Building record MAB18865 - ST APOLINARIS' CHAPEL

Remains of chapel, dedicated to St.

Remains of chapel, dedicated to St. Apolinaris. It is thought to be the site of the first church of Inverurie, mentioned as early as 1190, dedicated to Pothael, otherwise called St Apolinaris, and known as Polinar's Chapel. The proportions of this chapel suggest an early date of construction, earlier than the 13th Century. Within the remains of the chapel are four 17th Century tombstones. The remains of the chapel lie within a walled burial-ground on the edge of a terrace overlooking haughland on the west bank of the River Don. A burn gully descends to the river on the east. The burial-ground, which is planted with yew, sycamore and elm, is rectangular on plan and the wall is of rubble and mortar with a stone coping. The walls of the chapel are largely reduced to rubble spreads, although all four sides display lengths of external facing. From these it is clear that the chapel measures around 12.5 m east northeast - west southwest by around 7 m transversely. The walls of the chapel stand up to circa 1 m in height. The interior of the chapel has been cleared out and a low retaining wall of neat rubble and pinning with mortared rubble coping has been constructed. This wall is on a slightly different alignment to the external facing and was built in the 19th Century to adapt the space for use as a burial enclosure. The entrance to this enclosure is towards the west end of the south wall, and this may be the site of an original entrance to the chapel. At the east end of the burial enclosure is the large mural monument and tomb of James Gordon of Manar (died 1874). The tomb's covering slab has been dislodged, which has partially exposed the earth-filled grave beneath. Flanking this monument on the east wall are four smaller 17th Century headstones, two on the north and two on the south. Each of these is about 0.35 m wide and 0.5 m high. Three of the four bear a simple roll-moulding along the upper edge. The two on the north bear the inscriptions of 'EF. 1662' and 'PF.1666' and one of the south pair is inscribed 'AF.1662'. The fourth stone, the second of the south pair, is inscribed with 'WF' within two concentric rectangles. Towards the centre of the enclosure, a further two tombstones commemorate members of the family of Manar and are dated 1838 and 1850 respectively.

Period Notes
Mentioned in 1190.

JERVISE, A, 1879, EPITAPHS & INSCRIPTIONS,VOL 2, 178-80, 359 (Bibliographic reference). SAB889.

SIMPSON, WD, 1949, EARLDOM OF MAR, 13 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1681.

Record last edited

Sep 5 2021 11:49AM