A Corpus of Scottish Medieval
Parish Churches

Historical outline

The church of Monikie was granted to Arbroath Abbey by King William at a date between 1189 and 1194.(1) This royal gift was confirmed to the uses of the abbey by Bishop Turpin of Brechin shortly afterwards, with permission to serve the cure with a chaplain.(2)  The annexation was confirmed by Turpin’s successors down to the 1240s(3) but Bishop Albin (1246-69) initiated legal processes in an attempt to gain possession of Monikie and several other churches in his diocese held by Arbroath as mensal churches.(4)  The attempt was largely unsuccessful and Albin renounced his claim, but the monks conceded vicarage settlements. At Monikie, a vicarage pensionary was set in place with a stipend of 10 merks, which was assessed for taxation in 1274 at 20 shillings.(5)

In the early 1300s the bishop of Brechin revived his efforts to regain control of the appropriated parishes and in 1304 Bishop William of Lamberton was appointed to arbitrate a settlement.  Lamberton’s decision awarded two of the disputed six churches to the bishop for his mensa but the remaining four – including Monikie – were confirmed to the abbey under the existing appropriation.(6) 

The slender income of the vicars, reflecting the comparatively low value of the parish, led to petitioning by the incumbent on the 1340s for permission to hold it conjointly with a second benefice.(7) Further attempts were made in the 1460s and again in 1517 to detach the remaining four churches from Arbroath, but the 1304 arrangement still held at the Reformation with the parsonage and vicarage annexed to the abbey and the cure served by a vicar pensioner.(8)

Notes

1.RRS, ii, no.328.

2. Arbroath Liber, i, no.178.

3. Arbroath Liber, i, nos 182, 185, 186, 187.

4. Arbroath Liber, i, nos.239, 243.

5. SHS Misc, vi, 52.

6. Arbroath Liber, i, no.244.

7. CPL, iii, 148, CPP, 334.

8.CSSR, v, 1447-1471, no.864; CPL, xii, 52; Arbroath Liber, ii, nos 135, 543, 544; Kirk (ed), Book of Assumptions of Thirds of Benefices, 395.

Summary of relevant documentation

Medieval

National Records of Scotland: The medieval church of Monikie belonged to the Tironensian Abbey of Arbroath, and was dedicated to St Andrew. The foundation dated from around 1190 when it was gifted to the Abbey by William the Lion. It was in the Diocese of Brechin. It is thought that in 1678 the church building was built or renewed. The present church is probably located on the site of the original chapel. In 1812 considerable alterations were made and in 1903 the interior reconstructed.

Synopsis of Cowan’s Parishes: The church was confirmed to Arbroath by bishop Turpin (1178x98). There was controversy over the church and 5 others but this was resolved in 1248, when the bishop of Brechin renounced all rights and a vicarage settlement was made. The dispute continued, and in 1304 Monikie, both parsonage and vicarage, was assigned to Arbroath, with the cure served by a vicar pensionary.(1)

According to Mackinley the church was dedicated to St Andrew.(2)

1189x94 Church granted by William to Arbroath along with lands, tiends and commune pasture etc. 1213 church included in confirmation by William I of the possessions of Arbroath.(3)

1178x98 Church included in a confirmation by Turpin, bishop of Brechin of all the churches in possession of Arbroath, held in usus proprios, by Arbroath.(4)

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

1211x18 Possession of church by Arbroath confirmed Radulf, bishop of Brechin in two charters, the first specifically related to the church, the second including all the churches held by Arbroath in the diocese of Brechin.(6)

1218 & 1218x22 Church included in confirmations, by bishops Hugh and Gregory of Brechin, of all churches held by Arbroath in their diocese.(7)

1248 Bishop Albin renounces all right to church along with 5 others in possession of Arbroath within the diocese of Brechin. Vicarage settlement sees parsonage with abbey and provision of vicar pensionary paid 10 marks pa.(8)

1304 Decision made by William Lamberton, bishop of St Andrews, with regard to 6 churches. Caterline and Maryton/Old Montrose to become mensal churches of Brechin. Arbroath retains Dunnichen, Kingoldrum, Monikie and Panbride.(9)

1344 Donald of Mar, as vicar of Monikie, supplicated for an extra benefice as the church revenues were low.(10)

1383 Mandate to collate Robert Burnale to Monikie void as William de Lennox had failed to get ordained.(11)

1403 John de Tullach (student at the University of Orleans) described as perpetual vicar.(12)

1442 John William possesses the vicarage (value £10).(13)

1461-67 Attempts by Brechin to dispute 1304 settlement and Arbroath to retain control of churches.(14)

1461 Papal bull by Pius II confirming the decision by Lamberton, Caterline and Maryton remain with Brechin, Dunnichen, Kingoldrum, Monikie and Panbride with Arbroath.(15)

1468 Malcolm Brydy, abbot of Arbroath (1456-70), complains that he was wrongfully imprisoned by the bishop of St Andrews and forced to demit the fruits of the church of Monikie to the bishop.(16)

1517 Procurators named for further discussion with Brechin regarding possession of the above churches.(17)

Post-medieval

Books of assumption of thirds of benefices and Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices: The Parish church parsonage paid in produce to Arbroath. Vicar pensionary held by Matthew Greiff, £10 + a manse, croft and yard amounting to £4, £14 in total.(18)

Account of Collectors of Thirds of Benefices (G. Donaldson): Third of vicar pensionary £4 13s 4d. Third of parsonage £33 6s 8d. Third of Vicarage £2 4s 5 1/3d.(19)

#1678 [No kirk session or Presbytery records survive to record work in that year]

Statistical Account of Scotland (Rev William Maule, 1791): ‘The church seems to have been built or renewed in 1678’.(20)

New Statistical Account of Scotland (Rev James Miller, 1842): ‘The church was built in 1812’.(21)

[No reference in either to church buildings prior to 1678]

Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches (George Hay): 1812; late additions and interior recast.(22)

Notes

1. Cowan, The parishes of medieval Scotland, 149.

2. Mackinley, Scriptural Dedications, p. 214.

3. RRS, ii, nos. 328 & 513, Liber Aberbrothoc, i, nos. 1 & 22.

4. Liber Aberbrothoc, i, no. 178.

5. Liber Aberbrothoc, i, no. 221.

6. Liber Aberbrothoc, i, nos. 182 & 185.

7. Liber Aberbrothoc, i, nos. 186, 187 & 191.

8. Liber Aberbrothoc, i, no. 239.

9. Liber Aberbrothoc, i, no. 344.

10. CPL, iii, 148, CPP, 334.

11. CPL, Clem, 87.

12. CPP, 625.

13. CSSR, iv, no.865.

14. CSSR, v, nos. 750, 864, 686 & 1228. CPL, xii, 52.

15. Liber Aberbrothoc, ii, no. 135.

16. CSSR, v, no.1263

17. Liber Aberbrothoc, ii, no. 543.

18. Kirk, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, 352, 361& 395.

19. Donaldson, Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices, 10 & 15.

20. Statistical Account of Scotland, (1791), iv, 346.

21. New Statistical Account of Scotland, (1842), xi, 487.

22. Hay, The Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches, p. 246.

Bibliography

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

Calendar of entries in the Papal registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland; Papal Petitions, 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.

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.

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

Mackinley, J.M, 1910, Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland. Scriptural Dedications, Edinburgh.

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

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

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

Architectural description

Monikie was granted to the uses of the Tironensian abbey of Arbroath by Bishop Turpin of Brechin (1178-c.98). Bishop Albin (1246-69) was later to claim that the church pertained to the episcopal mensa, though both the parsonage and vicarage appear to have remained with Arbroath, with the cure a vicarage pensionary.(1)

The church has been rebuilt on a number of occasions. According to the entry in the Statistical Account it was believed to have been built or renewed in 1678.(2) But it was again rebuilt in 1811-12 by David Neave,(3) and further modifications were carried out in the 1880s and in 1901-3, the latter by James H. Langlands.(4)

In its present form the main body of the church is a rectangle of 20.4 by 13.84 metres, which is built of pink rubble with ashlar dressings that are polished to the margins but droved to the tails. The main front, which faces south, has four pointed-arched windows, the central two being wider and containing Y-tracery; the north front has three single-light windows. A small bellcote on the west gable is now infilled.

While the topography of the churchyard suggests it is reasonable to suspect that the church is at least partly on the site of its predecessors, there is no evidence of any medieval work having been retained in the fabric. 

Notes

1. Ian B. Cowan, The Parishes of Medieval Scotland (Scottish Record Society), 1967, p. 149.

2. Statistical Account of Scotland, 1791-99, vol. 4, p. 346.

3. New Statistical Account of Scotland, 1834-45, vol. 11, p. 487; Howard Colvin, Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 4th ed., New Haven and London, 2008, p. 739; National Records of Scotland, RHP 35162.

4. John Gifford, The Buildings of Scotland, Dundee and Angus, New Haven and London, 2012, pp. 613-15.