shafts, with a broad fillet between them. All the arches are enriched with chevron and billet mouldings, and the upper tier has an extra order of elaborate billet-work. The string course between the two arcades is carved with zig-zags (Fig. 265). The cornice is supported on a series of boldly-carved grotesque heads, all varying in design.
On the top of the apse vault there has been built, in the seventeenth century, an incongruous turret, which, although not of bad design, is extremely out of place. To support this belfry, a plain arch has been introduced in the interior amongst the Norman work of the apse. (Fig. 266.)
The design of the exterior of the choir (Fig. 267) is similar to that of the apse, there being two arcades, one above the other, surmounted by a cornice, with corbels carved as grotesque heads. The lower arcade, however, has interlacing arches (see Fig. 265.), which indicate a late period of the style. The two arcades are separated by a string course, enriched with scroll floral ornament.
In the interior (see Fig. 266.) attention is drawn to the elaborate carving of the chancel arch, which has two orders of complex chevron ornament, and an outer order or hood mould of four rows of billets. The soffit of the arch is also enriched with chevrons, so arranged as to form a row of lozenge ornaments in the centre. The chancel arch is carried on a central attached shaft and two plain nook shafts, built in courses, with simple cushion caps and plain bases.
The chancel is vaulted with heavy moulded groins, springing from the cushion caps of short single shafts resting on grotesque heads. (See Fig. 265.) A small window is introduced in each of the divisions formed by the shafts, and each window has a pair of nook shafts in the interior and enriched arch above. The lower part of the apse is plain, and is separated from the upper part by a string course, enriched with faceted ornaments.
There exist in Berwickshire the remains of a number of Norman churches which, unfortunately, are very fragmentary. This is the more to be regretted, as the portions still remaining of some of them show that they must have been equal, if not superior, in richness of detail to most of the better preserved specimens in other parts of the country. The fragments at Edrom and Legerwood are of the finest Norman architecture, while the extreme simplicity of the work at Bunkle seems to indicate that it is very early in the style. At Chirnside and St. Helen’s but little is left; indeed, the latter is now almost only a memory of the past.[173]
The numerous remains of Norman parish churches scattered throughout Berwickshire point to the direction from which the Roman influence gradually spread over the country.
Amongst these fragments, the small piece of Bunkle Church (Fig. 268) which survives is one of the earliest. It is situated about 4½ miles north-west from Chirnside Station, on the Duns Branch Railway, and stands in the immediate neighbourhood of the fragmentary ruins of
Bunkle Castle. The building appears to have been entire till about 1820, when it was demolished, and the materials used in the erection of the existing parish church, which adjoins it. Only the semi-circular apse, with the arch leading into it, remains of what was the original parish church. The building is extremely plain, and Mr. Muir[174] suggests that it may be of even earlier than twelfth century date. The apse is about 11 feet in width, and projects 7 feet internally. It has a small round-headed window to the north-east, and another to the south-east, but none to the east. These windows are placed high, and are 18 inches wide on the outside, and are widely splayed inwards. Adjoining the south-east window are the remains of a piscina, about 14 inches square by 11 inches high. The entrance to the apse from the choir is preserved. It is 7 feet 6 inches in width, and 7 feet 10 inches high to the springing of the arch. The wall is 3 feet in thickness. The jambs are plain, and the semi-circular arch is also plain, having one deep square-edged order extending the full thickness of the wall. The impost is a simple fascia, with a small splay on the under edge. The apse is vaulted with a plain semidome similar to that of St. Margaret’s Chapel in Edinburgh Castle, and the roof is formed with overlapping stones. A few stones are observable in the walls of the new church which are carved with zigzag ornaments, and were, doubtless, derived from the old building.
Of the ancient parish church of Edrom, situated about one mile from Edrom Railway Station, there still survives a Norman doorway of beautiful workmanship. (Fig. 269.)[175] It has been preserved by being made the entrance to a burial vault at the west end of the church. This doorway (Fig. 270) is one of the finest of the style in Scotland, and is of considerable size, being 11 feet high and 4 feet 8 inches wide. It has two shafts (one of them a nook shaft) in each jamb, and the ashlar work of the wall forms the support of the outer order. The arch contains three orders, all elaborately carved with Norman enrichments. The inner enrichment (Fig. 271) consists of a series of chevrons; the central order is also ornamented with two sets of chevrons, arranged so as to form lozenge shapes between them, which are filled with delicate carvings. The outer order contains a repeating ornament, arranged in squares, and the whole is enclosed with a small label carved with a delicately foliaged ornament.
The caps of the shafts are somewhat remarkable. Fig. 271 shows those of each side. The cushion caps and the elaborately carved scrolls of the left central cap correspond with ordinary Norman work, but the peculiar and twisted serpent-like forms of the right jamb are remarkable.
It is not quite clear that the doorway is in its original state. There are three capitals on each side, only two of which have shafts. It is not unlikely that the remaining two capitals had either shafts or some kind of decoration continued to the base, as at Iffley or Middleton; Stoney,
Oxfordshire; or Kirkham Priory, Yorkshire (see Parker’s Glossary). It is also probable that the opening was square-headed, and the tympanum filled with a shield, as at Abercorn and Linton.
The lands and church of Edenham, with Nisbet, were granted to
St. Cuthbert’s monks by Gospatrick, Earl of Dunbar, and confirmed, in 1139, by David I. The investiture is in favour of the Prior of Coldingham.
An aisle of some interest is attached to the church. It contains in a panel occupying the position of a niche on one of the buttresses a modern inscription giving the history of the aisle, viz.:—“Founded by Robert Blackadder, Archbishop of Glasgow, in the year 1499.” The only portions of the aisle still preserved which are of any interest are the two angle buttresses (Fig. 272). Both of these have had niches with canopies and corbels for supporting figures. The canopy of one is gone, but a sundial occupies its place. The archbishop’s arms and initials (Fig. 273) are carved on the buttress. His family name is derived from a place of the same designation in the parish. Another shield (Fig. 274), with arms almost obliterated, occurs a little further west.
Legerwood stands in the hilly region, about four miles north-east from Earlston Station. The parish church is old, and has been often repaired. Attached to it, but entirely cut off by a wall, are the roofless
ruins of the original Norman chancel (Fig. 275), which is complete, and measures internally 17 feet 4 inches square. It is fairly preserved, and contains some good Norman work. The chancel arch is entire, but is partly concealed on the face with plaster, and the ingoing is entirely hidden by the stone wall, which separates the chancel from the church. There is a 10 inch diameter round shaft in each internal angle, which is continued up as high as the walls, but there are no indications of vaulting. A small round-headed window, 9 inches wide, is introduced in the centre of the east and north sides (Fig. 276), and apparently a doorway has existed in the south wall. The chancel arch has been large, being about 14 feet 8 inches wide, including the columns, and is enriched with shafts and carving; but, unfortunately, it is so built up that only portions are visible. The caps and mouldings, so far as they can be seen, are shown in Fig. 277. The
ornament consists largely of square facets, with various forms of sinkings. A small recess, 11 inches deep, 15 inches wide, and 17 inches high, which occurs in the north wall, is
shown in Fig. 278. It has not been fitted with a door.
Masons’ marks are distinctly chiselled on the stones of the chancel. Throughout the chancel there are clear indications of coloured decorations, consisting of a cross or star in red on a circularly-shaped ground of white. Fig. 278 shows one on the wall, and another in the recess.
Till the Reformation the Church of Legerwood belonged to Paisley Abbey, to which it was granted in 1163; but “John Priest of Ledgureside” is found witnessing a charter granted in 1127 by Robert, Bishop of St. Andrews, in favour of the Priory of Coldingham. The modern church appears to occupy the site of the original nave, as its east wall and part of the return of the side walls are old. The nave measures 47 feet 10 inches long by 27 feet 9 inches wide. A piece of stone carved with Celtic interlaced work is built into the south wall near the west end, and on the corner there is a double sundial, bearing the initials W. G., and the date 1682.
Another fragment of Norman work survives at Chirnside in the doorway of the ruined church, situated about one mile from Chirnside
Railway Station. The village stands high, and commands an extensive view. The church has been much restored, but the ancient Norman walls in great measure remain. Its size can, therefore, be determined, being 78 feet in length by 23 feet ½ inch in width. The only architectural feature remaining is the doorway on the south side. (Fig. 279.) It is contained in a shallow projection of 9½ inches, which is 10 feet 2 inches in breadth. The doorway is 2 feet 10¾ inches wide, and the height to the lintel is 6 feet 10 inches. The arched head is somewhat peculiar, consisting of two segmental arches, resting on caps placed at different levels.
Each jamb contains two nook shafts (the two outer shafts being modern), with simple bases and cushion caps, the inner cap being lower than the outer. A bead runs round the jambs and square lintel, and the tympanum is plain. Each cap carries an order, the inner order being enriched with a series of chevrons, and the outer order with mouldings. The soffit in both orders is plain. The outer order is enclosed in a small label, which has a break at the termination—a very unusual feature in Norman work.
At the sides of the doorway there are remains of a projection, probably a porch. The church had a western tower, which was taken down in 1750. It was vaulted in stone.
The Church of Chirnside, before the Reformation, was under the patronage of the Collegiate Church of Dunbar. In the taxation of 1176 the Ecclesia de Chirnesyd is valued at 50 merks. The church is probably somewhat older than that date.
The ruins of this church stand in a lonely and lofty situation overlooking the sea, about three miles eastward from Cockburnspath. The fabric is now in a greater state of dilapidation than is shown by the annexed views, which are copied from a sketch by James Drummond, R.S.A., engraved in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.[176] It is accompanied by a description and plan by Mr. Thomas S. Muir, from which it would appear that about the middle of this century the east gable wall, which was then entire, was taken down, the stones being used for agricultural purposes, and that most of what is shown of the chancel arch shared a similar fate. The dimensions can still be ascertained from the ruins.
The church (Fig. 280) was a Norman structure, with the exception of the west gable wall, and consisted of a nave about 30 feet 9 inches long by 18 feet wide, and a chancel 15 feet 2 inches long by 11 feet 6½ inches wide. The total internal length was thus about 48 feet 11 inches. The building was barrel vaulted throughout. The apertures where the north and south walls of the nave are shown broken down (see Fig. 280.) probably indicate the position of a north and south doorway. There were two windows
in the south wall, with three shallow arched recesses beneath. (Fig. 281.) These recesses measure 11 inches deep by about 3 feet high, and have not been fitted with doors. Their purpose is unknown. The chancel arch, when entire, measured about 7 feet in width. The stone shown in
the foreground of Fig. 281 gives an idea of the section of the jambs of the arch, only part of which now remains. A broad band connected with the caps runs along the north and south walls of the nave. The band is decorated with a circular rosette ornament. As will be seen from this view, the arch was flanked on each side by a square recessed opening, similar in position to those at the chancel arch at Tynninghame, but the recesses at the latter are arched. Beneath each of these there is a small opening, as shown on view, about 6 inches square, which goes into the wall for about two feet, but the place is now too ruinous to permit of the matter being further investigated.
The north wall of the chancel is almost entire, and has had no opening. The south wall is nearly all gone, and, as already stated, nothing remains of the east wall. The narrow east window, with its wide internal splay, appears to have been set in a recess, and enriched round the arch and down the jambs with a single chevron ornament.
The west gable wall (Fig. 282) has been rebuilt in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. It is without opening of any kind, save the numerous putlog holes used for the masons’ scaffolding when erecting the building.
This was the church of Aldcamus, incorporated before the year 1750 in the parish of Cockburnspath. The manor of Aldcamus was granted by King Edgar (1098-1107) to Durham, and “thenceforth belonged to the monastery of Coldingham, as a cell of Durham.”[177] How long after this date the church was built we do not know; but as Chalmers remarks in a footnote that it was the manor, not the church, which Edgar granted to Durham, it may be doubted whether the church then existed. It appears to have fallen into ruin about the time of its annexation to Cockburnspath.
The few relics which survive of this ancient monastery lie buried in a thick clump of trees, which stands between the modern mansion of Tynninghame and the river Tyne, about three miles north-east from East Linton. This was one of the churches dedicated to St. Baldred, of which there were several on the East Coast. That Saint seems to have selected the Bass Rock as his place of abode, whence his fame spread through the adjoining regions. He is believed to have come from the establishment of the Columbans at Lindisfarne, whose diocese extended as far as the Frith of Forth. He died in 606. The foundation of Tynninghame was laid by St. Baldred, or Blathere,[178] and the church continued as a separate parish till 1760, when it was united to Whitekirk.
What remains of the structure is of Norman architecture, and exhibits elaborate ornamental work of that style. The plan of the church (Fig. 283) is in part still traceable. The west end of the choir, with its great arch (Fig. 284), is fairly preserved, and the outline of a rectangular choir, about 18 feet in length by 17 feet in width, is observable, although the side walls are greatly demolished.
The nave, if it ever existed, has entirely disappeared. At the east end an enriched chancel arch still survives (Fig. 285), and also portions of pillars, which indicate that there has been an eastern apse.
The western arch (see Fig. 284.) is supported on a series of nook shafts, some of which are broken away. These carry simply formed caps, with
square abacus, carved with scale work. The arch contains three orders enriched with ornaments and a label. The first and third orders are enriched with very elaborate chevron ornaments; the central order has the billet and the hood mould, a series of small semicircles placed back to back. An arched recess occurs in the wall at each side of the central arch. That on the north side is original, and is ornamented with the chevron. The arch on the south side has been renewed. It is not clear what purpose these arches served, but most probably they contained altars. Arched recesses in this position, although not common, are sometimes found in Norman churches. The arch of the apse (see Fig. 285.) is enriched in three orders, and the caps of the shafts have volutes (Fig. 286). Two of the pillars which formed part of the apse survive. The details of the caps and central band are shown in Fig. 286.
Many of the smaller ornaments of this structure are very beautiful, and are well preserved. On the south side (see Fig. 284.) there remains the recessed pointed arch of a monument, in which parts of a decayed recumbent effigy are visible. The three shields on the top give it a picturesque effect.
The ruined church is now used as the family mausoleum of the Earls of Haddington.
This church is situated in the valley of the Tweed, six and a half miles west from Peebles, and within one mile of Stobo Railway Station. It is
a Norman structure, to which some alterations and additions have been made in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The building is still used as the parish church. The roof and interior fittings are modern, as are also the skews and gabled skew putts, of which latter there was no suggestion in the old work. But the most serious injury inflicted on the
structure was the entire destruction of the Norman chancel arch at the restoration of the building in 1868, “in order to insert a modern pointed one.”—(Transactions of the Aberdeen Ecclesiological Society, 1887, p. 6.)
The building (Fig. 287) consists of a nave about 40 feet long by 18 feet 7 inches wide, with a chancel about 24 feet 4 inches long by 16 feet wide, thus making the total interior length about 67 feet 4 inches. There is a tower at the west end, about 20 feet square over the walls, and 11 feet by 9 feet 6 inches inside. The tower has originally opened into the church with what appears to have been a round arch, which is now partly concealed by a gallery and other erections. This opening has been reduced in size, as shown on the plan, to a doorway about three feet wide. The doorway is pointed, and of old date.
As the whole building is harled or rough cast on the outside and plastered on the inside, it is impossible to say definitely whether the tower is Norman or later. The work of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries consists of the south porch (Fig. 288), built up against the Norman doorway (Fig. 289), and a north aisle or chapel, which opened from the nave with a round arch, now built up. This chapel, which is ruined, was barrel vaulted. The windows in the south wall are also of this period. The mullions and tracery of those of the nave are modern, as is also a monument erected against the interior of the east wall, which may possibly conceal a Norman east window. The four-light window in the south wall of the chancel (Fig. 290), although of this late period, is quaint and pleasing, the small circle in the apex giving it quite a touch of originality.
A round arched recess for a monument in the north side of the chancel also belongs to this period. It has contained a coat of arms, which is effaced.
The original windows in the north side of the chancel remain. The daylight is about 7 inches wide by about 2 feet high. There has been a Norman doorway in the north side of the nave. It has a plain arch, and was probably not unlike the doorway in the opposite wall, which is of very simple design, with octagonal shafts. The capitals are slightly mutilated.
The window to the west of the porch is modern, as are the doorway and stair in the tower. The latter is of wood, and leads to the gallery already referred to. There does not appear to have been a stone stair in the tower. The belfry is late, as is the present tower roof. It is impossible to say how the tower was originally finished.
The walls being lined with wood on the inside, the usual fittings are concealed, the only feature visible being the locker, shown on Plan, near the east end. It is widely splayed in the ingoing, and is not Norman. The south chancel door is probably of the period of the adjoining windows.
Stobo Church, like most of the churches of Peeblesshire, “belonged to the diocese of Glasgow at the epoch of Earl David’s Inquisitio in 1116, and both the church and manor were confirmed to that see, by several bulls of successive Popes, in the twelfth century.” In Bagimont’s Roll (1275) it is mentioned as the “Rectoria de Stobo” and the “Vicaria de Stobo.”[179] It was the church of a Plebania,[180] having subordinate churches or chaplainries within its territory, over which its priest, who was styled dean, exercised a certain authority. There were four subordinate parishes—viz., Broughton, Dowie, Drummelzier, and Tweedsmuir. In 1116 the rectory of Stobo was converted into the valuable prebend of Tweeddale in Glasgow Cathedral.
This ancient Norman edifice has formed the place of worship for the locality since the twelfth century, and is still used as the parish church. It is picturesquely situated on the north side of Duddingston Loch,
immediately under the south side of Arthur’s Seat, and within a mile of Edinburgh.
The structure has undergone many alterations during the six centuries of its existence, but still retains its original Norman character to a greater extent than at first sight might be supposed; indeed, it is one of the best preserved examples we have in Scotland, although the introduction of a
few prominent features in later times, such as the windows and buttresses, have somewhat detracted from its antique appearance.
The building appears to have originally consisted of a nave and chancel; if it had a tower, it must have been of smaller dimensions than the present one, as the base of the west wall abuts against the side walls of the present tower instead of returning along it, as it would otherwise in all likelihood have done.
The nave (Fig. 291) measures about 33 feet 4 inches long, and was probably about 19 feet wide inside. The chancel is about square, being 16 feet 1½ inch from east to west by 15 feet 6 inches wide, the total inside length of the church being 52 feet 9 inches.
On the outside a series of pilaster buttresses divided the nave into four bays; these still exist along the south side, measuring about 2 feet on the face, and having a projection of 9 inches, with a large base returned round them. To these pilasters massive buttresses (Fig. 292) projecting three feet have been added. At the corners of the church the original angle pilasters remain unaltered. The old doorway in the west bay of the south side (Fig. 293) still continues unchanged, except that it
is built up, and has an incongruous granite slab occupying the whole space. The opening of the doorway is about 4 feet 2 inches wide. The arch is richly sculptured with the chevron in two orders, the inner order being supported on shafts decorated with the chevron in a manner not found, we think, anywhere else in Scotland. On one of these shafts there are two sculptured scenes. The upper one represents the Crucifixion. (See Fig. 293.) The lower one (Fig. 294) shows a figure holding aloft a drawn sword; beside the sword, in the shade where the shaft disappears at the jamb, there is what looks like a key, possibly the symbol of St. Peter, so that the subject may be the incident of cutting off the ear of the High Priest.
The chancel arch (Fig. 295) is the only Norman feature now remaining in the interior. It is in two orders, having on the outer order the usual chevron ornament, with a notched hood moulding similar to what is found at Dunfermline. The inner order has a bold bead on the edge. The arch is quite plain on its inner face towards the chancel. It is carried by three semi-shafts (Fig. 296), with cushion caps and simple bases. The abacus has been carved with facets.
On the exterior of the chancel there occur on the north and south sides (see Fig. 292.) characteristic Norman corbels supporting the wall-head parapet. These consist generally of the usual bridled heads and monstrous faces, but they are now very weather-worn.
The north wall of the nave has been taken down and a north aisle added (see Plan), apparently in the year 1631, as that date (Fig. 297) is carved on a window lintel of the east wall. In the north gable of this aisle there are two traceried windows, somewhat after the style of the Perpendicular Period. (Fig. 298.) It will be observed that the mouldings of the loop form of the tracery do not mitre with the arch mouldings.
At a later period a central window, without tracery, has been placed in the north wall of the aisle. It corresponds exactly with the windows
seen in the south side, and with the one in the east wall of the chancel, judging from which it was probably at this later period that all the present windows, seen in Fig. 292, were inserted. The original windows were, doubtless, the usual small windows found in Norman churches, and when they came to be enlarged, the builders probably increased the buttresses to compensate for the weakening of the wall, and added the conical finials on them and on the gables (see Fig. 292.). It is obvious that to this period also the upper part of the tower belongs. The lower part of the tower, although not of the original structure, is, we are inclined to think, of considerable antiquity; it opens into the church with a plain, round arch. The staircase shown in it and on the north aisle lead to galleries.
During the reign of William the Lion (1165-1214) the church and lands of Dodin-ston were acquired by the Abbey of Kelso, but from whom they were acquired is not known. There were several persons of the name of Dodin, but the one who gave his name to this place does not appear to be known. But there was a “Hugo filius Dodini de Dodines-tun” who witnessed a charter to the Canons of Holyrood in the time of William the Lion (Dalrymple Collection, Pref. lxvii.; also, Caledonia, Vol. II. p. 791.)
In 1296 John Combale, the vicar of Dodinestun, swore fealty to Edward I.
In the ancient Taxatio (end of twelfth century), Duddingston Church is rated at twenty-five merks.
The village of Gullane lies in the parish of Dirleton, about four miles north-west from Drem Station, and half-a-mile from the sea.
The old church of St. Andrew is now a roofless ruin, thickly clad with ivy, and standing in the middle of the ancient churchyard. The church was bestowed early in the thirteenth century on Dryburgh Abbey by Sir William de Vaux, and in 1446 it was erected into a collegiate institution by Sir Walter de Haliburton. Both these knights were the proprietors of the Castle of Dirleton in the vicinity.
The structure (Fig. 299) consisted of nave and chancel, the chancel being entered from the nave by a semicircular chancel arch, almost the only remnant of the edifice of the twelfth century which survives.
The chancel as it now stands is 35 feet in length by 15 feet 6 inches in width internally. The eastern portion is a comparatively recent addition, and has a square east wall, but it is believed that the chancel formerly terminated towards the east with an apse. Part of the old south wall of the chancel, extending to about 20 feet in length, still remains. It contains two pointed windows, with late mouldings on the exterior, probably fragments of the restoration of the fifteenth century, at the time when the church was made collegiate. These windows have been reduced to mere slits by being built up with slabs in the interior. This filling up was probably inserted when the place was converted into a burial-ground for a private family, in order to prevent entrance through the windows.
The south wall of the nave is still about 72 feet in length, but the north wall is reduced to about 43 feet long. The west end is gone, and the nave has been divided up into private burial-places. The windows which remain in the south wall of the nave have been much altered in Presbyterian times, having had flat lintels, &c., introduced.
The chancel archway (Fig. 300, 301) is 8 feet in width. It has square jambs on both sides of the wall, and a central half shaft on each jamb of the opening. The caps of these shafts (see Fig. 301.) are fairly preserved, and