Gordon Memorial Vault, Crossmichael Church is a Grade A listed building in the Dumfries and Galloway local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 23 April 1990. Memorial.

Gordon Memorial Vault, Crossmichael Church

WRENN ID
steep-lintel-soot
Grade
A
Local Planning Authority
Dumfries and Galloway
Constituency
Dumfries and Galloway MP: John Cooper (Con)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
23 April 1990
Type
Memorial
OS grid reference
NX 729 669
Coordinates
54.98117, -3.98612
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Gordon Memorial Vault, located to the south of Crossmichael Church, is a large and finely detailed classical memorial and burial enclosure built in the mid 18th century for the Gordon family of Greenlaw and Culvennan. Dated 1757, it is attributed to S Rae, a self-taught artist and sculptor.

The south elevation of the memorial features a tripartite design with a taller central bay that has a mannerist pediment. It is constructed from rubble with rusticated quoins, and each bay contains an inscribed memorial tablet. The central bay is flanked by Corinthian columns that support a broken pediment, which is adorned with an elaborately carved heraldic panel in the tympanum. The main dedicatory inscription is framed by a finely moulded architrave with lugged and shouldered details, complemented by a shell and garland motif and a seraph above. The design includes deeply incised egg and dart moulding throughout, with pineapples at the angles and an urn at the apex.

Inside, the memorial is enclosed by square rubble walls that feature various memorial tablets.

Local climate

Gordon Memorial Vault, Crossmichael Church sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,300 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 92% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 41 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 79% of listed buildings. Of these, 20 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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