Fortingall Graveyard Map

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Bibliographic References:

Name	Author	Date	Notes
The New Statistical Account of Scotland		1845	Vol. XI, p185
The Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches	G Hay	1957	p260
The Parishes of Medieval Scotland, Scottish Record Society Vol 93	I B Cowan	1967	p14
History of the Parish of Banchory-Devenick	J A Henderson	1890	p38-41
Epitaphs and inscriptions from burial grounds and old buildings in the north-east of Scotland with historical, biographical, genealogical and antiquarian notes	A Jervise	1875-9
RCAHMS: The archaeological sites and monuments of North Kincardine, Kincardine and Deeside District, Grampian Region	RCAHMS	1984	p32

Banchory-Devenick Parish Church

National Grid Reference (NGR): NJ 90660 02480, map

Address

Banchory Devenick
Kincardineshire
AB12 5XQ
Scotland

Introduction

Banchory Devenick Church occupies an old Christian site, which has had at least one previous church, possibly two. the present church was built in the 1820s to replace the 17th century church on the site. In his book, Hay gives the date of the previous church as 1642, which itself replaced a much earlier ecclesiastical building. It is also claimed that St Devenick, an early Christian missionary, was buried on this site or nearby in 887.

The church lies alongside the busy B9077 into Aberdeen, which is a mile or so to the east. The church is surrounded by an extensive graveyard and later cemetery to the south and east. The church itself is built on a prominent knoll or rise, common in early Christian sites.

Description (exterior)

The church is rectangular on plan and with a relatively simple layout including a small west porch and north vestry. It has harled rubble walls with granite detailing stones including a base course, corner (quoin) strips and window and door surrounds. The double pitch roof is slated.

The west gable has a small gabled porch with a rectangular door in the north and south faces and a narrow pointed-arch (lancet) window in the west face. Above the porch is a wide pointed-arch window with simple tracery and clear glass. On the apex of the gable is a rectangular bellcote with a ball finial and tall metal weather vane.

The south elevation has four equal-sized pointed-arch windows with Y-tracery and multiple panes of clear glass. The east gable has a single very large pointed-arch window with intersecting tracery and glass panes lightly stained purple. The north elevation has a small hipped-roof extension used as a store. There is a side door with small window above that leads into the nave and is the main entrance into the church used today. There is also a relatively small pointed-arch window at the west and east ends of the north elevation, which is on the edge of a steep drop to the busy road below.

Description (interior)

The interior of the church is plain and open, with the sanctuary at the east end and two rows of wooden pews in the nave. The walls are plastered and painted and the wooden ceiling is rib vaulted with carved bosses. Elaborate electric light fittings hang from the ceiling on long chains.

The sanctuary occupies the entire east end and is raised up from the nave by two steps. The large east window is centrally positioned and a thick blue curtain with a gold cross covers the lower half of the window. The wooden pulpit stands in the south-east corner and has intersecting traceried panels. The communion table stands in the centre of the sanctuary and has delicately-carved grapes and vines as well as traceried panels. There is also a wooden lectern and font, as well as wooden communion rails. In the north-east corner is a small pipe organ made by Positive Organ Co. Ltd. of London.

People / Organisations:

Name	Role	Dates	Notes
John Lyon	Built the church	1822

Events:

Church built (1822)
Alterations carried out (1865)
Alterations carried out (1925)

Archive References:

Name	Reference	Notes
Scottish Church Heritage Research Archive – Offline database	Reference: 379
Canmore – Online database	View Canmore Report Online: NJ90SW 8:00
Canmore – Online database	View Canmore Report Online: 20284
Historic Scotland Listed Building Reports – Online database	View HS Listing Online: 2861	B-listed

Bibliographic References:

Name	Author	Date	Notes
The New Statistical Account of Scotland		1845	Vol. XI, p185
The Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches	G Hay	1957	p260
The Parishes of Medieval Scotland, Scottish Record Society Vol 93	I B Cowan	1967	p14
History of the Parish of Banchory-Devenick	J A Henderson	1890	p38-41
Epitaphs and inscriptions from burial grounds and old buildings in the north-east of Scotland with historical, biographical, genealogical and antiquarian notes	A Jervise	1875-9
RCAHMS: The archaeological sites and monuments of North Kincardine, Kincardine and Deeside District, Grampian Region	RCAHMS	1984	p32