A Corpus of Scottish Medieval
Parish Churches

Historical outline

Dedication: St Ethernan

The earliest surviving reference to the parish church of Kilrenny, dedicated to St Ethernan,(1) is a confirmation datable to around 1165 by Countess Ada, mother of kings Malcolm IV and William, of her gift of the church to the canons of Dryburgh.(2)  The grant was confirmed before 1172 by Pope Alexander III and before 1174 by King William.(3)  A further confirmation was made between 1211 and 1233 by William Comyn, earl of Buchan, with the consent and assent of his wife, Marjory, countess of Buchan.(4)  Greater security of possession had been given by two general confirmations from Bishop Richard of St Andrews (1165-78) which covered all of the abbey’s properties in his diocese,(5) but the opportunity to strengthen this further was taken during the visit of the papal legate Master James the Penitentiary to Dryburgh in May 1221.  James gave the full pwer of his legatine status to another general confirmation of all of the abbey’s possessions, including the church of Kilrenny.(6) 

Despite all of these grants and confirmations, it seems that down to that point that the canons only held the right of patronage of the parish church.  In June 1230, however, Pope Gregory IX granted the canons possession of three churches – Channelkirk, Saltoun and Kilrenny - in proprios usus, with a requirement to institute vicars.(7)  There is no evidence for the immediate institution of a vicarage settlement, the next notice of the church being the record of its dedication by Bishop David de Bernham on 26 June 1243.(8)  It was only in April 1268 that there is evidence for the erection of a vicarage at Kilrenny, when in a general ordinance governing the institution of vicarages at Dryburgh’s churches in his diocese Bishop Gamelin stipulated that the secular vicar ministering in the church should receive 10 merks annually from the abbot and convent, from which he was to pay 3s annually to the bishops of St Andrews in respect of his manse, which was located on property belonging to the bishop.(9)

Although this vicarage settlement had clearly been instituted, there is no entry in respect of Kilrenny in the accounts of the papal tax-collector in Scotland in 1274/5.  It was Gamelin’s intention, moreover, that the vicars would be secular clerks, not members of the regular convent.  That intention, however, was overridden at a later date, for in c.1522 the vicarage was being held by John lauder, a canon of Dryburgh.(10)  At the reformation, the parsonage was recorded as still in the possession of Dryburgh, valued at £160, while the vicarage was held by John Forman and valued at £26 13s 4d.(11)

Notes

1. S Taylor and G Markus, The Place-Names of Fife, iii, St Andrews and the East Neuk (Donington, 2009), 323-5.

2.. Liber S Marie de Dryburgh (Bannatyne Club, 1847), no 16 [hereafter Dryburgh Liber].

3. Dryburgh Liber, no.253; Regesta Regum Scotorum, ii, The Acts of William I, ed G W S Barrow (Edinburgh, 1971), no.89.

4. Dryburgh Liber, no.18.

5. Dryburgh Liber, nos 235, 236.

6. Dryburgh Liber, no.234.

7. Dryburgh Liber, no.262.

8. A O Anderson (ed), Early Sources of Scottish History, ii (Edinburgh, 1922), 523 [Pontifical Offices of St Andrews].

9. Dryburgh Liber, no.40.

10. St Andrews Formulare, 1514-46, vol 1, ed C Macrae (Stair Society, 1942), 204.

11. J Kirk (ed), The Books of Assumption of the Thirds of Benefices (Oxford, 1995), 75, 190, 197.

Summary of relevant documentation

Medieval

Synopsis of Cowan’s Parishes: Granted to Dryburgh by Countess Ada in 1160 and confirmed by William Comyn, earl of Buchan in c.1220. A vicarage settlement took place in 1268, the parsonage thereafter remaining with the abbey.(1)

Place Names of Fife vol. 3 notes that the church was dedicated to St Ethernan.(2)

c.1522 Appeal by vicar John Lauder (canon of Dryburgh) against intrusions into his vicarage (unspecified).(3)

Post-medieval

Books of assumption of thirds of benefices and Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices: The Parish church parsonage held by Dryburgh, value £160, paid to the pensioner of Inchmahome. Vicarage held by John Forman, £26 13s 4d.(4)

Account of Collectors of Thirds of Benefices (G. Donaldson): Third of vicarage £8 17s 9 1/3d.(5)

#1806 (9 Nov) As a consequence of a ‘couple baulk’ having dropped off the west end of the roof, the old kirk of Kirenny has been shut up until further notice. Shortly afterwards, the decision is taken to demolish the building and build a new, more commodious kirk.(6)

Statistical Account of Scotland (Rev William Beat): [No reference to church fabric]

New Statistical Account of Scotland (Rev George Dickson, 1843):

‘The old church was of a much larger dimension that the present, being 100 feet by 50 over the walls, and having its roof supported by two rows of gothic arches and round pillars. The time of its erection is not known. It has been stated by some of the old inhabitants of the parish, that on one of the arches was cut a Lochaber axe, and on a stone on the west gable outside, was a figure of a sheep, as forming part of a coat of arms. Having upon inspection in 1806, found in a dangerous state, it was taken down’.(7)

Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches: (George Hay): 1808 with late 15th century tower; late addition.(8)

Notes

1. Cowan, The parishes of medieval Scotland, 109.

2. Taylor & Markus, The Place-Names of Fife. Volume Three, pp. 323-325.

3. St Andrews Formulare, i, 204.

4. Kirk, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, 75, 190 & 197.

5. Donaldson, Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices, 13.

6. Watson, Kilrenny and Cellardyke, p. 82.

7. New Statistical Account of Scotland, (1843), ix, 981.

8. Hay, The Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches, pp.60, 170, 174 & 257.

Bibliography

Cowan, I.B., 1967, The parishes of medieval Scotland, (Scottish Record Society), Edinburgh.

Donaldson, G., 1949, Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices, (Scottish History Society), Edinburgh.

Hay, G., 1957, The Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches, 1560-1843, Oxford.

Kirk, J., 1995, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, (British Academy) Oxford.

New Statistical Account of Scotland, 1834-45, Edinburgh and London.

St Andrews Formulare, 1514-46, 1942-44, eds. G. Donaldson & C. Macrae (Stair Society), Edinburgh, i.

Statistical Account of Scotland, 1791-9, ed. J. Sinclair, Edinburgh.

Taylor, S & Markus, G., 2009, The Place-Names of Fife. Volume Three. St Andrews and the East Neuk, Donington.

Watson, H. D., 1986, Kilrenny and Cellardyke, Edinburgh.

Architectural description

The possibility of Christian worship extending back to an early period in this area is raised by the discovery of a fragment of a possibly eighth- or ninth-century cross slab on the beach at Kilrenny.(1) But it has also been suggested that the introduction of Christianity could be associated with the mission of St Ethernan as early as the seventh century.(2)

The parish was granted to the Premonstratenian house of Dryburgh in about 1160 by Countess Ada, the mother of William I, and confirmed by Pope Alexander III in about 1161. But there are some doubts as to the effectiveness of this grant until a further grant was made by William, earl of Buchan in about 1220. By 1268 a vicarage settlement was in place.(3) Bishop David de Bernham carried out one of his many dedications here on 26 June 1243,(4) though there is nothing to suggest any link with a specific building operation.

The only relic of the medieval church is the tower, which is built of carefully coursed large rubble blocks. The church attached to that tower was evidently a substantial structure, with an aisle on each side of a central space. In the mid-nineteenth century it was said to be ‘of much larger dimensions than the present [church], being 100 feet [30.5 metres] by 50 [15.25 metres] over the walls, and having the roof supported by two rows of Gothic arches and round pillars.’(5)

The tower has a plan of 6 by 4.4 metres and rises through three storeys that are accessed by a spiral stair that has been inserted within the north-west corner. There is a pair of pointed-arched openings to each face of the belfry stage. The intermediate storeys were initially lit by no more than small rectangular windows, but a two-light rectangular window has been cut through the north face of the lowest storey. There is no horizontal demarcation of the storeys below a simple corbel table that supports the wall-head parapet. The slated spire was repaired by Robert Malcolm in 1838.

On the evidence of a springing on the east side of the tower’s lowest storey, that level was barrel-vaulted, though the vault has been dismantled at some stage. The partial survival of blocked arches into that lowest storey through both the south and east walls demonstrate that it must have risen above the west bay of the north aisle, rather than on the central east-west axis. This is confirmed externally by the way in which some of the masonry courses on the north side of the tower continue into the north wall of the rebuilt nave, with some evidence for a north doorway of uncertain date to the east of the tower.

From within the tower it can be seen that the arches have two orders of chamfers, and within the southern angles of the tower there are the fragmentary remains of responds with moulded capitals. There is, however, some uncertainty about the chronological inter-relationship of the elements. It appears that the eastern end of the south arch may have had to be cut back to accommodate the east arch, suggesting that both the east arch and the vault that rose above it were later than the south arch. If that is indeed the case, this may in turn suggest that the tower was not part of the original design, but was of secondary construction.

Nevertheless, whether or not it is secondary, in the location of the tower over the north-west angle, and also in the aisled plan of the building, there are analogies with other Fife churches at Cupar (St Michael), of about 1415, and St Andrews (Holy Trinity), of about 1412. An early fifteenth-century date would also be acceptable for the medieval parts of Kilrenny.

On the evidence of the ghosting of a double-pitched roof on the south face of the tower, there has evidently at some stage been a structure on a north-west alignment projecting south from the tower. It is difficult to visualise this as having been part of the medieval church, and so it was presumably of post-Reformation date, though not part of the final phase of rebuilding.

That final phase was the work of Alexander Leslie in 1807-8,(6) with David Ness and Andrew Horsburgh as contractors. The previous church ‘having upon inspection in 1806, been found in a dangerous state, it was taken down and a plain commodious building erected on the same site.’(7) It appears that the inspection was prompted by the collapse of part of the roof.(8)

The church of 1807-8 is a rectangle to the east of the medieval tower, with its north wall continuing the line of the tower’s north wall. The main front of the new building, facing south, is constructed of carefully squared and coursed masonry, while the other faces are rubble-built; all of the exposed angles have rusticated quoins. There are pointed-arched windows with intersecting glazing bars to the south and north faces, and diminutive thermal windows set high in the east and west walls.

Small porches were provided against the east and west walls of the church. In 1932, however, the latter was replaced by a two-storey porch to the designs of Gillespie and Scott, which largely fills the re-entrant angle between the south face of the tower west end of the new church.(9)

Notes

1. Edwina Proudfoot, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland, Edinburgh, 1993, p. 31.

2. Simon Taylor, The Place Names of Fife, Donington, vol. 3, 2009, p. 323.

3. Ian B. Cowan, The Parishes of Medieval Scotland (Scottish Record Society), 1967, p. 109.

4. Alan Orr Anderson, Early Sources of Scottish History, Edinburgh, 1922, vol. 2, p. 523.

5. New Statistical Account, vol. 9, p. 981.

6. National Records of Scotland, HR 21/1; John Gifford, The Buildings of Scotland, Fife, London 1988, p. 263.

7. New Statistical Account of Scotland, 1834-45, vol. 9, p. 981.

8. H.D. Watson, Kilrenny and Cellardyke, Edinburgh, 1986, p. 82.

9. Gifford, Fife, p. 263.