Balmerino Abbey, Church

Heritage listing

Date Added 28/04/1920 Last Date Amended 11/06/2010 Type Ecclesiastical: Manse, priest's residence, etc; abbey; church; claustral remains; cloisters Local Authority Fife Parish Balmerino NGR NO 35834 24655 Coordinates 335834, 724655 — The monument comprises the standing fabric, carved stones, earthwork and buried remains of Balmerino Abbey, a Cistercian complex founded in early 13th century AD. It is located on the S shore of the Firth of Tay in the hamlet of Balmerino and is a consolidated ruin, open to the public. The monument was first scheduled in 1920, then rescheduled in 1971. The present rescheduling brings the legal documentation up to modern mapping standards and now excludes an occupied building converted with scheduled monument consent. The abbey complex comprises the remains of a church, claustral range, an isolated building, carved stone effigies and ornamental stone fragments. The church, surviving as earthwork remains and lower building courses, is laid out on an E-W oriented cruciform plan around which the associated buildings cluster: the earthwork form of the E side of the cloisters and W range to the north of the nave; the standing remains of a sacristy, chapter house, parlour and cells to the north of the N transept; and the vaulted standing remains of a single building further to the north-east. Relocated carved stone fragments include components of the altar, tomb chests, effigies and decorative masonry pieces. The area to be scheduled is irregular on plan, to include the remains described above and an area around within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. To allow for their maintenance, the scheduling extends up to the outer face (but excludes the above-gr

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.