a weather-cock which is probably original. Entrance
is gained, at ground level, by a central door in the E.
and W. gables; and the trace of another door, now built
up, can be seen in the E. wall of the aisle. At an upper
level there is a central door, reached by a stone forestair,
in each of the three gables to give access to the three
galleries. The S. wall has four windows, the two central
ones ending in pointed arches; all the rest - the remain-
ing pair on the S., one near each end of the N. wall, and
one on each side of the aisle - are square-headed and all
are rebated for external shuttering, with the crooks for
the hinges still present. The internal arrangement is
that of a "preaching kirk", with the pulpit in the middle
of the S. side between the two high windows. The wood-
work of pews and galleries seems to have been lately
renewed.

BELL. For the old bell, see No. 344.
CARVED STONE. No tombstone bearing a legible date
earlier than 1707 was noted, but the lintel of the private
gateway leading into the graveyard from the manse

1 P.S.A.S., lxxxiv (1949-50), 81.
2 Stat. Acct., xviii (1796), 337.
3 "Kippen".
4 Register of the Diocesan Synod of Dunblane (1662-88),
ed. Wilson, J., 25 f.
5 Stat. Acct., xviii (1796), 115.

-- 170

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