St Serfs Church, Dumbarton

Heritage listing

Date Added 23/02/2001 Type Ecclesiastical: burial ground, cemetery, graveyard; church Local Authority West Dunbartonshire Parish Cardross NGR NS 39350 75006 Coordinates 239350, 675006 — The monument consists of the remains of a medieval parish church, much altered and rebuilt in the 19th century. The monument is now located within Levengrove Park on the S shore of the River Leven opposite Dumbarton. It is sited on a low raised mound, and is enclosed by a fence. The church comprises a rectangular structure, aligned E-W, surviving to a length of 16m, with a width of 6.10m. The nave is 11.8m long, now terminating at an arcaded dividing wall inserted in the 19th century to support memorial slabs. The nave contains a number of 19th century burials marked by three rows of headstones. The N and S walls of the nave survive to a height of about 1m, being four courses of roughly dressed masonry. The entrance at the W end is probably part of the 19th century remodelling. The chancel end has also been much rebuilt in the 19th century as a burial aisle, and the E end wall is not visible above ground. The earliest reference to the church of Cardross occurs in a 13th century charter whereby the Earl of Lennox granted the income to the Bishop of Glasgow (1208-33). In the early 14th century this was the parish church for Robert I's manor nearby at Cardross. The Rector of Cardross played an important part in the funeral arrangements of Robert I in 1329, and a tradition emerged as early as the 17th century that the viscera of the Robert I were buried in this church following his embalming. The area proposed for scheduling comprises a circle of 33m in diameter, centred on the church, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract. This includes the church ruins and an area around it in w

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.