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Bearing the date 1695.
©kim traynor
A partly restored Norman window.
©kim traynor
Dalmeny village green, seen from the east on a wet morning.
©James Allan
©kim traynor
The two figures represent Sting and Ling, brewer's men who are holding a cask, complete with bung hole, and ale measures in their hands. A sting is the pole that would rest on men's shoulders when carrying a load held up by a rope attached to both ends of the pole. I'm not sure of their significance as graveyard symbols. For the other side of this stone see [[2946885]]
©kim traynor
Headstone for Agnes Muir, spouse to John Crighton. She died on 2nd November, 1722, aged 51 years. The angels carry spears as symbols of death and the sands of time run out in the hourglasses they hold up. For the other side of this stone see [[2946891]]
©kim traynor
Tombstone showing the initials of Thomas Letham, Margaret Forgison and three offspring. The other side of this stone can be seen at [[2946855]]
©kim traynor
Tombstone dated 1681 erected in memory of Thomas Letham and Margaret Forgison, his spouse. The other side of this stone can be seen at [[2946866]]
©kim traynor
I took the bird to be a phoenix, a symbol of the Resurrection, arising to new life, but in fact it derives from the family crest of the Ramsays. It adorns the grave of 'Robert Ramsay, Mason in Croishall', who died in 1773. It perches on two chisels and a mell [mallet], emblems of a mason, and seems to be symbolically guarding the grave.
©kim traynor
Dalmeny Kirk is one of the best-preserved Norman Parish churches in Scotland. It has a category A listing. The church was built in the early 12th century and has 17th century additions, with the tower constructed in 1937
©Mr H
Carved by stonemasons around 1160 these figures above the south door of St Cuthbert's Parish Church Dalmeny have weathered pretty well.
©James Allan
During religious ceremonies it was sometimes necessary for participants to stand for long periods of time. Their seats were often designed so the they could be turned up and provide a shelf to rest on. These are usually carved, sometimes with extravagant and sometimes distinctly non-religious images, and the carvings, being on the undersides of the seats, are not usually visible. This fine example is inside the very pulpit itself for the comfort of the minister while preaching.
©Anne Burgess
Looking from the nave into the chancel, and into the apse beyond. The arches separating the different parts of the building are decorated with chevrons, and the chancel has ribbed vaulting.
©Anne Burgess
The carvings in the archway are in two parts, outer and inner, and represent a number of distinctly non-Christian subjects. On the outer arch a series of carvings alternate with grotesque protruding masks. From left to right, the carvings are 1. A king and kneeling knight facing him, perhaps during the knight's investiture 2. A centaur shooting at a griffin 3. Not a quiver of arrows, but Perixidion, the Tree of Life 4. A naked savage fighting a lion to gain its skin 5. A whale mistaken for an island by sailors, who have fallen into the sea when it dived 6. A king enthroned 7. A manticore - a mythical beast with the head of a man, the body of an ox and the tail of a serpent 8. A mounted knight with sword and shield 9. A serpent without a head The inner arch contains 10. The phoenix - there was only ever a single phoenix, which in due course immolated itself, and from whose ashes the new phoenix was born 11. Terrebolen - also called 'igniferi lapides' these were stones which were either male or female. When brought together they would ignite 12. A basilisk - a creature hatched by a toad or serpent from a cockerel's egg, its glance was deadly 13. A four-footed dragon 14. A serra - a sea dragon with the feet of a swan, it pursued ships and wrecked them 15. An eagle, which flew close to the sun and was scorched, but which could revive itself in a fountin 16. A hart, which drank till its body was full, and then used the water to quench its foe, the dragon 17. A pelican, reviving its young with blood from its own breast 18. Two dragons fighting 19. A lion, on guard and sleeping with its eyes open 20. A griffin - half eagle and half lion, it guards treasure 21. A serpent 22. The Agnus Dei - the Lamb of God
©Anne Burgess
This is the main door, and the most ornate part of the exterior of the Parish Kirk of St Cuthbert in Dalmeny. The rounded arch is typical of Norman buildings, the later pointed arch not yet having been invented in the 12th century when Earl Gospatric founded this kirk. The pointed lancets above the door are formed by the intersection of round arches, and are not load-bearing. [[[2760841]]] shows the detail of the carvings in the arch.
©Anne Burgess

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