The ruins of this church stand in an old churchyard, overshadowed by
trees, not far from the ancient Castle of Creich,[192] and about six
miles north-west from Cupar.
[Illustration: FIG. 944.--Creich Church. Plan.]
[Illustration: FIG. 945.--Creich Church. Interior of Doorway.]
[Illustration: FIG. 946.--Creich Church. Impost of Arches to South
Aisle.]
The original structure (Fig. 944) has been an oblong single chamber, 60
feet by 15 feet internally. Apparently there has been no window in the
east wall, and all the other windows appear to have been altered, except
one near the east end of the north wall, which is 6 inches wide, and is
round headed, and splays widely to the interior. All the other windows
are square headed, and have probably been altered. It is not easy to say
whether the doorway is original or not; it is situated in the position
where one would expect it to have been originally. It is round arched,
or, if pointed, only very slightly so. It has a stone lintel in the
interior, raised in the manner shown (Fig. 945) to admit of the leaves
of the door opening.
[Illustration: FIG. 947.--Creich Church. West Recess.]
There is a south chapel or aisle entering from the church by a
round-arched opening. The arch has the usual wide double splay resting
on the caps of the responds at each side (see Fig. 946). This aisle has
a massive base, stepped at various places to suit the sloping ground.
In the north wall there are two semicircular arched recesses, apparently
for monuments. The westmost one (Fig. 947) consists of bead and hollow
mouldings, with rosettes in the hollows. The other recess, near the east
end, is of later workmanship, possibly of the seventeenth century; it
has a projecting keystone containing the Barclay arms. On the floor,
within this recess, but placed there in quite a temporary manner, there
lies the very finely-incised monument shown in Fig. 948; the
inscription, on a bevelled edge, bears that it is to the memory of David
Barclay of Luthrie, who died in 1400, and Helen de Douglas, his wife,
who died
[Illustration: FIG. 948.--Creich Church. Monument to David Barclay and
his Spouse.]
in 1421. The stone is about 6 feet 6 inches long by 2 feet 11 inches
wide, and the workmanship of the figures and canopy over, which is
incised in the stone, consists of elaborate tabernacle work,
corresponding with that found on the monuments and brasses of other
countries. The hands and faces shown hatched on the Sketch are rough
sinkings, and are supposed to have been filled in with brass. Over the
figures there are rich architectural canopies, each of slightly
different design. Of two shields, one contains the Barclay arms; the
other is quite worn.
The church was probably erected about the time of the date on the
monument; and the south aisle was, in all likelihood, erected shortly
before the Reformation.