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St Mackessog's Church,Auchterarder

A Scheduled Monument in Strathallan, Perth and Kinross

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Coordinates

Latitude: 56.3074 / 56°18'26"N

Longitude: -3.7017 / 3°42'6"W

OS Eastings: 294811

OS Northings: 714075

OS Grid: NN948140

Mapcode National: GBR 1N.6N9W

Mapcode Global: WH5PH.3QJK

Entry Name: St Mackessog's Church,Auchterarder

Scheduled Date: 8 February 1993

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Source ID: SM5590

Schedule Class: Cultural

Category: Ecclesiastical: church; Secular: mausoleum

Location: Auchterarder

County: Perth and Kinross

Electoral Ward: Strathallan

Traditional County: Perthshire

Description

The monument consists of the remains of the late medieval church of St Mackessog, which once served as the parish kirk of Auchterarder.

The church of Auchterarder was granted by Gilbert, Earl of Strathearn to the Abbey of Inchaffray on its foundation in c1200 and confirmed in 1203 by Pope Innocent III. The existing building dates from a later period, probably in the fifteenth/sixteenth century. It is situated in an old graveyard and is rectangular-plan, measuring 24m E-W by 7.4m N-S over walls 0.9m thick. The blind gables are intact but the intervening walls are fragmentary with stretches surviving to wall-head height of 2.6m.

The walls are of thin coursed random rubble. No openings can be identified in the S wall. The only architectural feature surviving is a small piscina in the S wall near the E end. The W gable has two put-log holes at wall-head level and the E gable has a slightly projecting splayed base and a set-back at wall-head level. The E end has been partitioned for use as a burial enclosure for the Hunters of Auchterarder, dated 1832.

The area to be scheduled is rectangular, extending 2m from the exterior walls of the church and measuring a maximum of 28m E-W by 11.4m N-S, as shown in red on the attached map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it is a late medieval parish church which may overlie the site of an earlier building dating from the late twelfth/early thirteenth century. It provides evidence and has the potential to provide further evidence, through excavation and analysis, which may contribute to our understanding of church ground-plans, ecclesiastical history, parish formation, settlement evolution and material culture during the Middle Ages.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NN 91 SW 4.

The monument is listed category (B)

Reference:

Cowan, I. B. (1967) 'The Parishes of Medieval Scotland', Scot Rec Soc, vol. 93, Edinburgh.

MacGibbon, D. and Ross, T. (1897) 'The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland', Vol. 3, 488-9, Edinburgh.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

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