Deskford Church

At Kirktown of Deskford, 4 miles south of Cullen, stands the roofless shell of a parish church of about 1540, which HES calls an extremely well preserved example of a typical rural church. It was built as a dependent of Fordyce Church, dedicated to St John, and altered for Presbyterian worship in the early 1600s, with new doorways and a laird's loft at the east end. A new church replaced it in 1872, but the old burial ground is still in use, and a bellcote crowns the west gable. The church's treasure is the carved sacrament house beside the former altar, a wall cupboard that held the consecrated host. Its inscription records that it was made in 1551 and given by Sir Alexander Ogilvy of Deskford and Findlater and his second wife, Elizabeth Gordon. Two angels hold up the monstrance above the recess, which is framed by texts from St John's Gospel and Genesis, with the donors' arms below. Park with care on the lane or at the community centre.