Description

The monument consists of the remains of a medieval chapel dedicated to St James, extending along the northern edge of a walled churchyard. The west gable, which is pierced by a rectangular two-light window, survives to virtually full height, together with the lower portions of both the north and east walls; the north wall retains traces of a number of openings.

The chapel was established in connection with the ferry across the Forth, though the date of its original foundation is unknown. In 1320x22 Robert I granted the chapel to Dunfermline Abbey, with instructions that it was to be served by two chaplains. These chaplaincies had apparently ceased to be appointed by 1479, when Abbot Henry Creichton of Dunfermline established a new chaplaincy, with provision for a manse to the north of the chapel and two acres of ground, apparently to the west of the village.

After the Reformation the chaplaincy appears to have been regarded as a perquisite that could be granted out, and although a vicarage was established in 1582 this was evidently a sinecure.

The chapel is traditionally said to be have been destroyed by Cromwell's troops after the battle of Inverkeithing in 1651. In the eighteenth century the remains of the chapel and the burial ground passed to the North Queensferry Sailors' Society, who built a wall around it. This work is commemorated in a tablet inscribed THIS IS DONE BY / THE SAILERS IN / NORTH FERRIE / 17 52.

The area to be scheduled is irregular in plan, following the line of the eighteenth-century wall around the burial ground, measuring a maximum of about 17.5m E-W by about 20m N-S, as marked in red on the accompanying plan. Any residual burial rights are excluded from the scheduling.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography
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Source: Historic Environment Scotland