St Mary's Parish Church, Monymusk, Monymusk, Aberdeenshire

Entry Name: St Mary's Parish Church, Monymusk

Listing Name: Monymusk Parish Church (Augustinian Priory Church of the Blessed Mary of Monymusk)

Listing Date: 24 November 1972

Category: A

Source: Historic Scotland

Source ID: 349689

Historic Scotland Designation Reference: LB15987

Building Class: Cultural

Also known as: Monymusk, St Mary's Parish Church

ID on this website: 200349689

Location: Monymusk

County: Aberdeenshire

Electoral Ward: Huntly, Strathbogie and Howe of Alford

Parish: Monymusk

Traditional County: Aberdeenshire

Tagged with: Church building

Description

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.

Statement of Interest

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.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.