’A notably elegant’ church

SERIES

THE parish of Dunino is in the East Neuk of Fife, the east-most part of that county, where it projects into the North Sea. Until the middle of the 19th century the area relied largely on the sea to link it both with other parts of eastern Scotland and with northern Europe, with which it had extensive trade through its little ports, such as Crail, Pittenweem and Anstruther, all in their day prosperous, findependent trading burghs, all now largely holiday villages.

One of these burghs was St Andrews, on the eastern edge of the East Neuk, which had become a holy place, home of the relics of St Andrew, disciple of Christ, patron saint of Scotland, and origfinally a isherman, like his brother Peter and James and John, the sons of Zebedee.

There was a settlement of monks of the Celtic Church there, the Celi De, who built the church of St Regulus, or St Rule, whose tall tower, which still stands, was obviously intended as a sea-mark, to guide vessels to what was even then a place of pilgrimage. After the Roman Catholic Church replaced the Celtic one St Andrews gained a cathedra, the largest in Scotland, and in due course two University Colleges, St Mary’s and St Salvator’s making the University of St Andrews the oldest in Scotland.

What has all this to do with Dunino, you may ask? The immediate answer is that in the later mediaeval period the Rectory of Dunino belonged to the College of St Salvator, which meant that the revenues from farming (and probably from coalmining) in the parish helped to support the running costs of the college, which presumably supplied a curate to take services in the parish church.

According to the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland there was an ancient nunnery on the highest point in the parish, whose remains were removed in 1815. The present church is in the hamlet of Stravithie, a tiny place, notable for its early-19th century corn mill (now a house), probably a successor to a mediaeval one.

The present parish church is a notably elegant one, and probably replaced a mediaeval building. It was designed by James Gillespie Graham, and built in 1826-7 in the architect’s characteristic Gothic Revival style. It is one of his smallest churches; larger ones include the Scottish Episcopal Church of St John in Princes Street, Edinburgh, what is now St Andrew’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Glasgow and St Mungo’s Parish Church in Alloa. In 1908 the noted Glasgow architect Peter MacGregor Chalmers prepared plans for remodelling the church for ‘Scotocatholic’ worship; these were not carried out until 1928, when they were undertaken by J Jefrey Waddell and Young. A chancel was added at the east end, and a porch built at the south-west corner. In a manner characteristic of the period Gillespie

Graham’s plasterwork was stripped out. A new pulpit was installed, at the east end of the church, replacing the origfinal one in the middle of the south side.

The new pulpit, communion table and lectern were designed by Thomas W Wilson, and a new font was designed by Sir Robert S Lorimer. The prayer desk was by Alexander P Smith. Three stained-glass wfindows were installed in 1930-31, all designed by J Jennings.

In 1965 Dunino was linked to the parish of Boarhills, its neighbour to the east. A union of the two parishes followed in 1994, as Boarhills Dunino, with both places of worship being retained.

The united parishes were initially linked to St Andrews: Martyrs, but that church has closed (as has Boarhills), and the linkage is now with St Andrews: Holy Trinity. It is good that this exceptionally ine early 19th century building is still used for worship.

This article appears in the August 2018 Issue of Life and Work

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