SHAP Local History Society gathered for the first meeting of the winter season when the speaker was Tony Greenwood on the subject of Ninekirks, also known as St Ninian's church at Brougham.

Mr Greenwood began by showing several old maps of the area around the church, and its situation in relation to the Roman site at Brougham and its later castle. The church is dedicated to St Ninian a monk with connections to Whithorn in south west Scotland. Across the deep and swiftly flowing Eamont are caves in the cliff, known locally as Isis Parlis, or the Giant's Caves; there is some suggestion that Ninian might have used these for quiet meditation, as he is known to have done in Galloway.

The site is across farmland off the A66 and is on a tongue of land where the River Eamont takes a sharp bend, and aerial photographs show crop marks in the vicinity, one being a circle possible an earlier church or village site. Mr Greenwood then described an investigation by Time Team at Nether Poppleton in North Yorkshire, on a very similar site in the bend of a river, and this was discovered to have been a monastery.

The church was rebuilt by Lady Anne Clifford in 1660. This would have been a very plain simple building and is recognised in some circles as a Commonwealth church. Later additions are a bell turret with a bell dated 1696 and porch dated 1840.

Interior features include the canopied box pews for the gentry, and open box pews for other worshippers. There is a poor box dated 1663 and a font dated 1662, a three decked pulpit, and a panel of ornate carving believed to have been constructed from a carved box and a massive parish chest with three locks. Memorials include several hatchments for members of the Brougham family, including one for Henry the first Baron Brougham and Vaux.

In the floor are several brasses, and trap doors that cover ancient grave covers, one is that of Odard de Brougham who died in the 12th century. The bones remained in the grave within living memory, then it was decided to bury them in the churchyard because visitors were tampering with them. In another grave, a cup mount was discovered, and although drawings survive, the whereabouts of the artefact is unknown.

The altar is an oak table that stands on a stone altar slab was discovered in the churchyard. Over the altar is a board bearing the Ten Commandments, and above that in the plaster, the inscription 'A P 1660' to mark Anne, Countess Pembroke's restoration.

Brougham Chapel adjacent to Brougham Hall has much more ornate furnishings, but was simply used as a chapel for the hall. St Ninian's was the parish church for Brougham and any burials recorded at Brougham would have been at there. When it became a redundant church in 1977, local people with a family connection could register themselves for future burial in the churchyard there, one taking place just over ten years ago. The church is open all the time, and is used for occasional services in the summer months.

Questions were invited from the audience, and one member with a connection to St Ninian's and had been present when the altar stone was dug up, and recalled seeing the bones of Odard. There were several questions about the 'Nine' part of the name and whether there had been eight previous churches on the site or it was derived from the name Ninian.

Mr Greenwood was thanked by Jean Jackson, who said that the talk would perhaps inspire people to make the pilgrimage to see this lovely church. She announced details of the next meeting and said that tickets would soon be available for the social in November. The next meeting will be on Monday, October 19, at 7:30pmwhen Paul Heslop will speak about the subject of the Jacobite rebellions.