Scheduled MonumentsScotlandThurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground
Medieval · St peter's church and burial ground

Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground

Scotland
HES SM618
Period
Medieval
Site type
St peter's church and burial ground
Nation
Scotland
Boundary

Scheduled area

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Overview

History & significance

St Peter's Church and Burial Ground, Thurso is a medieval ecclesiastical site situated in Caithness in the far north of Scotland. The church represents an important centre of Christian worship from the medieval period, serving the local community as both a place of religious observance and a burial ground for parishioners over successive centuries. The site retains physical evidence of its medieval origins, though the building has undergone modification and repair during later periods. As a scheduled monument, it remains a significant archaeological and historical resource documenting the ecclesiastical landscape of medieval Caithness.

Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM618. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground?

St Peter's Church and Burial Ground, Thurso is a medieval ecclesiastical site situated in Caithness in the far north of Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM618.

What period does Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground date from?

Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground dates from the medieval period, and is classified as a st peter's church and burial ground. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground?

Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground 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 SM618.

What other scheduled monuments are near Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including North Calder, broch 600m W of (7.2 km), Framside,broch 850m E of,Hills of Lieurary (7.3 km), Gallow Hill,long cairns and chambered cairn (7.8 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Stat Accounts
The parish Statistical Accounts of the 1790s and 1830s, describing life, work and population here.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.

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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground

Thurso, St Peter's Church and Burial Ground stands on Middle Old Red Sandstone (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Middle Devonian. The rock here is conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.