St Monans Church, St Monans, United Kingdom

St Monans Church dates from 1369 and is situated in an isolated position to the west of the village on the very edge of the sea. It is perched on a low rock, over a small valley with a burn. The original graveyard surrounds the church and a more modern cemetery stands further westwards on the upper slopes of the little hill. This contains the local war memorial.

It is often said that St Monans is the church nearest the sea in the whole of Scotland, and this may well be the case, being only around 20 m from the edge. The church, one of the finest remaining from the Middle Ages in Scotland, was built by King David II Bruce (1329–71), initially for a small house of Dominican friars. It later became the Church of Scotland parish church. Though the church may never have been finished (it has a choir and transepts, with a short spire over the crossing, but lacks a nave), it has many features of architectural interest, notably the fine stone vaulting in the choir and the plain but handsome sedilia. White-washed throughout internally, the church is particularly light and attractive among ancient Scottish churches.

The church was greatly restored in 1899 by the Glasgow architect, Peter MacGregor Chalmers. The church hall was added in 1913 to a design by Sir Robert Lorimer. Major restoration to the windows and masonry was completed in March 2007. The church is open to visitors daily from April to October.

References:

Wikipedia

Religious sites in United Kingdom

User Reviews

Mark McLellan (14 months ago)
Lovely old kirk with some lovely old ruins nearby.

Ian Grant (14 months ago)
Fabulous little village with so much history and great buildings.

Evelyn Hamilton (14 months ago)
Lovely church and graveyard on top of a hill looking out to the sea...beautiful views..

Marie Paull (15 months ago)
A most lovely place to visit. Lovely coffee shop and gift shop.

Deep Dey (2 years ago)
Its peaceful, sunsets are amazing, you can see the bass rock from here. there are walks which can be done - parking and streets can be a bit tight on church days i suppose. But we visit here regularly and the church and scenery always blows are mind away.

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The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

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Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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