Tour
The Ancient Church In Dunning
Dunning
is situated at the south east of Strathearn in Perthshire.
St Serf's church in the centre of the village was rebuilt
in the 19th century but the tower is early medieval (12th
century) with two-light arched Anglo-Saxon windows like
Muthill Church. Like so many Strathearn villages, Dunning
was burnt after the Battle of Sheriffmuir by the retreating
Jacobite army. However the village retains it's earlier
pattern with later buildings (18-19thC) gathered around
the church. A standing stone outside the village is said
to mark the site of the Battle of Duncrub in 964AD. A local
woman, Maggie Wall, was burnt as a witch in 1657 and a monument
commemorates this sad event.
Church
of St. Serf, Dunning
The
church of St. Serf, Dunning was first mentioned in 1219.
It came under the Abbey of Inchaffrey (near Madderty) which
was founded by Earl Gilbert of Strathearn and witnessed
by Anechal, Thane of Dunning and founder of the surname
"Dunning". There is no mention of the church in
the 1200 document, but a Charter of Confirmation dated 1219
includes St. Serf at Dunning (Ecclesiam Sancti Servani de
Dunnyne). It can therefore be established that the church
was finished and running by 1219.
The present tower was probably started in the mid 12th
century, and a single storey medieval church with nave
and chancel built on to it. There was probably an older
church or chapel on the site because of the remains of
an older doorway (Saxon style) on the North wall. The
medieval church had a high pitched, open beamed roof (see
outline visible on tower) with arches between tower/nave
and nave/chancel (see plan on session house door). The
altar would be at the East end of the chancel - all churches
were built on an East-West orientation with the altar
in the East.
The
church remained in that form until some time after the
Reformation. In 1687 a gallery was placed over what had
been the chancel and altar (the laird's gallery).
The date can be seen above the doorway at the head of
the stairs on the East wall. The initials are of Lord
Andrew Rollo and Lady Margaret Balfour, his wife and daughter
of the 3rd. Lord Burleigh. The altar or pulpit would have
been moved to the West beside the tower.
In the early 1700's the minister complained that the
church was too small and estimates were produced to enlarge
the church by "building an aisle at the back of it
33 ft long, 18 ft broad and 18 ft high". The complaint
continued into the 1800's. In the 1780/90's Lord
Rollo had a John Bell, Land Surveyor in Edinburgh, lay
out plans for a new village as Dunning had been burnt
to the ground by the Jacobites in 1716. There were, therefore,
many masons working in the village rebuilding houses and
the opportunity was taken to enlarge the church.
The
South wall was taken down and re-erected 3 feet further
out. The result can be seen by looking at the gable on
the East wall which shows that the South roof is much
longer than the North roof, and the doorway at the head
of the stairs is no longer in the centre of the wall.
At the same time a new aisle was made in the North wall
and the single storey building converted to two storeys
although the new roof was not as steeply pitched as the
old roof. Galleries were made on the West and North sides.
On the East wall can be seen the line of the original
gable, about 3 feet in from the roof line. On the North
wall, to the East of the extension, the roof corbels can
be seen and the new stonework added to raise the roof.
On
the extension itself it is possible to pick out the stones
that had been taken out of the old wall and re-used on
the new part. The North wall, to the West of the extension,
has not been altered.
The tower is of Norman architecture. The archway between
the tower/nave and the one which was removed during alterations
and which had been between the nave/chancel are Norman-Early
English (some may say Gothic which a term covering the
12th to 16th centuries). The massive pillars are of Norman
style, while the pointed arch with its toothed and scalloped
ornamentation is Early English. The transition period
between the two styles is from 1190 onwards, depending
on the area. This ties in with the date of the church.
An
entry in the Gazetteer of Scotland 1883 states "In
course of recent repairs a fine Norman arch between the
tower and the interior of the church, which had been barbarously
bricked up and disfigured, was reopened and restored".
Repairs
were carried out in the mid 1800's and the stone floors
taken up. This led to the discovery of the Pictish Stone
which can be seen at the base of the tower, an indication
of the presence of early Christian settlement on the site.
This is an unusual stone having a typical Pictish/Celtic
cross on the upper part and half a cross at the bottom.
Examination of the entwined rope sculpture on the edge shows
that the stone has been split at some time during its history.
The stone dates from 900 A.D.
The
small bell which strikes the half hour and was the toll
bell, has an inscription in Dutch "John of Rotterdam
made me in 1526". The larger bell was presented in
1825 by Major Mark Howard Drummond of Keltie in token of
his attachment to his native parish and of his zeal to promote
"religious, industrious and early habits amongst the
parishioners". This replaced an earlier bell rung to
destruction in 1773 on the production of a son for Lord
Rollo. This bell was also Dutch of 1681 with a Latin inscription
"This bell calls sinners to the Gospel, it to Christ
and He to Heaven".
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