Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

FOWLIS EASTER PARISH CHURCH INCLUDING CHURCHYARD CROSS AND GRAVESLAB AND BOUNDARY WALLLB13144

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
A
Date Added
11/06/1971
Supplementary Information Updated
26/07/2016
Local Authority
Angus
Planning Authority
Angus
Parish
Fowlis Easter
NGR
NO 32210 33455
Coordinates
332210, 733455

Description

1453; renovated 1889, Thomas Saunders Robertson, including new roof and bellcote. Rectangular-plan aisleless simple Gothic church. Polished ashlar, occarional snecking, numerous masons' marks, slate roof. Chamfered base course, cavetto eaves course, flat-coped skews, skewputts with coats-of-arms, gabled ashlar bellcote to W, gablet to E with damaged cross finial, cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative hoppers and brackets. Single pointed windows with trefoil heads to north and south elevations, pointed windows with reticulated tracery, moulded surrounds and chamfered cills to west gable and south wall of chancel. Boarded doors with large decorative iron hinges.

South Elevation: round-headed door to left, double moulded reveal splayed to base, richly sculpted ogival hoodmould (weathered details) supported by corbels with figures holding shields, arms of Lord Gray to top; group of 3 narrow windows to right consisting of nave window to left, chancel window toright, shorter rood screen window off-centre right with square-headed rood loft window above; round-headed door with chamfered surround to far right; 3-light chancel window to outer right.

East Gable: small round traceried window to centre.

West Gable: 4-light window to centre.

North Elevation: largely blank; rood screen window off-centre left, round-headed door with chamfered surrounds to far right, 1st World War memorial plaque to outer right.

INTERIOR: walls papered and painted as plaster, polished ashlar dressings to doors and windows, rood screen buttresses on north and south walls; collar brace roof rising from wallposts with blank heraldic shields at base, frieze with quatrefoil decoration, boarded ceiling. Stoup with sculptured fleur-de-lis decoration recessed to east of north door, plain stoup to east of southwest door. Large elaborately sculpted sacrament house set in east wall, ogival-headed opening flanked by pinnacles, surmounted by panel depicting figure of Christ holding orb with cross flanked by angels; further panel above cornice depicting the Annunciation. 3-light stained window to southeast in memory of John, 16th Lord Gray, 1869, single stained glass window in memory of Robert Lamond Macnie, 1929. Damaged octagonal font at west end, probably pre-Reformation, with sculpted scenes of the life of Christ; timber screen at west end 1889, incorporating doors from original rood screen, linenfold and traceried panels below, crocketed balusters above. Jougs, offertory ladle, and bronze alms dish dated 1487 affixed to wall at north door; heptagonal pulpit (circa 1889) with stairs, panelling and buttresses echoing rood screen doors. 1 manual and pedal organ with Gothic case and painted pipes, Scott Brothers and Co, Dundee, 1889. 2 oil lamps probably dating drom 1889, 1 affixed to organ case, 1 mounted on wall adjoining sacrament house. Paintings; large crucifixion, pol on panels, west wall, late 15th century, inscription in Latin (pertaining to the church) on frame; Christ with St Catherine, John the Baptist, Virgin and Child, and others, oil on panels, north wall, damaged, 16th century; 5 male figures, oil on panels, west wall, late 15th century; Christ, Saints and Apostles, oil on panels at east wall, 16th century; Dove and Ark, oil on copper, north door, 16th century.

Churchyard, Cross and Graveslab, and Boundary Wall: some 17th and many fine 18th and 19th century tombstones; cross and graveslab to south of south elevation of uncertain date; rubble boundary wall with rounded rubble coping.

Statement of Special Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. The parish was established in the 12th century, the present building dating from 1453 when it was rebuilt as a collegiate church by Lord Gray. According to Dalgetty, the inscription on the frame of the crucifixion painting reads: '(They) built this Church to St Marnock; if you ask when (then) in 1453, because he (Lord Gray) had been on a pilgrimage to Rome, as one under a vow. But Thou (O Kord, have mercy upon me)...Amen'. Before the re-ordering of the interior in 1889, the east end of the chancel was used as the Gray family burial place. The church is extremely rare if not unique in Scotland for its surviving paintings, rood screen doors and other furnishings. Apart from the roof, the exterior of the building seems unaltered. Fowlis Easter parish was united with Lundie in 1618; in 1953 Fowlis Easter united with Liff, and Lundie with Muirhead. The Church, Churchyard, Cross and Graveslab, and Boundary Wall forms an A group with the Hearse House.

The cross and graveslab were formerly a scheduled monument, scheduled on 26/11/1971 and descheduled on 17/03/2015.

Listed building record updated 2016.

References

Bibliography

Arthue B Dalgetty, HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF FOULIS EASTER (1933); Richard Fawcett, SCOTTISH MEDIEVAL CHURCHES (1985), p58; Andrew Jervise, EPITAPHS AND INSCRIPTIONS (1879), vol.II, p68-72; David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross, ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTLAND (1897), vol.III, pp189-99; TRANSACTIONS OF THE ABERDEEN ECCLESIOLOGICAL SOCIETY (1888), pp39-42.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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