Corpus of Scottish medieval parish churches

Apart from a few widely known examples, such as Edinburgh St Giles or Perth St John, the medieval parish churches of Scotland are very rarely dealt with in discussions of architecture in Britain in the Middle Ages. This is largely because they have never been systematically studied as a body, and there is surprisingly little knowledge of how much of medieval date survives. Indeed, it became clear some years ago that even the Church of Scotland itself was largely unaware of the medieval origins of the core of its stock of parish churches.

In the course of a detailed study of the churches of the Scottish Borders for the 'Buildings of Scotland' volume on that area, Fawcett became increasingly aware that a significant proportion of the parish churches currently in use are in fact substantially medieval, even though later remodelling might mean that this is not immediately apparent. Because of this, it was concluded that it would be of the greatest value not only to scholars, but also to those members of the public with any interest in churches, if a detailed analysis of all sites associated with parish churches of medieval foundation could be carried out. The aim of this would be to determine how much medieval fabric survives, either visibly or embodied within later buildings, to correlate this with the historical sources in order to determine likely dates of construction and adaptation, and to present an overview of all of the parish churches that embody medieval fabric.

A practical advantage of undertaking a project of this kind in Scotland is that the numbers of sites involved is relatively small, totalling no more than 1,136, and they can therefore be dealt with over the course of a manageable period of time. In order to determine how viable the project as a whole is likely to be, however, it is intended to carry out a one-year pilot project in the dioceses of Dunkeld and Dunblane, which together embrace some 97 parishes. The benefit of considering these dioceses initially would be that, although largely rural in character, they also include a number of important urban settlements, so that the range of architectural types is relatively wide. There is the additional factor that the historical sources for these dioceses have been less closely studied than is the case for some of the larger dioceses, meaning that there is less risk of bringing preconceptions to the work.

Discussions with a number of historians and architectural historians have confirmed the view of the applicants that the results of this project would be of enormous benefit, in providing a firm base of information on what is the most under-researched aspect of our medieval architecture.

It is believed, however, that the project would also be of very much wider interest. It has unfortunately been the case in Scotland that, although large numbers visit what remains of our great abbeys and cathedrals, there has been a general assumption that our parish churches are simply not worthy of attention. This has had the further consequence that, until relatively recently, many of those responsible for the care of our churches have not appreciated the importance of preserving what has survived. Thankfully, a change in such attitudes has been emerging over recent years, with growing numbers now expecting to have access to the parish churches, and the year-on-year expansion of the size of the annual 'Churches to visit in Scotland' publication is the clearest evidence for this.

In addition to publishing the results of this project on the web and in scholarly journals, it is therefore intended to engage the enthusiasm of local communities as widely as possible, both in the process of the research, and once the information gathered has been collated. On this basis, it is confidently expected that the project will be of wide benefit.