Documents

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The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.

• Type

  Legal Documents

  Title

  SM6155_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600012047)

Summary

Description

The monument consists of the remains of St Drostan's, the old parish kirk of Aberdour, which dates from the 16th century, and the surrounding burial ground. The building incorporates earlier fabric and is likely to be the last of a series of churches occupying the same site. The original chapel is thought to have been founded by St Drostan around AD 590. The monument was first scheduled in 1995. On that occasion only the ruined structure and an area of ground projecting 2m from around the walls of church was scheduled. The monument is being rescheduled to include the old burial ground where associated remains may survive and which has a collection of memorials dating from the 18th century and perhaps earlier.

There is no historical account of Drostan, but additions to the 'Book of Deer' around 1131 state: 'Columcille and Drostan, Cosgrach's son, his disciple, came from Iona, by the inspiration of God, to Aberdour'. In later times the parish church was dedicated to St Drostan, who was also patron saint of the original monastery of Deer. According to the Aberdeen Brieviary his bones were laid in a stone tomb at Aberdour. In 1178 and 1318 there are notices of the church's erection into a prebend of St Machar's Cathedral.

The present church is of a T-plan and measures 21.5m WSW-ENE by 6.5m transversely over walls 0.8m thick with a roofed SSE aisle, rebuilt in 1764, projecting 9.3m from the SSE wall. The remains of a blocked chamfered semi-circular arch with impost moulding can be seen between the nave and the aisle. The walls are intact to the wallhead apart from a portion of the SSE wall. The masonry is of red rubble, tooled red sandstone (badly weathered) and tooled granite dressings. The walls have latterly been harled. The WSW gable is intact and has a shallow pointed-headed window. The ENE end has been partitioned into two burial enclosures and the aisle is closed as a burial vault. In the NNW wall is a 16th-century round-arched mural tomb, plus other mural tablets. A number of re-used voissours are incorporated in the upper walls of the ENE end. At the intersection of the nave and the aisle is an octagonal font.

The burial ground is an irregular hexagon, and contains a fine collection of gravestones dating form at least the 18th century onwards.

The area to be scheduled includes the remains of the church and the extent of the old burial ground. It is an irregular hexagon in shape and has maximum dimensions of 60m NNE-SSW and 56m E-W as marked in red on the attached map. All modern burial lairs still in use and the boundary wall are excluded from the scheduling.

Statement of National Importance

The monument is of national importance as an ecclesiastical site which is mentioned in the 12th century and has possibly been in use for the practice and dissemination of Christianity from the 6th century. The present structure provides valuable above ground evidence for the later stages of architectural development of an ecclesiastical building of 15th century date which may overlie a series of earlier structures and is likely to incorporate masonry from its immediate predecessor. The monument has the potential through both standing and buried archaeology to clarify the ground plan and the constructional history of this ecclesiastical site.

References

Bibliography

About Scheduled Monuments

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).

The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.

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Find out more about scheduling and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.