Tarves, Kirkbrae, Tarves Old Parish Church And Tolquhon Aisle

Heritage listing

Date Added 30/11/1981 Last Date Amended 03/07/2000 Supplementary Information Updated 20/06/2018 Type Crosses and carved stones: tombstone, Ecclesiastical: burial avile/vault; church Local Authority Aberdeenshire Parish Tarves NGR NJ 86904 31180 Coordinates 386904, 831180 — The monument comprises the altar tomb that was erected in 1589 in memory of William Forbes, 7th laird of Tolquhon, and his wife Elizabeth Gordon, in the south aisle of the former parish church of Tarves. According the the Martyrology of Oengus, the Celtic founder of the church at Tarves was St Murdebar or Muirdebar, who came from Leinster around AD 600. It was later granted by King William I the Lion to the abbey of Arbroath. A description of the medieval church building written in 1732 indicates that it had a choir and two aisles (or transepts): one for the Gordons of Haddo and the other for the Forbeses of Tolquhon. The latter aisle evidently lay to the south of the nave. All that now remains of it is its south wall, incorporating the Forbes tomb and surmounted by a pediment of pink granite, added when the rest of the aisle was demolished around 1798. The tomb is carved from red sandstone, contrasting with the rubble masonry of the aisle wall. It consists of a tomb chest with arcaded front, recessed into the wall and enclosed by a richly moulded semi-circular arcosolium with heavy gothic cusping. At the apex of the arch is a projecting royal crown flanked by unicorns. The whole is framed by renaissance baluster shafts, incorporating portrait statuettes of the laird and his lady and supporting a heavily embattled cornice. The left-hand spandrel contains the Forbes arms quartered with those of the Prestons, from whom they had inherited the estate. The shield is surmounted by an esquire's helmet and is

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.