St Mary's Collegiate Church, Cullen

Cruciform church of various builds, incorporating 13th century

choir and nave (now E and W aisles), S aisle added 1536, 16th

century chancel and probably 18th century N aisle. Vestry

added in NE re-entrant angle in 1967. Rubble, tooled and

polished ashlar dressings.

Entrances to church in centre of W and N gables; also in

S elevation of chancel; blocked round-headed entrance in

SW; forestair in S wall of W aisle. Pointed-headed window

with intersecting tracery in E gable; Y-traceried windows in

S wall of chancel; 4-light window in S gable of 1536 S aisle;

various other windows mainly with lattice-pane glazing.

18th century bird cage bellcote at W gable apex; various cross

apices; Banffshire slate roofs.

Interior: pulpit and communion

table at central crossing; galleries in W and N aisles with

late 19th century stencilled detailing. Laird's loft, dated

1602, in S side of E aisle reached by staircase with silhouette balusters and supported by columns framed by re-used late

16th and early 17th century pew ends and panels from former pews

(2 panels dated 1590 and 1608 respectively).

Circa 1550 Sacrament House surmounted by carved panel with

pair of angels holding monstrance and with Latin text from

John vi, 54-6. Ornate richly carved circa 1554 Ogilvie tombs

also in N wall of chancel; cusped ogee arch surmounts wall tomb

with recumbant knight, flanked by shafts enclosing canopy

with decorative cresting and containing 2 roundels with

carved figures; front of tomb divided into 8 cusped panels,

each containing figure.

S AISLE: former St Anne's chapel said to have been founded

by Elena Hay in 1536; round-headed mural niche with recumbant

figure thought to be Elena Hay's son; carved front to tomb

with 2 panels depicting knights on horseback. Also mural

memorials to Earl of Seafield (killed 1914), Mia, Countess of

Seafield (widow) and Nina, Countess of Seafield (1906-1969).

Various other mural memorials including granite plaque erected to

memory of Rev. John Guthrie, Minister of Cullen 1937-1986.

Stained glass in E window by Aitken of Aberdeen, 1933.

Burial ground: high rubble walls enclose church and burial

ground. Entrance at E flanked by pair tooled rubble gatepiers

surmounted by ball finials; pair spearhead cast-iron carriage

gates. Incised slab depicting knight in armour dated 1414

sited by W doorway; 17th, 18th and 19th century tomb stones;

small Seafield burial enclosure.