St Peter's Old Parish Church


(Dargie Kirk, Dargie Church, Old Parish Church)

An ancient ruin within an old and interesting kirkyard located next to Invergowrie Burn, a quarter-mile (0.4 km) east southeast of the modern village centre, St. Peter's Old Parish Church (also known as Dargie Church) is said to have been founded by St. Boniface in the early 8th C. Later becoming known as St. Peter's Church, it was given to the monks of Scone Abbey by King Malcolm IV around 1160. What remains today is rather later, dating from the 16th C., and comprising a simple rectangular building with a more modern vault adjoining on the northern side. The Clayhills-Hendersons of Invergowrie and the Mylnes of Mylnefield lie buried within the church. Two 10th C. cross-slabs filling a window were removed in 1947 and placed in the care of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. The kirkyard includes several ancient grave stones, with Masonic and other symbols. Also located here are two large stones known as the Ewes (or Yowes) of Gowrie. Thomas the Rhymer predicted in the 13th century that "When the Yowes o' Gowrie come to land, The day o' judgement's near at hand". Another stone to the north of Invergowrie is associated with a local tale describing how the Devil flung a huge boulder from Fife with the intention of destroying the church.


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