Description

The monument consists of the remains of the sixteenth-century parish church of Kinkell which fell into decay when Kinkell was absorbed into Trinity Gask after 1680.

There is likely to have been a church here from around AD 1200 when it was granted to Inchaffray Abbey by its founder Gilbert, Earl of Strathearn. This grant was confirmed by Pope Innocent III in 1203 and to the uses of the Abbey by the bishops of Dunblane before 1239, in which year a vicarage settlement was confirmed.

The present ruin, which probably dates from the later middle ages, is likely to incorporate and/or overlie an older structure. It is built on E sloping ground, situated in a stone walled graveyard. It is rectangular- plan, measuring 20.5m E-W by 7.4m N-S over walls 0.8m thick.

The walls, complete to wall-head, are random rubble with freestone dressings and quoins bonded with lime mortar. The E end has a projecting base and a wedge-shaped buttress reinforcing the N wall. Both gables have upper windows, the segmental-headed W one has fittings for shutters. The W gable had a belfry.

The entrance is in the S wall near the W end. The splayed, square-headed windows in the S wall apart from the E most one and a small slit window near the centre of the wall have been blocked. The interior has been divided for use as a tomb. There is a skew-put dated 1701 on the SE angle.

The area to be scheduled is rectangular, extending 2m from the exterior walls of the church, measuring 24.5m E-W by 11.4m N-S, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it is a late medieval church built for Presbyterian worship which retains the long, narrow plan of a gothic church. It may incorporate portions of the walls of an earlier church. Indeed the original parish church of Kinkell was granted to Inchaffray Abbey c. 1200.

In addition it provides evidence and has the potential to provide further evidence, through excavation, which may contribute to our understanding of ecclesiastical architecture, parish history, economy and material culture during the medieval and post-medieval periods in Scotland.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NN 91 NW 8.

Reference:

Cowan & Easson: Medieval Religious Houses in Scotland, 99.

Cowan, I. B. (1967) The Parishes of Medieval Scotland, Scot Rec Soc, Edinburgh.

MacGibbon D. and Ross T. (1894) The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland, vol. 3, 579-80.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland