Grave Slab of Gilbert de Greenlaw

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Grave Slab of Gilbert de Greenlaw

Location

Kinkell Church
Port Elphinstone, Inverurie

OS Map Reference

NJ 785 190

Date

1411

Description

Sandstone, the upright slab to Gilbert de Greenlaw, who was slain at the battle of Harlaw in 1411, stands in the kirk and exhibits a finely incised figure of a knight. The stone was obviously broken and reused, by a Forbes in 1592, with a Forbes incised armorial crest of three dogs and dated 1592 on the reverse side also inscribed with latin and greek texts.

Related Information

The old kirk was built in 1538 on the probable site of an earlier kirk, and dedicated to St. Michael. It was unroofed circa 1771. The kirk was probably built by Alexander Galloway, Parson of Kinkell and architect of the Bridge of Dee in Aberdeen: his initials occur three times on a religious sculpture on the N. internal wall. The date 1525 and his initials can just be read on the fine sacrament house of 1528. The sacrament house is now weathering though the fine sandstone details can still be discerned. The kirk was lit by the enormous E. window of which only one side remains. This fragment shows an well-moulded and complex mullion with a weathered angel's head terminal. The other fine examples of religious sculpture that once graced St. Michael's can reputedly be found within various kirks in the area. There are a number of stones within the kirk that obviously once belonged to the great window.
Other tombstones : There are 8 recumbent stones,
one of which is particularly well decorated with an angel holding sickles, with approximately 43 upright tombstones from the 17th - to the 19th- century.

Era

Medieval

Related Artefacts

Categories

Iconography

  • dog or hound
  • heraldic motifs
  • human figure
  • sword

Photographer

  • Michael Watt

Unavailable Data

  • Information Source
  • Creator
  • External Links

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