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

  SM10432_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600013661)

Summary

Description

The monument comprises the remains of Dumgree Church and its burial ground. The church is medieval in date, and visible today as turf-covered footings. The monument is situated on the SSE flank of Park Hill, overlooking the Kinnel Water, at about 225m OD.

The church of Dumgree, also recorded as Dungreioch, was first documented in about 1180 when it was granted to the monks of Kelso by Walter de Carnato. The lands were confirmed by Walter, Bishop of Glasgow, and were retained by Kelso Abbey until the Reformation.

Thereafter the Dumgree estate was annexed; its extent was not clearly specified until 1605 when the estate was confirmed to Charteris of Amisfield. The Johnstones were tenants in Dumgree from at least 1472 and may have been responsible for Boreland Tower, 1km to the SSE. 'Bordland' is indicative of an earlier site, perhaps a demense farm and bailiff's residence.

Dumgree Church may therefore have been a twelfth-century foundation for existing tenants on an outlying estate, given its unusual location on previously cultivated ground. The cultivation terraces survive and seem to pre-date the graveyard in which the church sits. However, the date of the graveyard boundary is not known and it is possible that the church did not have a burial ground from the outset. A rectangular platform, possibly for a building, survives to the N of the church.

The surviving church building is rectangular in plan, measuring 12m E-W by 6m N-S, but it may have been rebuilt during its history. Few pre-Reformation churches survive in eastern Dumfriesshire and Dumgree is one of the smaller examples, of which even fewer survive.

The bank of the graveyard is probably relatively late in date and steps down across the terraces on the SW. The E boundary is curvilinear, but it has been extended to the W along the edge of a trackway. Within the burial ground some of the low headstones are set into the terraces; there are also a number of recumbent slabs, eighteenth-century gravestones and a table-tomb. A spread of stones to the S of the church may be the remains of a burial enclosure. Two nineteenth-century iron gateposts survive midway along the W boundary, one of which is still upstanding.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related material may be found. It is irregular with maximum dimensions of 75m N-S and 83m E-W, as marked in red on the accompanying map. Specifically excluded from the scheduling is the top 300mm of the track at the west side of the monument to allow for its maintenance.

Statement of National Importance

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to contribute to an understanding of medieval ecclesiastical architecture. It is a rare survival of a Pre-Reformation parish church of lesser standing. It also preserves an earlier landscape in the form of cultivation terraces, which do not survive beyond the burial ground. Its importance is increased by its high archaeological potential given its early abandonment, which is further enhanced by the documentary sources available.

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.

Scheduled monument consent is required to carry out certain work, including repairs, to scheduled monuments. Applications for scheduled monument consent are made to us. We are happy to discuss your proposals with you before you apply and we do not charge for advice or consent. More information about consent and how to apply for it can be found on our website at www.historicenvironment.scot.

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.