St Serf's Kirk

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Ruins of St Serf's Kirk

The St Serf's Kirk is a ruined church in the Scottish town of Kirkcaldy in the Council Area Fife . The ruin is protected as a Scheduled Monument . The associated cemetery, on the other hand, is listed as an individual monument in the Scottish monument lists in the highest monument category A.

history

A church near the site is documented from 1245. St Serf's Kirk, now in ruins, dates from the early 16th century. The bell tower was probably added a few years later. It may also serve as a defense tower and was built in the 1540s when English ships' convoys raided the Scottish coastal towns. Around 1800 the church was in need of repair. Since it had already proven to be too small for the larger congregation, it was decided to build a new church at a different location. This was opened in 1802 and the obsolete St Serf's Kirk fell into disrepair.

description

The church ruins are near a bay on the Firth of Forth in the formerly independent community of Dysart , which has since been incorporated by Kirkcaldy. Flanking are the residential buildings The Anchorage and Bay House . The building was 42 m long and 15 m wide. In addition to the 26 m high bell tower, two arches on the north and one on the south side are among the preserved fragments. The spiral staircase inside the tower has 103 steps. Similar to a tower house , a house sits on top.

graveyard

The small, associated cemetery is on the south side. Like the church, its use ended around 1800. Some of the grave slabs are decorated with sculptured merchant symbols and sextants . A quarry stone wall encloses the area.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Scheduled Monument - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  2. ↑ a b Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  3. ↑ a b Information from the Dysart Trust
  4. ↑ Information on scottishchurches.org.uk
  5. ↑ Entry on St Serf's Kirk  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)

Web links

Commons : St Serf's Kirk  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 56 ° 7 ′ 27.1 ″  N , 3 ° 7 ′ 19 ″  W.