Tour Scotland Photographs Video Sculptured Recumbent Figure Abdie Fife

Tour Scotland photograph of a Sculptured Recumbent Figure in Abdie, near Newburgh, Fife, Scotland. A 14th century sculptured recumbent figure of an ecclesiastic clad in cassock and amice (hood with tassels).



Tour Scotland video of a Sculptured Recumbent Figure in Abdie, near Newburgh, Fife, Scotland.

Tour Scotland photograph of a Sculptured Recumbent Figure in Abdie, near Newburgh, Fife, Scotland.

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Tour Scotland Photograph Video Old Abdie Church North Fife

Tour Scotland photograph of the old Church of Abdie near Newburgh, Fife, Scotland. The remains of the old church of Abdie is found at Grange of Lindores, about a mile to the south of Newburgh. In 1652, Sir Michael Balfour of Denmiln, comptroller of the Household of Charles I was buried here, and also his son, Sir James Balfour, Lyon. King of Arms.



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Tour Scotland Photograph And Video Old Parish Church Abdie

Tour Scotland photograph of the old Parish Church, Abdie, North Fife, Scotland. Abdie Old Parish Church, located near Newburgh, was consecrated in 1242, and was originally a narrow single chambered structure, but in 1661 an aisle, used as the burial place of the Balfours of Denmylne, was added and other additions were also made in the 17th century. It was abandoned, in favour of the modern church, in 1827, and was considerably restored in 1856. The church was of Culdee origin, and dedicated to St Magridin but it would appear that there was a later dedication to the Virgin, the "High Altar of Our Lady of Abdie" being mentioned in 1555. It was given to Lindores Abbey about 1198, and was in use as the parish church until it was abandoned.



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Tour Scotland Photographs Video Old Abdie Church Fife

Tour Scotland photograph the old Abdie Church, Fife, Scotland. The remains of the old church of Abdie is found at Grange of Lindores, about a mile to the south of Newburgh. In 1300, Abdie was referred to as Ebedyn, a modem descendent of an old ecclesiastical term denoting a 'shrine' connected with an abbey or monastery. As Abdie was known to have existed before Lindores Abbey was built the shrine probably bore some relationship to the ancient Celtic foundation of Abernethy, of which all trace has been swept away. In the foundation charter of Lindores Abbey by David Earl of Huntingdon in 1178, the first bequest made to the Abbey was the Church of Lindores, as Abdie was then known. The probable derivation of Lindores is Lann, sacred enclosure and Dobbar, pronounced dour, water hence Church by the water. Its altar, like Flisk Church) was dedicated to St. Ninian, a 5th century missionary while the building was dedicated to St. Adrian, a 9th century bishop of Abemethy whose name is also associated with Macduff s cross. There are several stones in and around the church that are of interest including a floreated cross found under the floor of the chancel and a 14th century sculptured recumbent figure of an ecclesiastic clad in cassock and amice, hood with tassels.




Photograph the old Abdie Church, Fife, Scotland.

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Tour Scotland Photograph Gravestone Abdie Kirkyard Fife

Tour Scotland photograph of a gravestone in the Kirkyard cemetery in Abdie, North Fife, Scotland. You can see some of the old Scottish agricultural implements on this old gravestone. By the middle of the 17th century in Scotland, we begin to see more identification marks on the stones. Heraldic devices, craft tools, symbols of mortality and the name, date of birth and often the address of the deceased began to be crammed onto the limited surfaces of the stone.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Watch House Abdie Fife

Tour Scotland photograph of a Watch House in Abdie, North Fife, Scotland. From this building a watchful eye would be kept for grave robbers in the cemetery, body snatchers or resurrection men, who dug up newly buried bodies and sold them to anatomy schools to be dissected. In 1752 the bodies of all hung felons were granted to anatomists but this proved insufficient with growing numbers of medical schools spring up around the country. To meet this demand, a black market quickly emerged, trading in the stolen dead. ‘Resurrection Men’ could get an increasingly high price for their wares: human bodies that had been stolen from graveyards, and even deathbeds. A common trick of the trade was to burrow into the head end of the grave and drag the corpse out with a rope tied around its neck. A more subtle method was to dig a hole at a certain distance from the grave and tunnel the body out without anyone knowing the grave had been disturbed. The shroud and grave goods would often be left in the grave on removal of the body, as court sentences were lighter for body snatching alone. Such was the prevalence of body snatching that graves increasingly started to become fortified. Mausoleums, vaults and table tombstones became popular amongst the rich. Meanwhile the poor would place stones or flowers on the grave to detect any movement in the soil that might betray a theft, or dig branches and brambles into the grave to make tunnelling more difficult. Body snatching was so rife in Scotland that in 1816 Mortsafes were invented. These complex iron cages were bought or rented out until the body was sufficiently decomposed to deter the robbers. For further precaution, in some cemeteries friends would stay watch over graveyards at night, with watch towers sometimes being erected for the purpose.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Mortuary House Abdie Fife

Tour Scotland photograph taken inside the Mortuary House in the Parish churchyard cemetery in Abdie, North Fife, Scotland. The Mortuary House in Abdie Kirkyard dates from the 18th century and stands to the south of the entrance gate. It was used to store coffins prior to funerals. In archaeology and anthropology a mortuary house is any purpose built structure, often resembling a normal dwelling in many ways, in which a dead body is buried.



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Tour Scotland Photograph Video Symbol Stone Abdie Fife

Tour Scotland photograph of a Symbol Stone in Abdie, North Fife, Scotland. This is a Pictish Symbol Stone, sometimes called the Lindores Stone. Photograph shows the North face of the symbol stone showing triple-disc and bar above a crescent and V-rod. Over the centuries It has been made into a sundial, the Roman numerals within a square and a deep central vertical slot in the centre where the Gnonom was fixed. At a later date in the nineteenth century a surveyors bench mark was added without regard to its origins.



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Tour Scotland Video Abdie Church Fife

Tour Scotland travel video of Abdie Church on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit and trip to North Fife. On the west side of Lindores Loch sits the very old now ruined picturesque church of Abdie with interesting stones and setting. Abdie, Fife, Scotland, in 1846. Abdie a parish, in the district of Cupar, county of Fife, only two miles from Newburgh; including the villages of Lindores and Grange of Lindores, and the suburb of Mount-Pleasant; and containing 1508 inhabitants. This place formed part of the lands of Macduff, Thane of Fife; it continued in the possession of his descendants for many ages, and after wards, together with the earldom, passed to the family of Mordac, Duke of Albany, on whose attainder and decapitation at Stirling, in the reign of James I., his estates in Fife, and other property, reverted to the crown. The lands of Denmill, which included the greater portion of this parish, were granted by James II. to James Balfour, son of Sir John Balfour, of Balgarvie, one of whose descendants was killed in the battle of Flodden Field, to which he attended his sovereign James IV.; and another, Sir James Balfour, of Denmill, was appointed lyon king-at-arms to Charles I. and II., kings of England. There are still remaining vestiges of the ancient castle of Lindores, in the village of that name, said to have been the residence of Duncan Macduff, first thane of Fife; near which, according to the annals drawn up by Sir James Balfour, a sanguinary battle took place in the year 1300, between the Scots, headed by Sir William Wallace, and the English, when the latter were defeated, with the loss of 3000 slain on the field, and 500 taken prisoners.


The parish, anciently called Lindores, was formerly of much greater extent than at present, including the lands of the parish of Newburgh, which was separated from it in 1633. Its surface is very uneven, rising in some parts into hills of considerable elevation, of which the highest are the Norman's Law and the Clatchard Crag; the former, which is 936 feet above the sea, commands an extensive prospect, combining much interesting scenery, especially towards the north, embracing the Carse of Gowrie, with its richly cultivated surface, and the Frith of Tay, and lands in its vicinity, which are richly planted. The Clatchard Crag, situated to the south-east of Newburgh, is a tall and stately cliff, abruptly rising to an elevation of 250 feet above the level of the plain, and towering with rugged majesty above the road, which passes near its base. The principal river is the Tay, which bounds the parish on the north and east; and a powerful stream issues from the loch of Lindores, in the parish, and, in its course, gives motion to several large mills. The loch of Lindores is a beautiful sheet of water, covering nearly 70 acres of ground, and is in many places almost 20 feet in depth; it is supplied by a copious stream that rises in a tract of moss about half a mile distant, called the Priest's burn, which in the winter is never frozen, and in the driest summers is always abundant. The lake abounds with perch, pike, and eels, and is much frequented by ducks, teals, and snipes. The number of acres in the parish is nearly 7000, of which 4580 are arable, about 1530 in pasture, 300 under wood, and the remainder waste land, of which, probably, nearly 200 acres might be brought into cultivation. The soil is extremely various; along the banks of the Tay, in the lower part of the parish, it is remarkably fertile; on the slopes, it is a black loam of great depth, and in other parts light and gravelly. The acclivities of the hills are partly covered with heath, but in many places afford good pasturage for sheep, of which considerable numbers, chiefly of a mixed breed, are reared in the parish, and sold in the neighbouring markets; great numbers of sheep of different kinds are also fed here upon turnips, and shipped to London, by steamers from Leith and Dundee. The chief crops are, barley, oats, wheat, potatoes, and turnips, which, from the improved system of agriculture, and the draining and reclaiming of waste lands, have been greatly increased in value; and large quantities of grain and potatoes are annually exported. There are likewise several dairy farms, producing butter and cheese of good quality. The substratum is generally whinstone, of which there are quarries in full operation; it is much valued for building and other purposes, and was formerly exported to a great extent. A kind of red sandstone is also prevalent, and was once quarried; and limestone is found, but, from the distance of coal, every attempt to work it for manure has been given up.

The principal seat is Inchrye House, a castellated building in the early English style, crowned with battlements, and embellished with turrets, erected at an expense of £12,000, and seen with peculiar effect from the road leading to Newburgh; it is surrounded with thriving woods and ornamental plantations, and the grounds are laid out with great taste. The House of Lindores, the residence of Admiral Maitland, who commanded the Bellerophon when Napoleon Buonaparte surrendered himself prisoner, is pleasantly situated upon an eminence, embracing much varied and interesting scenery overlooking the loch of Lindores; and there are various other handsome residences, finely seated, and adding to the beauty of the landscape. The weaving of linen is carried on in the parish, affording employment to a considerable number of persons who work with hand-looms in their own dwellings; there are corn and barley mills in full and increasing operation, a saw-mill for timber, on a very extensive scale, and a mill for grinding bones for manure. The ecclesiastical affairs are under the superintendence of the presbytery of Cupar and synod of Fife; the Earl of Mansfield is patron, and the stipend of the incumbent is £233, with a manse, and glebe comprising 4 acres of arable, and 6 of pasture, land, valued at £23 per annum. The church, a plain substantial edifice, was erected in 1827, and is adapted for nearly 600 persons. The parochial school affords a liberal course of instruction; the master has a salary and a good house and garden. There are some remains of the ancient church, in the porch of which is still the basin for the consecrated water; and, till lately, the steps that formed the ascent to the altar were also entire. Urns containing human bones and ashes have been found in several parts of the parish; and one containing a skull and several bones, was recently dug up near the foot of Clatchard Crag, which was inclosed in loose flat stones placed together in the form of a kistvaen. A similar urn was found near the site of the ancient abbey of Lindores, containing a great number of small bones. On the summit of Clatchard Crag, are the vestiges of an ancient fort; and near the top of Norman's Law, are three concentric circles, of rough stones rudely formed, which is supposed to have been a Danish encampment.