A ruinous structure, situated about one mile north-west from the abbey.
It is a plain oblong (Fig. 645), 71 feet long by 16 feet wide (inside),
with walls about 3 feet thick, but parts of them have been recently
rebuilt on the old foundations. It is thus impossible to say what the
original arrangement of doors and windows may have been, only one small
pointed window, which seems to be original, remaining next the south
doorway. A north and south doorway face one another towards the west
end, but these have evidently been inserted at a late date. Both
doorways have straight lintels (Fig. 646), and these consist of ancient
tombstones, carved with foliaged crosses and swords (Fig. 647).
[Illustration: FIG. 645.--The Old Parish Church of Culross. Plan.]
[Illustration: FIG. 646.--The Old Parish Church of Culross. Interior,
looking East.]
Numerous other recumbent tombstones are found in the church, and some
have been placed against the east wall when it was rebuilt. A top stone
containing the socket for a cross is preserved at the east end. The
south doorway has probably had a porch.
This church had apparently fallen into decay before the Reformation, for
in 1633 an Act was passed making the abbey the parish church, and
stating that the abbey church had been used for preaching since the
Reformation, and that the church called the “Parioche Kirk, where
service is not nor has been since the memory of man, is altogether
ruinous, decayed, and fallen down in certain parts.”
It is still surrounded with the old burying-ground, which contains some
interesting monuments. A large tombhouse has been built, like a
transept, on the south side of the church. It appears to be an erection
of the seventeenth century.
[Illustration: FIG. 647.