Churchyard, Abbotshall Parish Church, Abbotshall Road, Kirkcaldy is a Grade B listed building in the Fife local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 26 March 1998.

Churchyard, Abbotshall Parish Church, Abbotshall Road, Kirkcaldy

WRENN ID
narrow-landing-bramble
Grade
B
Local Planning Authority
Fife
Constituency
Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy MP: Melanie Ward (Lab)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
26 March 1998
OS grid reference
NT 274 913
Coordinates
56.10962, -3.16842
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

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

Description

The Mort-House at Abbotshall Parish Church, located on Abbotshall Road in Kirkcaldy, dates from the mid-17th century and later. It features rubble boundary walls, some of which are semicircular-coped, enclosing the church and graveyard, with the Mort-House situated adjacent to the northeast of the boundary.

The earliest stone slab in the graveyard is dated 1658 and commemorates Robert Purrock, a church elder. The site includes several mural monuments, such as a much-eroded corniced stone from 1720, flanked by anthemion-capitalled columns, and a red sandstone stone with a pediment and Doric columns dedicated to John Sang. There is also a block pedimented stone with short Doric columns honoring the Stocks family, who were linen manufacturers.

Gravestones in the graveyard are primarily simple moulded or pedimented apex styles, along with obelisks. Near the Mort-House, there is an eroded stone featuring a cartouche in the pediment and flanking skulls. A headstone located to the northeast of the church door commemorates George Nicol, who died in 1786, and displays a carved hand and plume on one side and gardener's emblems—a spade and rake—on the other. Additional 18th-century stones include one with baker's symbols dated 1744. A distinctive headstone for local stone carver William Taylor, who died in 1881, features an elaborately carved niche. There is also a memorial, erected in 1935 by Pilkington Jackson, of a life-size seated child for child prodigy Marjory Fleming, known as 'Pet Marjorie', with an original stone to the rear reading "M F 1811".

The Mort-House itself is a small rectangular-plan rubble building with modern pantiles, featuring a window to the west that overlooks the graveyard and evidence of a former segmental-headed opening on the same elevation. The entrance is located to the south.

The boundary walls are high and coped with rubble, complemented by square-section, coped ashlar gatepiers to the north. There is a segmental-headed, flat-coped ashlar arch to the west, along with decorative cast-iron gates.

Local climate

Churchyard, Abbotshall Parish Church, Abbotshall Road, Kirkcaldy 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 27 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 71% of listed buildings. Of these, 14 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

Sign in or create a free account to unlock:

  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • No related consent applications matched
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Create free account

Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.

Nearby listed buildings

  1. Mort-House, Abbotshall Parish Church, Abbotshall Road, Kirkcaldy Grade B 32 m
  2. Abbotshall Parish Church, Abbotshall Road, Kirkcaldy Grade B 55 m
  3. Hall, Abbotshall Parish Church, Abbotshall Road, Kirkcaldy Grade C 85 m
  4. 18 Beveridge Road, Kirkcaldy Grade C 107 m
  5. 20 Beveridge Road, Kirkcaldy Grade C 115 m
  6. The Bungalow, 1 Beveridge Road, Kirkcaldy Grade C 144 m
  7. Gatepiers, Hunter Hospital, Hunter Street, Kirkcaldy Grade B 191 m
  8. The Cedars, 9 East Fergus Place, Kirkcaldy Grade C 194 m
  9. 26 East Fergus Place, Kirkcaldy Grade C 209 m
  10. Fergus House, 7 East Fergus Place, Kirkcaldy Grade C 211 m