Description

The monument comprises the remains of the church and graveyard which served the medieval parish of Meathie-Lour. It is situated on the edge of natural woodland to the north of Fothringham Hill plantation at about 150m O.D.

The church may have been a foundation of the 12th century, and there was a dedication in 1243; it was granted to Coupar Angus Abbey by Sir Hugh de Abernethy in about 1285. The parish was suppressed in 1667, after which the church was allowed to fall into ruin.

Only the partly-reconstructed lower walls of the church survive, showing it to have been a rectangular structure measuring c. 21m (E-W) by 7m (N-S) externally. The walls are c. 1m thick by 0.3-0.5m high, except for a fragment of the N wall at the E end which has been rebuilt to a height of c. 2m. Here an inscription states that this was the burial place of the Bowers of Kingoldrum in the 18th century, and that the foundations of the church were exposed by excavation in 1926. A handsome sacrament house, discovered in 1926, has been rebuilt into this modern wall; it has an ogee-headed locker framed by a border decorated with vine trail and capped by pinnacles, the locker having leaf crockets and finial. There is a doorway in the N wall, c. 5m from the W wall. The doorway is c. 1m wide and shows the bases of finely moulded jambs. Another doorway is present immediately opposite this, in the S wall, and a further break in the S wall, measuring c. 1m wide and c. 6m from the E end may represent the position of a third doorway. Fragments of carved stones and old grave-slabs lie amid the thick undergrowth which covers the site. A low dry-stone wall still surrounds the graveyard but no erect slabs exist within it.

The area proposed for scheduling comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related material may be expected to be found. It is sub-rectangular in plan, with maximum dimensions of 41m E-W by 30m N-S, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because of its contribution to the understanding of medieval ecclesiastical architecture through its planning, surviving architectural detail, and the evidence for liturgical uses provided by the reconstructed Sacrament House. Its importance is enhanced by the archaeological potential of both the church itself and of the surrounding churchyard, within which are likely to survive evidence for liturgical arrangements, for medieval and post-medieval burial practices, and for structures that may have been related to the church.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NO44NE 10.

References:

Warden A J, ANGUS OR FORFARSHIRE: THE LAND AND PEOPLE, DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL, 5v, Dundee, 1880-5, Vol. 3, 400-1, 418.

Cowan I B 1967, 'The parishes of medieval Scotland', SCOTT REC SOC Vol. 93, Edinburgh.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland