St Serf's Church and Dupplin Cross

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free entry for everyone; donations welcome. No membership card is needed.

ParkingParking not known

The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.

Parking details

Historic Scotland says parking is available about 25 m away in Dunning village and that visitors can be dropped off at the site entrance; it names no car park and publishes no charge or free statement, so the status is recorded as unknown. The church stands on Tron Square in the middle of the village.

Driving pin: Historic Scotland's own pin at the church on Tron Square, 7 m from the Google listing. Historic Scotland says the church is accessible by public transport; buses stop at the church.

About

St Serf's Church stands in Tron Square in the village of Dunning, a church of about 1200 with a square west tower, built soon after the parish was granted to Inchaffray Priory. The tower, the Romanesque arch at its base carved with fine scallops, and part of the round-headed north door survive from then. After the Reformation a laird's loft and a gallery aisle turned it into a T-plan kirk for a thousand people. Legend says St Serf slew a dragon here. Since 2002 the church has sheltered the Dupplin Cross, carved around 800 and moved from a hillside three miles away near the Pictish royal palace at Forteviot. About three metres tall, it is the only complete free-standing cross surviving in Pictish territory, and its Latin inscription names King Constantine son of Fergus, who died in 820; it shows a mounted king with four warriors, hounds and King David. The church opens only on Thursdays and Saturdays from mid-April to late September, with staff on hand for tours.

ClosedPick a day for times and prices

Until 16 Apr: Closed
From 17 Apr: Thu, Sat 10:00–16:30, last entry 16:00

Today, Saturday 24 October

St Serf's Church and Dupplin CrossClosed

Opening times may change at short notice.

16 April to 26 September: Thursday and Saturday 10am to 4.30pm, closed for lunch 12.30pm to 1.30pm, last entry 30 minutes before closing; closed 27 September to 15 April. Historic Scotland's phone number for the site is 01764 684 497. A former parish church, now cared for and opened by Historic Scotland; staff give talks on open days.

A 20 m level tarmac path from the entrance; a threshold at the church door, then a level interior. The Dupplin Cross stands in the west tower. The graveyard has cut grass with several low and toppled gravestones. No toilets: the nearest adapted toilet is at B&Q, Crieff Road, Perth, about 7.5 miles away.

Photo: St Serf's Church at Dunning, with its tall Romanesque clock tower and sandstone nave, seen across the headstones of the graveyard. PaulT (Gunther Tschuch), CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Perth_and_Kinross_Dunning_St_Serf.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.