Description

The monument consists of the remains of Cambusmichael parish church which date from the fifteenth/sixteenth century.

There is evidence for an earlier church on this site which was confirmed to Scone by Richard, Bishop of St Andrews (c.1165-78). The church either passed to the priory or had been constructed by them as a result of the grant of the lands of Cambusmichael made by David I (1124-53). The church was abandoned at some time after the parish of Cambusmichael was merged with St Martins at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

The building, situated in its old graveyard, is on the bank of the River Tay opposite to the settlement of Stanley.

The church is rectangular on plan, measuring 13.3m E-W by 4.5m within walls 0.9m thick. The walls, reduced in places (2.5m to wallhead) are of random-coursed, worked rubble with fine ashlar dressings. Both gables are set back at wallhead level.

The W one has a bellcote and a small segmental-headed window in the upper level. The round-headed entrance is in the S wall near the W end. Of the three windows originally in the S wall, only a small, inwardly splayed, round-

headed example with a faint roll-moulding survives intact. Only the sill of the E-most window survives. A stoup adjoins the entrance and in the N wall at the E end is an aumbry. There are put-log holes in the E end which may indicate the position of a wooden loft.

The area to be scheduled is rectangular, extending 2m from the exterior walls of the chapel, measuring a maximum of 19.1m ENE-WSW by 10.3m NNW-SSE, 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 well preserved example of a late medieval church. The quality of the masonry and the surviving features including the pre-Reformation bellcote and cross finial suggests that it was a relatively ambitious building, which supports the documentary sources for the relationship with Scone Abbey. It preserves evidence and has the potential to provide further understanding of ecclesiastical architecture, religious patronage, parish organisation, society and material culture during the Middle Ages in Scotland.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NO13SW 17.

References:

Cowan I B 1967, The Parishes of Medieval Scotland.

MacGibbon D and Ross T 1896-7, The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century, 3v, Edinburgh, Vol. 3, 489-91.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland