Building record MAB8985 - ST MARY'S CHURCH, BELLIE

Burial ground and remains of the old kirk of St Mary's, a chapel-of-ease, dependent on Urquhart Priory before the Reformation, and which later became a Parish Church.

Burial ground and remains of the old kirk of St Mary's, a chapel-of-ease, dependent on Urquhart Priory before the Reformation, and which later became a Parish Church. The burial ground is walled with rubble that is coped with turf to the west. The church appears to have fallen out of use and became ruinous after a new parish church, Bellie Kirk, was built in nearby Fochabers in 1798 (NJ35NW0020). The surviving fragment is part of the north wall, re-used to house a deeply-carved (but now very weathered) memorial tablet 'to Guilielmus Armand' who died in 1770. The wall appears to be part of a post-Reformation structure. The churchyard was extended in 1929 and in the 1970s. The burial ground has tombstones dating to the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries (including a rare cast-iron monument) and is still in use. It is dominated by the classical temple mausoleum of 1825 to Jean Christie, second wife of the fourth Duke of Gordon, and their children (NJ36SE0111). It has twelve unfluted Ionic columns enclosing two small sarcophagi. Also in the kirkyard is a slab of 1663 which records that William Saunders, who lived to 107, served as the first post-Reformation minister for 77 years. There are a number of other fine table tombs, a particularly good series of Victorian uprights in sandstone, and a late (1920s) wall tomb with bronze and marble portrait medallions. It is said to be burying place of Lord Graham, son of Marquis of Montrose, who died at 'Bogs' in 1645 aged 16. Within the graveyard are 11 war graves, three from the First World War, and those of six Canadian airmen killed when their Halifax crashed at Spey Bay in November 1944. The Spey Bay war memorial can also be found in this graveyard (NJ36SE0076). There is a modern extension to the burial ground lying to the south that is not included in the listing. Monumental inscriptions within the churchyard and new cemetery have been recorded by the Moray Burial Ground Research Group between 2003 and 2006

Period Notes
Gravestones dated 1663, 1770. Designated 24/03/1988

JERVISE, A, 1879, EPITAPHS & INSCRIPTIONS,VOL 2, 11-2 (Bibliographic reference). SAB889.

MITCHELL, A, 1908, MACFARLANES GEOG COLL 1906-8, No1,240 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1155.

SCOTT, H, 1950, FASTI ECCLES SCOT, 298 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1806.

DI FALCO, J, 1967, PSAS 90(1966-7) 211-54, 219-20 (Bibliographic reference). SAB352.

SHEPHERD, I, 1996, ABERDEEN AND NORTH-EAST SCOTLAND (2ND ED), p. 118 (Bibliographic reference). SAB4829.

MORAY BURIAL GROUND RESEARCH GROUP, 2003, NEWSLETTER, Issue 2 (Bibliographic reference). SAB5098.

MORAY BURIAL GROUND RESEARCH GROUP, 2003, NEWSLETTER, No. 1 (Bibliographic reference). SAB5098.

MORAY BURIAL GROUND RESEARCH GROUP, 2005, THE FORGOTTEN TOMBSTONES OF MORAY: VOLUME 3 BELLIE OLD CHURCHYARD, KINNEDDAR CHURCHYARD, BURGHEAD OLD CHURCHYARD (Bibliographic reference). SAB7664.

MORAY BURIAL GROUND RESEARCH GROUP, 2016, MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS: BELLIE CHURCHYARD AND NEW CEMETERY (REVISED FROM 2006) (Bibliographic reference). SAB7633.

Jan 1 1982 , AAS/GR/82/CT28,36-37, AAS/GR/82/CT28,36-37 (Ground Photograph). SAB32583.

Jul 9 1985 , EU 7-16, EU 7-16 (Ground Photograph). SAB30690.

Sep 7 2013 , AAS-GR-13-09-083 - 122, AAS-GR-13-09-083 - 122 (Ground Photograph). SAB35304.

Record last edited

Sep 4 2025 3:00PM