Old Parish Church, Maryculter

Heritage listing

Date Added 29/10/2003 Type Ecclesiastical: burial ground, cemetery, graveyard; church Local Authority Aberdeenshire Parish Maryculter NGR NO 84425 99996 Coordinates 384425, 799996 — The monument comprises the remains of Maryculter Chapel and burial ground, which is also known as the Old Parish Kirk of Maryculter. The monument consists of the fragmentary remains of a medieval chapel and a walled burial-ground, sitting within the the grounds of Maryculter House, close to the E bank of the River Dee. The church is believed to have been associated with a house of the Knights Templar, founded by Walter Byset between 1221 and 1236 at Maryculter. In 1287 a controversy with the abbey of Kelso, which held the parish church of Culter (Peterculter), regarding the newly-built chapel of the Knights, was settled on 4 November 1287. When the Order was suppressed in 1309 the foundation passed to the Knights Hospitallers: in 1513 the house was described as 'recently annexed' to the Commandery of Torphichen. It is also recorded that the Hospitallers held the barony of Maryculter and the parish church of Maryculter, suggesting that chapel may have become parochial by the 16th century. The remains of the church are very fragmentary and consist of a single chambered oblong structure measuring 23m by 6.6m within walls 0.7 in thickness, and now reduced to their lower courses. A piscina comprising a fluted bowl supported by a shaft that rises from a water-holding base is incorporated in the S wall at the E end. Its details suggest a 13th century date, tying in well to the documentary evidence of a new chapel constructed in about 1287. There are a number of fragments of mouldings situated in this area of the chapel. The chapel sits within a polygonal walled burial ground, the entrance to which

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.