Collessie is a village in Fife

Fife

Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

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It is a hamlet set on a small hillock centre around a historic church. Due to rerouting of roads, it now lies off the main road.

The Church

The church was consecrated by the Bishop of St. Andrews in July 1243. It is mentioned in charters of both 1252 and 1262, and so was complete by those dates.

Prior to the Reformation

Scottish Reformation

The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...

, the church was in the ownership of the Bishop of Lindores and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

The church was remodelled in 1839 to a T-plan form and has remained virtually unchanged since that date. The pulpit is in a central position at the head of the T, common to several Scottish churches such as Currie

Currie

Currie is a civil parish and suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland, situated 10 kilometres south west of the city centre. A former village within the County of Midlothian, it lies to the south west of the city, between Juniper Green and Balerno on the Lanark Road...

 on the outskirts of Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

. The pews date from 1911 when they were adjusted to a less upright stance to improve comfort. The font dates from 1928.

The Collessie war memorial

War memorial

A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...

 is in the east transept

Transept

For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...

. The communion table was brought from Cowlairs Church and was their war memorial.

The Churchyard

The churchyard has been used since at least the 12th century. It was extended both in 1840 and 1871. It was taken over by the local County Council in 1929.

The "Melville Tomb" was erected to the Melvilles of Halhill and contains the remains of Sir James Melville

James Melville of Halhill

Sir James Melville was a Scottish diplomat and memoir writer.Melville was the third son of Sir John Melville, laird of Raith in the county of Fife, who was executed for treason in 1548. One of his brothers was Robert, 1st Baron Melville of Monimail . James Melville in 1549 went to France to become...

 who died 13th November 1617, aged 82. He had been a courtier to both Mary Queen of Scots and James VI of Scotland. The tomb, which takes the form of a small house, was partly restored in 2004.

A tablet in the outer wall of the churchyard, facing Kirk Brae, is dated 1609 and relates to the use of the burial ground.