Kirkdale Church And Burial-Ground

Kirkdale Church and Burial-Ground features the fragmentary ruins of the Old Kirk of Kirkdale, which may date back to the early 18th century. Within the churchyard stands a square-plan classical mausoleum, constructed in 1787 and likely designed by Robert Adam.

The mausoleum is built into the slope of the ground, allowing for a basement. It has square-plan rubble walling with a polished granite doorpiece and dressings. The entrance bay is pedimented and features a console corniced door made of polished granite masonry, with the consoles adorned with tiny shell stops, a detail that is also found at Kirkdale House. The door is timber panelled, and the lintel bears the inscription 'FOR AS IN ADAM ALL DIE, EVEN SO IN CHRIST SHALL BE MADE ALIVE'. Above the cornice is a semi-circular sandstone tablet inscribed 'ERECTED BY SIR SAMUEL HANNAY 1787', which may have been added later to block an original fanlight; neither inscription is carved in a typical 18th-century style. Each side elevation has a pointed-arch window at the center. A moulded band course runs around the building just below the eaves level, and there is an eaves cornice. The roof is a low pitch pyramidal design, featuring sandstone copes, good graded slate roofs, and sandstone ridges.

The Old Church consists of very fragmentary and ivy-clad remains of a rectangular structure. The graveyard contains many fine late 18th and 19th-century gravestones, some of which are enclosed by wrought and cast-iron fencing.

The graveyard walls are made of rubble and are coped with rubble. There are two rectangular stone flanking gateways, each inscribed with biblical texts.