A Corpus of Scottish Medieval
Parish Churches

Historical outline

Dedication: St Fiacre(1)

This, the northernmost church and parish in the diocese of St Andrews, was granted by King William to the monks of Arbroath Abbey between 1189 and 1194.(2)  The gift included all of the kirklands, teinds and all other things justly pertaining to it, plus rights of common pasture, the last of which were to make this an important property in the monastery’s portfolio.  William’s gift of the church occurred during an extended vacancy in the see of St Andrews and it was only after 1198 that the gift was confirmed by Bishop Roger de Beaumont (1198-1202).(3)  A further confirmation from King William followed in 1213.(4)  Nigg was amongst the churches confirmed to the abbey by King Alexander II in his general confirmation, probably issued in early 1215 and in 1233 the abbey was given a grant of free forest jurisdiction over its properties around the church, underscoring the significance of this holding to it.(5)  Arbroath’s possession of the church itself had been confirmed in proprios usus by Bishop William Malveisin in two charters of 1202 x 1204, one general and one specifically in respect of Nigg.(6)  In a later instrument, Bishop William formalised this arrangement with a vicarage settlement which stipulated that a perpetual vicarage should be instituted to serve the cure.(7)  Bishop David de Bernham confirmed this arrangement and in 1249 set out the vicarage settlement, annexing the parsonage to the monastery and assigning the remainder of the fruits to the vicar, who was also to pay the monks an additional two merks annually.(8)  It was Bishop David who also dedicated the church on 30 July 1242.(9)

Although a perpetual vicarage had been instituted in 1249, there is no reference to the church in the accounts of the papal tax-collector in Scotland in the mid-1270s.  Vicars perpetual, however, are on record from the early fifteenth century, although the reference to Hugh Wells in 1433 as ‘rector’ of Nigg is evidently an error as on his resignation in 1453 the church was described as a vicarage.(10)  The union of the parsonage with the abbey remained at the Reformation, at which time the vicarage was held by one John Davidson and valued at £10 annually.(11)

Notes

1. J M Mackinlay, Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland: Non-scriptural Dedications (Edinburgh, 1914), 344; Illustrations of the Topography and Antiquities of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff, iii (Spalding Club: Aberdeen, 1857), 245-7 – Collect and lessons for the Feast of St Fiacre, abbot, patron of Nigg.

2. Liber S Thome de Aberbrothoc, i (Bannatyne Club, 1848), no.20 [hereafter Arbroath Liber, i]; Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scottorum, ii, The Acts of William I, ed G W S Barrow (Edinburgh, 1971), no.332 [hereafter RRS, ii].

3. Arbroath Liber, i, no.147.

4. Arbroath Liber, i, no.1; RRS, ii, no.513.

5. Arbroath Liber, i, nos 100, 101.

6. Arbroath Liber, i, nos 160, 165.

7. Arbroath Liber, i, no.167.

8. Arbroath Liber, i, nos 172, 236.

9. A O Anderson (ed), Early Sources of Scottish History, ii (Edinburgh, 1922), 522 [Pontifical Offices of St Andrews].

10. Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome, iv, 1433-1447, eds A I Dunlop and D MacLauchlan (Glasgow, 1983), no.1; Liber S Thome de Aberbrothoc, ii (Bannatyne Club, 1856), no.95.

11. J Kirk (ed), The Books of Assumption of the Thirds of Benefices (Oxford, 1995), 420.

Summary of relevant documentation

Medieval

Synopsis of Cowan’s Parishes: The church was granted to Arbroath by William I. A vicarage settlement took place in 1249, with the cure a perpetual vicar and the parsonage thereafter remaining with the abbey.(1)

According to Mackinley the church was dedicated to St Fiacre, and there was a holy well in the parish.(2)

1189x94 Church granted by William I to the abbey with lands, teinds, common pasture etc. 1213 church in included in confirmation by William I of the possessions of Arbroath, with chapels, lands, teinds, oblations, common pasture and all other rights and pertinent.(3)

1198 Church included in a confirmation by Roger, bishop of St Andrews, of the churches held by Arbroath in the diocese of St Andrews.(4)

1200 Church included in papal bull by Innocent III confirming possessions of Arbroath.(5)

1202x04 Possession of church by Arbroath confirmed  by William, bishop of St Andrews, in two charters, the first specifically related to the church, the second including all the churches held by Arbroath in the diocese of St Andrews.(6)

1204x11 Church included in confirmation by Henry, prior of St Andrews, of all the churches held by Arbroath in the diocese of St Andrews.(7)

1214x18 Church included in confirmation by Alexander II of all the lands and churches belonging to Arbroath. 1233 Alexander II grants the lands of Nigg to the abbey.(8)

c.1233 Church included in a confirmation by David de Bernham, bishop of St Andrews, of  all the churches held by Arbroath in the diocese of St Andrews.

1249 Vicarage settlement by the bishop, parsonage with abbey, perpetual vicarage set up with two further marks pa owed to the monks.(9)

1433 Hugh de Wells referred to as rector of Nigg in a case regarding Durris (he took the fruits without dispensation).(10)

1453 William Scrogis (deacon of Aberdeen) presented to perpetual vicarage on resignation of Hugh Wells.(11)

1463 Garbal teinds of the churches of Nigg and Kirriemuir with their pertinents assigned to Richard Guthrie (former abbot of Arbroath 1449-63) as a pension to sustain him in retirement.(12)

1465 William Mowat, described as rector of Nigg is dispensed to hold multiple benefices, value of Nigg £4.(13)

1485 Garbal teinds set for 12 years to Duncan Scherer, burgess of Aberdeen for 20 marks pa.(14)

1502 Andrew Scherer (subdean of Aberdeen) presented to vicarage on resignation of Duncan Scherer.(15)

Post-medieval

Books of assumption of thirds of benefices and Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices: The Parish church vicarage held by John Davidson (along with Commenall  (Ayr) and Kinkell), value £10.(16)

1599 (Sept) Visitation of Nigg reports that the minister (John Ross) is well liked by his parishioners and elders.(17)

1601 (10 July) Visitation of the church by the Presbytery of Aberdeen finds the minister to be competent. He is to make a catalogue of the elders for regular meetings and seeing to the estate of the church. Ross is ordered to make sure the church is watertight, and the gabill of the kirk mended with all diligence.(18)

1602 (29 Jan) Record of the stipends of the ministers of the Presbytery of Aberdeen - James Ross 400 marks (Nigg), Alex Youngston of Durris 200 marks.(19)

1604 (3 Aug) Visitation of Nigg by the Presbytery of Aberdeen finds the minister (James Ross) to be competent but his parishioners complain that he is non-resident and is therefore unable to provide services on every Sabbath day. Brethren order Ross to organise his gleib and make residence at his kirk.(20)

1605 (19 July) Further visitation mentions that the price for burial in the church is 40s.(21)

1606 (3 Mar) Record of ministers stipends within the Presbytery of Aberdeen records James Ross of Nigg - 400 marks pa and Alexander Youngston of Durris, 200 marks pa.(22)

1608 (July) Visitation of the church by the Presbytery of Aberdeen finds the minister to be competent but he is still sometimes absent on Sabbath day and is non-resident. The main heritor, the laird of Monymusk and his lady are often absent from the church.(23)

1662 (1 April) Church along with rector and vicar teinds recorded as in the control of Patrick, earl of Panmure, inherited from his father, George (d.1661).(24)

Statistical Account of Scotland (Rev David Cruden, 1791): Manse built 1752.(25)

‘Lately the remaining ruins of an edifice, belonging to the abbey of Arbroath, were dug up on the upper part of the harbour’.(26)

New Statistical Account of Scotland (Rev Alexander Thom, 1838): ‘Abbots Walls was the ruins of a house that belonged to the Abbot of Arbroath, on the haugh opposite Aberdeen, where it is said he spent some months in the summer’.(27)

‘The old church (which was situated in the north-east extremity of the parish) having fallen into decay; a new one was erected by the heritors in a centrical position in the year 1829’.(28)

Also includes detailed information on pre and post-Reformation patrons of the parish.(29)

Account of Collectors of Thirds of Benefices (G. Donaldson): 1829, John Smith architect; fragments of previous kirk with 1704 belfry, 1763 weather vane and 1759 Mowat Bell; watch house.(30)

Notes

1. Cowan, The parishes of medieval Scotland, 157.

2. Mackinley, Non-Scriptural Dedications, p. 344.

3. RRS, ii, nos. 332 & 513, Liber Aberbrothoc, i, nos.1 & 20.

4. Liber Aberbrothoc, i, no.147.

5. Liber Aberbrothoc, i, no. 221.

6. Liber Aberbrothoc, i, nos. 160 & 165.

7. Liber Aberbrothoc, i, no. 166

8. Liber Aberbrothoc, i, nos. 100 & 101.

9. Liber Aberbrothoc, i, nos  172 & 236.

10. CSSR, iv, 1, CPL, viii, 430.

11. Liber Aberbrothoc, ii, no. 95.

12. CSSR, v, no.956.

13. CSSR, v, no.1065.

14. Liber Aberbrothoc, ii, no. 285.

15. Liber Aberbrothoc, ii, no. 432.

16. Kirk, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, 420.

17. NRS Presbytery of Aberdeen, Minutes, 1598-1610, CH2/1/1, fol. 145.

18. NRS Presbytery of Aberdeen, Minutes, 1598-1610, CH2/1/1, fol. 108.

19. NRS Presbytery of Aberdeen, Minutes, 1598-1610, CH2/1/1, fol. 149.

20. NRS Presbytery of Aberdeen, Minutes, 1598-1610, CH2/1/1, fol. 300.

21. NRS Presbytery of Aberdeen, Minutes, 1598-1610, CH2/1/1, fol. 332.

22. NRS Presbytery of Aberdeen, Minutes, 1598-1610, CH2/1/1, fol. 346.

23. NRS Presbytery of Aberdeen, Minutes, 1598-1610, CH2/1/1, fol. 474.

24. Registrum de Panmure, p. 338.

25. Statistical Account of Scotland, (1791), 211.

26. Ibid, 214.

27. New Statistical Account of Scotland, (1838) xi, 201.

28. Ibid, 210.

29. Ibid, 200.

30. Hay, The Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches, pp. 138, 168, 176, 217, 236 & 241.

Bibliography

NRS Presbytery of Aberdeen, Minutes, 1598-1610, CH2/1/1.

Calendar of entries in the Papal registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland; Papal letters, 1893-, ed. W.H. Bliss, London.

Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome 1433-47, 1983, ed. A.I. Dunlop and D MacLauchlan, Glasgow.

Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome 1447-71, 1997, ed. J. Kirk, R.J. Tanner and A.I. Dunlop, Edinburgh.

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

Liber S Thome de Aberbrothoc, 1848-56, ed. C. Innes and P. Chalmers, (Bannatyne Club) Edinburgh, i.

Mackinley, J.M, 1914, Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland. Non-Scriptural Dedications, Edinburgh.

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

Registrum de Panmure, 1874, ed. J. Stuart, Edinburgh.

Regesta Regum Scottorum, Acts of William I (1165-1214), 1971, Edinburgh.

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

Architectural description

The abandoned and roofless medieval church of Nigg, which was in the county of Kincardineshire and is now within the City of Aberdeen, is located on the city’s southern outskirts. It served the most northerly parish of the diocese of St Andrews, where it was within the archdeaconry of St Andrews and the deanery of Mearns.(1)

There was a parish here from at least 1189-94, when King William I granted it to his recently founded Tironensian abbey of Arbroath,(2) a grant that was confirmed by Bishop Roger of St Andrews (1189-1202) at an uncertain date during his episcopate.(3) With the parsonage thus held by the abbey, arrangements were made for the provision of a perpetual vicar by Bishop William Malveisin in 1202-4 and by Bishop David de Bernham in 1249.(4) The last of those bishops carried out one of his many conditional dedications on 30 July 1242,(5) though it is unlikely that dedication has any significance for the building history of the church. The dedication of the church was said by Mackinlay to be to St Fiacre,(6) though it is more usually given as Fittach or Fittick.

The church continued in use after the Reformation, and came to be within the presbytery and synod of Aberdeen. Some repairs were evidently necessary in 1601, when orders were given to repair one of the gables,(7) though said to be ‘decent’ in the 1790s.(8) But it subsequently fell into disrepair.

It was deemed to have the disadvantage that it was inconveniently at the north-eastern extremity of the parish, and it was replaced by a more centrally located building opened for worship on 7 June 1829.(9) That later church, which had been built at a cost of £1,800(10) to the designs of John Smith,(11) has now itself been abandoned for worship. At a relatively recent - but so-far unknown - date, the walls of the medieval church were covered with a thick cement render and the wall heads protected by coping, and there may also have been some modification of a number of architectural features. This intervention has made interpretation of the architectural evidence additionally difficult.

The church is an oriented rectangular structure with an east-west length along the south side of 16.5 metres and a north-south width along the west wall of 7.85 metres; the thickness of the wall through the south doorway is 84 millimetres. The walls appear to stand to their full medieval height except for the west wall, where the gable above the height of the adjacent north and south walls has been removed and the wall coped off at that level. The east gable is reduced above a chamfered string course at the level of the general wall-head, and its sloping wall-heads are coped.

At the apex of the east gable is a rectangular birdcage bellcote, which has a single opening to east and west, but with the narrower openings to north and south subdivided by a transom; the openings and the angles are marked by a roll moulding. The bellcote rises above a rectangular plinth that finishes with a cavetto-moulding and has an ogee-moulded cornice. A sketch published in 1897 appears to show that it then had pyramidal pinnacles at the four corners, around a central gablet surmounted by a weather vane.(12) The plinth has an inscribed tablet on its east face that is now partly obscured by ivy, but that is said to be inscribed MM MINISTER 1704, presumably in reference to the Rev’d Richard Maitland, incumbent between 1674 and 1716. Immediately below the bellcote plinth is a row of four ogee-profiled corbels that do not appear to relate to the bellcote in its present form, and that may thus have been provided for a predecessor.

The only openings currently unblocked are a doorway towards the west end of the south wall and a small window opening near the centre of the north wall, which appears to have been re-set within a blocked larger opening. The form of the blocking varies considerably. In most cases it only occupies approximately the external third of the wall thickness, and the external surround of the opening more frequently remains externally visible. But some cases the opening is blocked through the full wall thickness, while in other cases the external evidence for the opening is almost entirely obscured beneath the cement coating.

The doorway towards the west end of the south wall was presumably one of the two principal entrances into the church. Externally it is lintelled with ashlar jambs, and with a narrow chamfer running around both jambs and lintel; above the lintel is a well-formed segmental relieving-arch that appears to extend through the wall thickness to form the rear-arch. Externally the outer part of the tails of the jamb stones and relieving-arch voussoirs are masked by the cement render, and the junctions of the jambs, lintel and relieving arch are also masked. Internally the embrasure is slightly splayed, and the tails of the quoin stones are left largely exposed, but not the outer parts of the segmental rear-arch voussoirs. There seems no reason to doubt that this doorway is medieval, albeit it is more likely to be of a relatively late medieval date on the evidence of the narrow chamfer and the lintelled head.

The corresponding north doorway is externally entirely masked by cement render; internally it is broadly similar to the south doorway in having ashlar quoins to the slightly splayed embrasure and a well-formed segmental rear-arch. It is possible that these two doorways are more or less contemporary, and that they were formed in the later middle ages as opposed entrances to the nave.

There has been a third doorway towards the eastern end of the south wall which, unusually for a doorway, rises to a slightly greater height than the adjacent windows. It is blocked through the full wall thickness, though the jambstones and lintel are left partly in evidence externally, as are the internal quoins of the embrasure and the segmental outline, but not the masonry itself, of the rear-arch. Slight changes of course depth at levels corresponding to the lintels and sills of the adjacent windows suggest that this opening had originated as a window, and that it was only adapted as a doorway at a relatively late date. Near the mid-point on the north side is an elevated doorway that presumably gave access to a post-Reformation loft.

The fenestration has been altered on a number of occasions, and probably chiefly after the Reformation. The only window that might be of relatively early date is to the north of the altar. What remains visible is the semi-circular head of a rear-arch formed from carefully cut voussoirs, of which sufficient is visible to be able to see that the embrasure it framed was widely splayed. However, it has been partly blocked when a smaller square window was inserted within it, which is itself now blocked.

Close to the mid-point of the north wall is a much modified window that is now expressed both externally and internally as nothing more than a barely discernible rectangular panel, but set within it is a small rectangular window. Externally this is a small rectangular opening with narrowly chamfered jambs and lintel, that is of only two irregular courses in height; one of its most striking features is that it is of a whiter stone than that used to frame most of the other openings in the church. In a medieval church a small window in such a position might be assumed to have been associated with the chancel screen. However, the facts that it has evidently been inserted within another opening, that the date of its insertion in that other opening is unclear, and that its difference of material might even place in question that it had originated in this building, mean that such an interpretation can only be advanced with great caution.

As was usual both before and after the Reformation, most of the windows are in the south wall, and three, or possibly originally four of the rectangular windows along this side were of broadly similar type. Externally they have narrowly chamfered jambs bridged by a lintel, while internally the embrasures are widely splayed with well formed quoins on the inner plane, though it cannot be ruled out that in some cases the splay has been increased by paring back the flanks of the embrasure. The segmental rear-arches are formed from rubble.

With its proportions of 1 to 2.1, it might be wondered if the church is a little short in relation to its width for it to be safely concluded that its plan reflects its medieval state.(13) However, if there is any question of its having been truncated, such evidence as there is suggests this would have been carried out before the Reformation. The basis for concluding this is a combination of the relationship of the two nave doorways to the west wall and the form of the east gable. In the former case, the two doorways are towards the west end of the nave, as would be expected in a medieval church, while the absence of an east window and the intake above a chamfered string course at the base of the gable are common characteristics of the east walls of smaller late medieval churches and chapels, with the absence of a window possibly being prompted by the wish to accommodate an altarpiece behind the principal altar. It might be added that the location of the early window so close to the east end of the north wall would be consistent with the possibility that it was intended to cast light on the principal altar, supporting the idea that the east gable was always on the present line.

That north window, which is the earliest identifiable feature in the church, could date from as early as the first references to the church in the later twelfth century. The only other openings that appear to be certainly medieval are the two doorways towards the western end of the south and north walls, the narrow chamfer of the jambs and lintel of the former, however, suggest a date that is unlikely to be earlier than the fifteenth century.

In its earlier medieval state it may be that the church had relatively few windows, and the wide splay of the window to the north of the altar site suggests that the daylight opening of those windows would have been relatively small. It is possible that several of the windows along the south flank are of later medieval origin, with some of them possibly being adaptations of earlier windows. But most of them have been further modified at a later date, though the cement render makes certainty on this currently impossible.

There is very little evidence for the internal medieval arrangements. MacGibbon and Ross stated that they had found ‘indications of an arch across from side to side’ towards the east end of the building, to the west of the easternmost window on each side, and suggested it could have demarcated a chancel.(14) But any such evidence has now been either lost or obscured under the cement coating of the walls.

If there is any evidence for a division between nave and chancel, and there could be no certainty on this, it might be that the wider spacing between the second and third openings from the east on the south side (the latter of which it has been suggested may have originated as a window before being modified as a doorway) indicates the location of a screen. Some support for this might be found in the location of the small window in a corresponding position on the north side, since such small and low-set windows are sometimes found associated with the altars in front of a screen.(15) However, since that window was evidently re-set within a larger opening at some uncertain stage, its value as evidence is open to question.

To meet the changing needs of Reformed worship the church would have been extensively re-ordered on more than one occasion, and perhaps the most obvious pointer to this is the construction of a bellcote on the east gable. There is also evidence for changes in all of the window openings, presumably with the aim of introducing more light. In the post-Reformation liturgical arrangements the pulpit was probably near the middle of the south wall, and the modification of one window to form a door was perhaps to give the minister direct access to his pulpit from the exterior of the church.

Seating for the congregation would presumably have been provided in a number of ways and at a range of times, varying from stools, pews and enclosures to elevated lofts. The elevated blocked opening in the north wall may have been to give access to a loft, with the doorway reached externally by a forestair of some kind. The prominent location of this presumed loft more or less opposite the pulpit suggests it might have been provided for the principal landowners or heritors of the parish.(16)

Notes

1. This is illustrated cartographically in Peter G.B. McNeill and Hector L. MacQueen (eds), Atlas of Scottish History to 1707, Edinburgh, 1996, pp. 348-9.

2. G.W.S. Barrow (ed.), Regesta Regum Scottorum, vol. 2, The Acts of William I, Edinburgh, 1971, pp. 337. The earlier parochial history is usefully summarised in Ian B. Cowan, the Parishes of Medieval Scotland, (Scottish Record Society, vol. 93), Edinburgh, 1967 p. 157.

3. Liber S. Thome de Aberbrothoc, (ed. Cosmo Innes), (Bannatyne Club), Edinburgh, 1848-56, vol. 1, nos 1, 20 and 147

4. Ibid., vol. 1, nos 158, 165-7 and 236, and vol. 2, nos 556 and 734.

5. Alan Orr Anderson, Early Sources of Scottish History A.D. 500 to 1286, Edinburgh, 1922, vol. 2, p. 522.

6. James Murray Mackinlay, Ancient  Church Dedications in Scotland, Non-Scriptural Dedications, Edinburgh, 1914, p. 334.

7. National Records of Scotland, Presbytery of Aberdeen, Minutes CH2/1/1, fol. 108.

8. Statistical Account of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1791-99, vol. 7, p. 211.

9. Drawings for the new church of 1829 are held by the National Records of Scotland, RHP 8135 and RHP 8142.

10. New Statistical Account of Scotland, Edinburgh and London, 1834-45, vol. 11, p. 120.

11. Information from the online Dictionary of Scottish Architects: www.scottisharchitects.org.uk.

12. David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross, the Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland, Edinburgh, vol. 3, 1897, fig. 1577

13. A survey of rectangular medieval churches in the dioceses of Dunblane and Dunkeld found that the average proportions were 1 to 2.69; see Richard Fawcett, Richard Oram and Julian Luxford, ‘Scottish Medeval Parish Churches, the Evidence from the Dioceses of Dunblane and Dunkeld, Antiquaries Journal, vol. 90, 2010, pp. 261-98 at p. 286, and http://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/corpusofscottishchurches.

14. MacGibbon and Ross (see note 11), pp. 592-4 at p. 592. Although the opening appears to be a doorway in the sketch, the raised ground levels on the north side of the church mean that it could equally have been a window.

15. Examples of smaller windows of various forms that appear to have been associated with screens exist, or are known to have existed at a number of churches, including Fowlis Easter Collegiate Church (Perthshire), Aberdeen Franciscan Friary and Innerpeffray Collegiate Church (Perthshire); see Richard Fawcett, The Architecture of the Scottish Medieval Church, New Haven and London, 2011, figs 289, 348 and 349.

16. According to The Statistical Account of Scotland (see note 7), vol. 7, pp. 199-200), while the patronage of the parish pertained to the crown, in 1786 the parish had been divided between the burgh of Aberdeen and the family of Menzies of Pitfoddels. Is it possible the loft was the seat of the latter family?