Building record MAB34494 - TEALING PARISH CHURCH

Former Parish church, no longer in ecclesiastical use, and hearse house (NO43NW0100).

Former Parish church, no longer in ecclesiastical use, and hearse house (NO43NW0100). The church was built in 1806 on the site of its predecessor and incorporating early carved stones into its fabric (including two sandstone plaques built onto the first floor level in the north and south walls).. The hearse house was built around the same time. A church at Tealing dedicated to St Peter was probably established by St Boniface in the late 7th century, although it is not known if it was built on this site. Antiquarian reports suggest a church on this site first appears on the record in the 12th century. A Class II Pictish stone and a gravestone dated 1380 were found within the fabric of the previous church, and there are the remains of a late 16th century sacrament house within the church. John Glas, founder of the Glasite Sect was minister of Tealing in 1719-28. The church had various alterations in 1895 by Alexander Johnston, architect, including porches and a vestry being added and windows being replaced and reduced in size. It is shown on the 1st edition OS maps as a rectangular church with a projection on the north elevation and an enclosure projecting from the south elevation. The hearse house is to the north of the church, against the boundary wall. On the 2nd edition OS map, there are small additions to the east and west elevations. Current maps show the graveyard has been extended to the south. The graveyard contains two World War II Commonwealth war graves. The church has been disused since 1986, and the openings have all been boarded up. It is a plain rectangular-plan aisle-less rubble-built church, with ashlar dressings, square-headed margined windows and a slate roof with coped skews and skew blocks. The east gable end is harled, and hinges and hooks on the walls beside the windows suggest there were once external window shutters. A single-storey vestry projects from the centre of the north elevation, and has a bipartite window and a half-piended roof. There is a carved panel depicting paired angles above the vestry, a staircase with cast-iron railings to the west and a lean-to entrance porch in the east re-entrant angle. A large polished granite memorial slab to the Scrymsoure Fothringham family, made by Alexander Macdonald, Field and Co, surmounts an earlier sculpted sandstone memorial, and is built into the centre of the south elevation. It is surrounded by the projecting enclosure, which has low ashlar walls and cast-iron railings. The east gable has a central entrance porch with a half-piended roof, surmounted by a window and oculus. The west gable is similar, but also features a pyramidal-capped birdcage bellcote with bell at the apex, and the window lintel in inscribed with the now indecipherable date '1806'. Inside there is a possibly original pulpit on the south wall, but much of the other interior features were replaced in 1895 by Alexander Johnston. There is a collection of sculpted and inscribed stones within the church, including the tombstone of Ingram of Kethenys, who was priest at Tealing and an archdeacon of Dunkeld, and died in 1380. A memorial to John Ramsay, priest at Tealing and archdeacon of Dunkeld, died in 1618, is at the north wall. At the south wall are late-Georgian marble memorials to William Forsyth (died 1814) and Patrick Scrymsoure (died 1815). The Class II Pictish stone was built into the exterior south wall of the Church. Measuring 0.78 metres x 0.25 metres (2.6 feet x 0.8 feet), it bears a fishy monster and a serpent twisted together, to the right of a key patterned cross shaft. An additional panel concealed at the time of Allen's description contains a portion of a Pictish beast. It is now in Dundee Museum. The graveyard has a rubble boundary wall with plain gatepiers at the north. To the west of the gateway is a worn medieval sculptured stone, featuring a seated figure within a trefoil-headed recess. There is a variety of sculpted 17th, 18th and 19th century tombstones. Built into the north wall is the single-storey, rectangular-plan hearse house. It is constructed from rubble sandstone with the west gable and dressings constructed from droved ashlar. A Level 1 Standing Building Survey was carried out by Cameron Archaeology in January 2022 ahead of proposed conversion. This included recording of memorials although access to some was constrained by stored building materials. A watching brief will be maintained during excavation of service trenches.

Period Notes
A 7th century church at Tealing may have been on this site. A Class II Pictish stone was found in the church. A church first appears on the record in the 12th century, and there is a gravestone dated 1380 within the church. There are the remains of a late-16th century sacrament house. The current church was built in 1806, around which time the hearse house was also built. There were additions and alterations to the church in 1895. The church and hearse house were listed on 11/06/1971.

AN/3196-7/PO (1969), AN/3196-7/PO (1969) (Ground Photograph). SAB25504.

B 4292/4-5, B 4292/4-5 (Ground Photograph). SAB21020.

B/61992 (Curle), B/61992 (Curle) (Ground Photograph). SAB25781.

JERVISE, A, 1875, NOTICE REGARDING A 'PICTS HOUSE' AND SOME OTHER ANTIQUITIES IN THE PARISH OF TEALING, FORFARSHIRE IN PSAS, 10, 287-93, 289 - 292 (Bibliographic reference). SAB934.

Warden, A J, 1880-5, [Untitled], Vol. 5, 210-13 (Bibliographic reference). SAB10091.

Hutcheson, A, 1896, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 30, 47 (Bibliographic reference). SAB4957.

Allen and Anderson, J R and, 1903, [Untitled], pt. 3, 234 (Bibliographic reference). SAB12052.

HUTCHESON, A, 1911, NOTICE OF FRAGMENTS OF SCULPTURED STONES AT THE CHURCH OF TEALING NEAR DUNDEE. PSAS 45 (1910-11) 420 - 427, 420-7 (Bibliographic reference). SAB4424.

Hay, G, 1957, [Untitled], 239, 246 (Bibliographic reference). SAB11877.

Coutts, H, 1971, [Untitled], 84 (Bibliographic reference). SAB11460.

Jackson, A, 1984, [Untitled] (Bibliographic reference). SAB11902.

Ritchie, J N G, 1985, [Untitled], 161860 (Bibliographic reference). SAB9296.

Mack, A, 1997, [Untitled], 59 (Bibliographic reference). SAB11543.

FRASER, I, 1998, AN ADDITIONAL MEDIEVAL SCULPTURE AT TEALING, ANGUS. IN: TAFAJ 4 (1998) PP. 166-169, pp. 166-169 (Bibliographic reference). SAB4106.

FRASER, I, 2008, THE PICTISH SYMBOL STONES OF SCOTLAND, 60-61 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2523.

CAMERON ARCHAEOLOGY, 2021, FORMER TEALING PARISH CHURCH, KIRKTON OF TEALING, TEALING: WRITTEN SCHEME OF INVESTIGATION, WSI (Bibliographic reference). SAB8238.

CAMERON ARCHAEOLOGY, 2023, FORMER TEALING PARISH CHURCH, KIRKTON OF TEALING: LEVEL 1 STANDING BUILDING SURVEY INTERIM REPORT, L1 SBS (Bibliographic reference). SAB8569.

Record last edited

Jun 16 2025 11:16AM