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Plenderleith chapel and burial ground is a medieval religious site located in Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. The chapel and its associated burial ground lie upon bedrock of Devonian age, formed from ancient mafic lava flows and tuffs that underlie this upland region. The darker, mineral-rich volcanic stone of the underlying geology would have been available for building materials, though the specific construction details of the chapel remain undocumented.
Medieval chapels in rural Roxburghshire typically served local agricultural communities and may have functioned as private chapels for significant landholding families or as subsidiary places of worship for parishioners distant from parish churches. The presence of a burial ground indicates the site held religious and social significance for the surrounding population. Plenderleith's location in open country, rather than within a settlement, is characteristic of some medieval ecclesiastical sites in the Border region.
The site is now protected by Historic Environment Scotland under the statutory designation SM10740, recognising its importance as a surviving example of medieval religious infrastructure in Roxburghshire. Though the physical remains are fragmentary, the chapel and burial ground constitute archaeological evidence for the organisation of faith and community in medieval Borders society.
Plenderleith, chapel and burial ground 700m N of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM10740. View the official record →
Plenderleith chapel and burial ground is a medieval religious site located in Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM10740.
Plenderleith, chapel and burial ground 700m N of dates from the medieval period, and is classified as a chapel and burial ground. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Plenderleith, chapel and burial ground 700m N of is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM10740.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Heugh Law, fort (0.9 km), Plenderleith, scooped settlement 300m SSW of (1 km), Stony Law, fort (1.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Plenderleith, chapel and burial ground 700m N of's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Plenderleith, chapel and burial ground 700m N of stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Silurian To Devonian, bedrock that formed in the Devonian. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.