From country church to Edward Cullen

    This is Abercorn Parish Church, tucked away to the west of Edinburgh near the Firth of Forth, and here you'll find a summary of the beautiful little church's history.



    This blocked up south doorway dates from around 1100, but the site is believed to have been sacred ground since the late 400s, later becoming a monastery and bishop's residence (mentioned by the Venerable Bede) thought to have been founded by the monks of Lindisfarne.



    The Norman arch has been echoed in this Victorian version over the west door (the carving is very crisp).


    In the tiny museum adjacent to the church are these stones, evidence of its history.



    The wheel cross-stone with twelve-petalled flower is believed to have been the cover for a burial casket for an important personage (12th. century). Above it, top right, is a Viking hog back burial stone of the same period. The cross-shaft fragment, top left, dates from the 7th. century.                                                    

    A note in the museum tells us: "After the synod of Whitby in 664, Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed Trumwin bishop of the Picts at Abercorn. After the battle of Nectanesmere near Forfar in 685, where Brude the king of the Picts defeated the Angles, Bede records that Trumwin and his monks fled south to Whitby."

    Coincidentally, after visiting the church yesterday I watched the BBC Four series Pagans and Pilgrims: Britain's Holiest Places, episode one of which - Ruins - features Whitby Abbey and traces the cultural chain which links this 7th. century Benedictine house to .... Twilight (go on, listen to a bit of Muse, why don't you?)!

Comments

[Barbara]

Fascinating. I'd say the Victorians ruined the church, but they probably stopped it falling down, so you have to forgive them.

[Cornflower]

Not far away is Dalmeny church: http://cornflower.typepad.com/domestic_arts_blog/2009/07/stone-and-glass.html , a relatively untouched Norman building. But you're right about Abercorn - what's inside is not what you might expect from the exterior.

[MelD]

I really, really, really need to get to Edinburgh! You have my mouth watering with all the delights that await me when I finally make it and I'll need to stay at least a month :)

[Cornflower]

Glad to do my bit for Scottish tourism!