Reay, Old Parish Church

Heritage listing

Date Added 18/05/1925 Last Date Amended 22/11/1996 Type Crosses and carved stones: cross slab, Ecclesiastical: burial ground, cemetery, graveyard; church Local Authority Highland Parish Reay NGR NC 96908 64819 Coordinates 296908, 964819 — The monument consists of a burial ground, now closed to further interments, containing a burial aisle which incorporates the remains of a medieval church and which houses a cross-slab dating from the late 9th or the 10th century. The cross-slab is already scheduled, but this proposal extends protection to the whole of the burial ground. The burial aisle measures approximately 5m N-S by 3.6m E-W internally, and has a gabled roof running N-S. It formed the burial place of the MacKays of Bighouse and other families, and was in 1909 described as 'recently renovated'. The gable of the S wall is obviously of more modern construction than the rest of the structure, and the doorway in the older masonry below has a roll-moulded surround, lending credence to the 16th-century date ascribed to the church replaced in 1739 (although the former existence of an earlier church is likely). The lower half of a blocked doorway is apparent in the E wall of the aisle and the jamb stones of this also have a roll-moulding. The burial aisle appears likely to have formed a lateral aisle projecting from the N wall of the original church of which no traces are otherwise visible. The parish church remained on this site until a new church was built 175m to the E in 1739. The burial aisle incorporates several mural monuments, one of them dated 1691. It also houses a rectangular cross slab of grey sandstone, 1.9m long and tapering from approximately 0.7 to 0.6m wide. It is 0.1m thick. The arms of the cross are squared, but are joined by a ring of 4 lines. The cross h

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.