Dundurcas Kirk

Heritage listing

Date Added 17/02/1993 Type Ecclesiastical: church Local Authority Moray Parish Rothes NGR NJ 30238 51047 Coordinates 330238, 851047 — The monument consists of the remains of an 18th-century church which are likely to overlie the remains of an earlier church. The parish of Dundurcas appears to have evolved prior to 1244. Around 1274 it is on record as a vicarage. It was subsequently annexed to the Hospital of Rathven. In 1445 the joint revenues were used to found a prebend in Aberdeen Cathedral. At the Reformation, the parsonage remained annexed to the benefice of Rathven. Its revenues were then utilised to support a staller in Aberdeen and six bedesmen of the hospital. Dundurcas appears to have been quite wealthy as the Abbey of Kinloss also received certain revenues from the fruits of this church. The present building and graveyard are located on the summit of a naturally mounded site which may have been utilised as a defensive site in the past, as there is a slight ditch on the SW side of the mound. The church is rectangular-plan, rubble-built, with a bellcote on the W gable. It measures 15.6m ENE-WSW by 8.1m NNW-SSE over walls 0.7m thick. The church was suppressed in 1782, its lands being divided between Boharm and Rothes. The area to be scheduled is rectangular, extending 3m from the exterior walls of the church, measuring a maximum of 21.6m ENE-WSW, by 14.1m NNW-SSE, to include the upstanding remains of the church and any buried structures, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.