Preston Church, church and burial ground

Heritage listing

Date Added 03/03/1993 Last Date Amended 31/03/2011 Type Ecclesiastical: burial avile/vault; burial ground, cemetery, graveyard; church Local Authority Scottish Borders Parish Bunkle And Preston NGR NT 78690 57067 Coordinates 378690, 657067 — The monument comprises the former parish church of Preston and the associated burial ground. It is visible as a ruined building containing a number of burials vaults and carved memorial stones and surrounded by a burial ground with upstanding gravemarkers. The church was probably initially constructed in the 12th century, although it has undergone a great deal of rebuilding and alteration since. The church went out of use in 1718 when Bunkle Church became the parish church and Preston was subsequently converted to use as burial aisles The church occupies a site on a plateau at around 100m above sea level and overlooking the level ground to the east and the village of Preston around 600m north-east of the church. The Whiteadder Water runs to the south of the church and graveyard at a distance of around 300m. The monument was first scheduled in 1993 but an inadequate area was included to protect all of the archaeological remains; the present scheduling rectifies this. Preserved as a standing ruin, the remains of Preston Church lie within a burial ground enclosed by a stone wall. The church is aligned approximately E-W and measures 23m E-W by around 5m transversely. Of the original structure, the gables and parts of the S wall appear to survive largely unaltered, although the roof line of the W gable has been reshaped to some degree. The other surviving parts of the church have been remodelled and reconstructed in various ways. As part of its later reuse as burial aisles (when the church was split into four chambers) the second chamber

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.