Building record MAB22339 - BOURTIE PARISH CHURCH

Church, in use, and its associated graveyard.

Church, in use, and its associated graveyard. The church was built in 1806 on the site of an earlier church. The Kirk of Bouerden or Bowirdin was given to the canons of St. Andrews in 1199. In 1574, Bourtie shared a minister with three other parishes. The present church is built on the same site.

The present church is a simple, near-square-plan church with a tall piended roof with a short ridge. It has a small gablet with a bellcote and a ball finial. The bell is dated 1760. The interior has a horseshoe gallery and an ogee-canopied pulpit with a precentors box. Two badly damaged Medieval effigies are preserved within the church, the male effigy is said to be that of Thomas de Longville.

An unknown heraldic device of vernacular nature was revealed on the rear ceiling coving painting of 1806-1807, it was masked in 1933 along with other internal features. Investigation of a small panel, dated 1669, revealed heraldic arms circa 45 mm by 45 mm set in the form of an escutcheon on a pale green frame with darker flourishes, resembling the repeat stencil pattern of vine leaves and grapes which form a blue background on the coving. The escutcheon is gilded, with the rendition of a handsaw (sinister) underpinning two gilded fish (dexter) outlined in dark blue.

The churchyard is a rubble-walled enclosure with a few 18th and 19th Century gravestones, as well as a sundial. Dated 1853, the sundial is a square marble table dial on a circular granite shaft. A 16th Century gravestone was rediscovered in 1988, one of the earliest stones relating to the Kyng family lairds of Barra Castle between 1579-1581. The gravestone marked the burial site of two Isabellas, one a mother who died in 1579, the other a young wife who died in 1581. The stones now lie outside near the south wall of the church. The renowned Aberdeen-born architect A. G. R. Mackenzie, former owner of nearby Bourtie House, is buried in the churchyard (1879-1963).

A Pictish symbol stone (MAB22338) is built into the east end of the south face of the church.

Author unknown, , PRESS & JOURNAL (Bibliographic reference). SAB1416.

Author unknown, , PRESS & JOURNAL, 03/03/22 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1416.

Author unknown, , PRESS & JOURNAL, 16/02/1991 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1416.

ORDNANCE SURVEY, 1871, Ordnance Name Book, No10(1867) 37 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1360.

JERVISE, A, 1879, EPITAPHS & INSCRIPTIONS,VOL 2, 72-6 (Bibliographic reference). SAB889.

TEMPLE, W, 1894, THE THANAGE OF FERMARTYN, 366 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1915.

BRYDALL, R, 1895, THE MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES OF SCOTLAND FROM THE THIRTEENTH TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY PSAS 29(1894-5) 393-9, pp334-5 (Bibliographic reference). SAB132.

HAY, G., 1957, THE ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTTISH POST-REF CHURCHES, 117,187,242 (Bibliographic reference). SAB720.

EELES, FC, 1957, THE CHURCH AND OTHER BELLS OF ABERDEENSHIRE PSAS 90 (1956-7) 130-60, p.138 (Bibliographic reference). SAB490.

YOUNGBLOOD, M.C., 1996, DES, 6 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2148.

PAINTED CEILING

YOUNGBLOOD, M.C., 1998, DES : BOURTIE PARISH CHURCH, 30-1 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2150.

PAINTED CEILING

Aug 25 1998 , AAS/GR/98/CT478-482,492, AAS/GR/98/CT478-482,492 (Ground Photograph). SAB33102.

Author unknown, n.d., NSA, VOL XII, 628 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1269.

Nov 3 2014 , AAS-GR-14-11-114 - 134, AAS-GR-14-11-114 - 134 (Ground Photograph). SAB35370.

Record last edited

Aug 17 2026 11:24AM