ABSTRACT
The interim reports of this excavation (Cramp 1980-85) concentrated on the phases of development of the church, and despite the lapse of time since, no close parallels for the development of the building plan for an estate church and the subsequent analysis of the sequences of its use have been forthcoming, although there have been many important excavations of ecclesiastical sites in Scotland in the last twenty years. Most evidence for the development of ecclesiastical architecture in Scotland has been derived either from monastic sites or from some of the cathedrals, and it is at these sites also where most excavation has taken place. The massive destruction of medieval churches of all types in Scotland has ensured that there are less standing examples of parish churches than there are in England (McRoberts 1959), although the ruins of many survive in the later kirkyards and more were recorded in the 19th century (Ferguson 1892). Indeed, targeted excavation at some of these sites could be very informative. However, recently an ongoing research project Corpus of Scottish medieval parish churches (published in the website Fawcett et al 2008) has revealed that more medieval fabric in churches in use has survived the zeal of the Reformation than had been thought hitherto. In addition, the excavation of sites such as Whithorn (Hill 1997), Barhobble (Cormack 1995), The Isle of May ( James and Yeoman 2008), Auldhame (Hindmarsh and Melikian 2008; Crone et al forthcoming), Inchmarnock (Lowe 2008) and Portmahomack (Carver 2008), have all contributed valuable new evidence, which has informed this report and is considered further in the medieval section below, but the status and sequences of the buildings and their occupation on these sites are not closely comparable to the estate church at The Hirsel.
