Churchyard, Old Scoonie Parish Church, Scoonie Brae, Leven is a Grade C listed building in the Fife local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 10 September 1979.

Churchyard, Old Scoonie Parish Church, Scoonie Brae, Leven

WRENN ID
eastward-pedestal-ivy
Grade
C
Local Planning Authority
Fife
Constituency
North East Fife MP: Wendy Chamberlain (LD)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
10 September 1979
OS grid reference
NO 383 016
Coordinates
56.20367, -2.99555
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

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

Description

The Christie Burial Enclosure, likely dating from the 16th century, was originally the session house of Old Scoonie Kirk and was converted into a roofless burial enclosure after 1775. It features large ashlar blocks and ashlar quoins, with keystoned segmental-headed openings that have heavily dressed voussoirs on the inside. There is a broad entrance arch to the west and an unglazed window to the south. Inside, there are memorials and headstones belonging to the Christie family on the inner elevations.

Surrounding the burial enclosure to the west is a graveyard containing 17th, 18th, and 19th century headstones, primarily made of weathered local sandstone. The headstones are mostly of a simple moulded apex style, with some classical and obelisk monuments from the 18th and 19th centuries. Notable commemorative stones include a finely carved 'coped stone' from 1641, featuring skulls flanking an hourglass and Latin inscriptions; a 1824 memorial to David Thomson, 'Ship Master Dubby-side', adorned with a ship's anchor; a 1836 stone with a sailing ship on the front, erected by James Gourlay Shipmaster of Leven in memory of his daughter Mary and son Thomas Gourlay of Banbeath; and a tablestone on moulded pedestals.

The site is enclosed by extensive coped rubble boundary walls, terrace walls, and low saddleback-coped walls with inset railings. The main entrance features quadrant walls and three square-section ashlar gatepiers, each with a base course, cavetto cornice, pyramidal cope, and large ball finial. The entrance is completed with decorative ironwork gates for both vehicular and pedestrian access.

Local climate

Churchyard, Old Scoonie Parish Church, Scoonie Brae, Leven receives an average of 900 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 67% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 54% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 24 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 74% of listed buildings. Of these, 13 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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Nearby listed buildings

  1. Christie Burial Enclosure, Scoonie Old Parish Church, Scoonie Brae, Leven Grade C 11 m
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