Description
Cruciform church of various builds, incorporating 13th century
choir and nave (now E and W aisles), S aisle added 1536, 16th
century chancel and probably 18th century N aisle. Vestry
added in NE re-entrant angle in 1967. Rubble, tooled and
polished ashlar dressings.
Entrances to church in centre of W and N gables; also in
S elevation of chancel; blocked round-headed entrance in
SW; forestair in S wall of W aisle. Pointed-headed window
with intersecting tracery in E gable; Y-traceried windows in
S wall of chancel; 4-light window in S gable of 1536 S aisle;
various other windows mainly with lattice-pane glazing.
18th century bird cage bellcote at W gable apex; various cross
apices; Banffshire slate roofs.
Interior: pulpit and communion
table at central crossing; galleries in W and N aisles with
late 19th century stencilled detailing. Laird's loft, dated
1602, in S side of E aisle reached by staircase with silhouette balusters and supported by columns framed by re-used late
16th and early 17th century pew ends and panels from former pews
(2 panels dated 1590 and 1608 respectively).
Circa 1550 Sacrament House surmounted by carved panel with
pair of angels holding monstrance and with Latin text from
John vi, 54-6. Ornate richly carved circa 1554 Ogilvie tombs
also in N wall of chancel; cusped ogee arch surmounts wall tomb
with recumbant knight, flanked by shafts enclosing canopy
with decorative cresting and containing 2 roundels with
carved figures; front of tomb divided into 8 cusped panels,
each containing figure.
S AISLE: former St Anne's chapel said to have been founded
by Elena Hay in 1536; round-headed mural niche with recumbant
figure thought to be Elena Hay's son; carved front to tomb
with 2 panels depicting knights on horseback. Also mural
memorials to Earl of Seafield (killed 1914), Mia, Countess of
Seafield (widow) and Nina, Countess of Seafield (1906-1969).
Various other mural memorials including granite plaque erected to
memory of Rev. John Guthrie, Minister of Cullen 1937-1986.
Stained glass in E window by Aitken of Aberdeen, 1933.
Burial ground: high rubble walls enclose church and burial
ground. Entrance at E flanked by pair tooled rubble gatepiers
surmounted by ball finials; pair spearhead cast-iron carriage
gates. Incised slab depicting knight in armour dated 1414
sited by W doorway; 17th, 18th and 19th century tomb stones;
small Seafield burial enclosure.
Statement of Special Interest
Ecclesiastical building in use as such.
Church known to have existed in 1236. S aisle added by Elena
Hay in 1536 and dedicated to St Anne; became a collegiate
church in 1543 with 6 prebendaries and 2 singing boys to sing
mass 'decently and in order every day'.
Church was the centre of the old kirkton of Cullen until
1820-30 when township removed to present 'new town' of
Cullen and the manse, which had been close by, rebuilt
in Seafield Place in 1830.
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