Little Dalton Kirk
Religious Place In Dumfries And Galloway, Scotland
A fabulous 15th century kirk, hidden by trees in the Dumfriesshire countryside.
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Hidden in a copse in the rural countryside between Dumfries and Annan, are the ruins of Little Dalton Kirk.
The 15th-century church ruins feel incredibly remote with only a scattering of farm buildings close by.
The first thing I did was peer inside, just to see if it was going to be possible to enter. It was incredibly overgrown, but where there's a will there's a way.
The roofless 15th-century ruin incorporates stonework from an earlier 13th-century building. The church is T-shaped with a rectangular nave and a sacristy (room used by the clergy) in the centre of the north wall.
The kirk measures around 16m by 7.5m, and the sacristy is around 5m by 5m. The walls are around 1m thick and 2.5m high.
The nave is entered through a high arched doorway on the western end of the north wall. The additional opening you can see on the left is the entrance between the nave and sacristy.
When you step inside, you are facing the south wall, in which are four small windows.
When you turn around and face the north wall, there are the two doorways and two small windows.
Above is a view up to the east wall; believe it or not, remains of an altar were found there. Today I was unable to get close enough to see.
Within the nave is what some call a stone bench, but could it actually be a table tomb of one of the Carruthers family?
The round-topped entrance, which is slightly off-centre on the north wall, leads to the old sacristy. This would be where the local clergy would get themselves prepared for a service, and the required paraphernalia would be stored.
Finally, the west wall was rebuilt in the 19th century.
The kirk served the local rural community, which gradually moved away. The kirk was abandoned to decay in 1633 when Meikle Dalton Church became the focus for worship. Today, the only other remnant of Little Dalton village is the ruins of an old mill.
The local parishes in the area are Little Dalton, Mouswald, Dalton and Meikle Dalton. Parliament united the parishes of Little Dalton with Meikle Dalton in 1609, with James VI then joining Mouswald to Little Dalton in 1615. In 1633, Dalton was united to Meikle Dalton and the Meikle Dalton Church became the main place of worship for the local community. As a result Little Dalton Kirk fell out of use.
The kirk was cleared and partially rebuilt and strengthened in 1968-69.
The burial ground can be found south of the kirk and contains memorials for the Carruthers family of Holmains. There are around 20 headstones, most of which are 18th-century, the oldest dating from 1665 and the most recent dated 1788.
The table gravestone is for Dr William Carruthers, who died in 1764, but my favourites are the ones that contain the skull and crossbones symbol. It does not signify anything unsavoury but simply 'Memento mori', the inevitability of death, after all it will at some point come to us all.
During excavations of the site, remains of a stone altar, fragments of pottery, a 17th-century copper farthing, and skeletal remains in a charnel pit (mass grave) were found.
From the layby, a sign guides you through a gate onto a fenced-off path. The path can get quite overgrown, so it might be worth taking a walking pole to bash the brambles away.
The path soon gets easier. Continue until you reach a gate which enters the field. From here, head for the enclosure containing the kirk.
In 2003, the kirk received £16,700 from the Heritage Fund, allowing the ruins to be stabilised and an information board to be installed.
Additional funds were raised by members of the Carruthers family, which allowed the layby parking, access path and fenced enclosure to be made possible.
Little Dalton Kirk is designated a Scheduled Monument with Historic Environment Scotland.
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Login to bag this placeHow To Find Little Dalton Kirk
Where Is Little Dalton Kirk?
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55.05839852508949, -3.4275670755631737
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Where To Park For Little Dalton Kirk?
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55.054772965146825, -3.4258206480630613
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There is parking for a couple of cars in the layby at the end of the footpath.
Contributed by Lorraine London
I have been a keen hill walker for many years and more recently enjoy trig bagging. When I'm not exploring Northumberland, County Durham and Yorkshire, I spend most of my holidays in bonny Scotland. Other than hills, I love investigating ruinous buildings and waterfalls. I have been a member of NT and EH for years, which also gives me access to Historic Environment Scotland places.
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Join Our Facebook GroupLittle Dalton Kirk was listed in Religious Place // Scotland // Dumfries And Galloway