LESWALT CHURCH,[243]Wigtonshire.

Fig. 1561.—Lauder Church. View from North-West.

The central tower is square till it reaches the ridge of the main roofs, above which point it becomes octagonal, and is finished with a slated roof. A small round-headed window of a late style is inserted in four sides of the octagonal part or belfry.

The staircase buildings in the two angles do not appear to be parts of the original structure, or at least would seem to have been a good deal altered.

In the neighbourhood of Lauder is Thirlestane Castle,[242]the residenceof the Duke of Lauder, well known in connection with the attempted introduction in the seventeenth century of Episcopacy into Scotland. It seems not unlikely that the quasi-Gothic character of the church may have been the result of his influence.

A ruined church, the predecessor of the present one, which was built early in this century. It stands about four miles west from Stranraer. All the dressed stones of the wall openings have been taken out, so that nothing remains to tell the date of the structure. In the seventeenth century a wing (Fig.1562) has been erected against the north wall, which probably contained a gallery above and a burial-place below, as was frequently the case in similar erections about that time. The wall between the wing and the church is still standing several feet high.

Fig. 1562.—Leswalt Church.

The wing has been entered by a plain flat lintelled door in the north wall (Fig.1563), over which is a window divided into four compartments by a moulded mullion and transom. This window would light the private room or gallery on the upper floor. A panel (Fig.1564) below the window shows that the place was used as a burial vault, as it contains an inscription and two coats of arms. The inscription states that it is in memory of Patritus Agnew of Lochnaw, Earl of Wigton, and Margaret Kennedy, his spouse;A.D.1644. The arms on the shields beneath are those of Agnew and Kennedy.

Fig. 1563.—Leswalt Church. North Gallery.

Fig. 1564.—Leswalt Church.Panel over Door.

Fig. 1564.—Leswalt Church.

Panel over Door.

After the new church was erected the old one was used as the parish school, which accounts for a fireplace still visible in the east wall of the church.

Fig.1565shows its present ruined condition.

Before the Reformation the Church of Leswalt belonged to the Monks of Tungland, and in Episcopal times to the Bishop of Galloway.

Fig. 1565.—Leswalt Church.

Only the merest fragment of this church now remains. Its dimensions can be determined as having been 62 feet in length by 15 feet 3 inches wide inside. Part of the west gable survives for a height of about 10 or 12 feet, with a small square-headed window. Nothing else is left but grass-covered ruins and fallen pieces of masonry.

This was originally a structure of the first pointed period, but it is now in a state of complete ruin, except the choir, which has been fitted up in the seventeenth century as a burial vault.

The west gable stands nearly entire, but the side walls are completely demolished, except at the choir (Fig.1566). The building is externally

Fig. 1566.—Loudoun Church. Plan.

64 feet long by 27 feet wide. The choir is about 14 feet 9 inches long, and is separated from the nave by a plain round arch 15 feet 6 inches wide (Fig.1567). In the east wall (Fig.1568) there are two pointed windows about 10 inches wide, with slight splays on the outside, and widely splayed inside (Fig.1569), where they are finished with roundarches. There are two set-offs on the east wall, and the same occur on the west wall. The structure has been greatly modified in the seventeenth century. The south doorway into the choir and the window, with

Fig. 1567.—Loudoun Church.Chancel Arch.Fig. 1568.—Loudoun Church.Elevation of East End.

Fig. 1567.—Loudoun Church.

Chancel Arch.

Fig. 1568.—Loudoun Church.

Elevation of East End.

panels and arms (Fig.1570), are probably all insertions of that period, as also is the vault seen in the drawings. The ground has accumulated

Fig. 1569.—Loudoun Church.Section, looking East.Fig. 1570.—Loudoun Church.South Doorway, &c.

Fig. 1569.—Loudoun Church.

Section, looking East.

Fig. 1570.—Loudoun Church.

South Doorway, &c.

round the church so that the splayed base seen in Mr. Schultz’s drawings is now buried to the extent of about 2 feet.

The masonry of the ruin is of fine ashlar, in regular courses.

This building, which is still used as the parish church, is situated on the Lyne Water, near the Tweed, about three miles above Peebles. It stands on the summit of a mound, which is occupied as the churchyard.

Fig. 1571.—Lyne Church. Plan.

The building (Fig.1571) is a tiny one, measuring internally only about 34 feet by 11 feet. The windows and doorway are on the

Fig. 1572.—Lyne Church. View from South-East.

south side (Fig.1572) and in each gable, there being no opening in the north wall. The windows have simple tracery of a late type, and thejambs have backfillets (a late feature) round the openings. There are angle buttresses at the west end, and a modern belfry on the apex of the west gable.

Fig. 1573.—Lyne Church. Pulpit.

Some good fragments of old woodwork survive in the church, particularly a pulpit (Fig.1573), which, it is usually stated, was made in Holland. Lyne is distant from the sea and must have been difficult of access; for which reason, amongst others, we doubt whether there is any truth in the tradition. The pulpit, which is circular in plan, is quite simple in design, and its construction would not present a formidable task to a Scottish country wright, judging by other examples of woodwork made in Scotland about this time. Some of the other woodwork bears the date 1644, and one of the pews, now removed, was dated 1606.[245]The church has been frequently repaired, which accounts for the loss of such examples.

“The district was, in the twelfth century, a chapelry dependent on Stobo.”[246]Robert, the chaplain of Lyne, is a witness to a charter in the Register of Glasgow, between 1208 and 1213; but of the early church then existing nothing now remains, the present structure probably dating from the beginning of the seventeenth century.

A retired parish church about four miles east from Haddington. It is stated to have been built in 1724, but some portions of ornamental carving built into the south wall (Fig.1574) would seem to indicate that they had formed part of an earlier structure.

Fig. 1574.—Morham Church. Fragment built into South Wall.

The only architectural feature connected with the church is the elevation of the north wing or aisle (Fig.1575), which, although it corresponds well with the date of the building, is in a somewhat unusual style for a Scottish church of the period.

Fig. 1575.—Morham Church. North Aisle.

A ruined church standing in the centre of an ancient churchyard, situated about three miles south-east from Aberdeen. The church is probably one of those built during the short period of Episcopal government in the seventeenth century. It consists (Fig.1576) of a single chamber, but there are indications of an arch across from side to side, where shown by dotted lines on the Plan, which may have marked a chancel. The building is 48 feet 6 inches in length by 20 feet 6 inches in width internally, and has been roofless for more than half a century.

Fig. 1577.—Church of St. Fiacre or Fittack, Nigg. View from South-West.

The lintelled door is on the south side, and there are two other doors on the north side, one of them being in the supposed chancel.

The belfry (Fig.1577) appears to have been rebuilt in 1703. A row of projecting corbels, which probably supported a previous belfry, are left projecting under the new one.

Fig. 1576.—Church of St. Fiacre or Fittack, Nigg. Plan.

Immediately adjoining the ruin there is a stately seventeenth century house, formerly the manse, now occupied by an agricultural tenant and farm labourers.

The building is on the site of an early church, which was granted by William the Lion to his favourite Abbey of Arbroath, and it remained as one of its dependaries till the Reformation.

The main portion of this church, although its walls may in part be old, is not of much architectural merit, but the chancel (Fig.1578) is not without interest as a specimen of late Gothic work. It is now used as a burial vault, and is completely ivy clad. It measures about 18 or 20 feet square, and is of modest height, being some 10 or 12 feet to the eaves.

The chief feature is the east window, with its rude tracery. The latter, which is of a different stone from the jambs and sills, is probably a restoration of late in the sixteenth century, while the chancel itself may be a little earlier. The building is vaulted with a barrel vault, and is covered on the exterior with overlapping stone slabs. It is impossible to say whether it contains any features of pre-Reformation times. The door seen on the south side of the choir is dated 1701.

Of the panels half concealed in the ivy, the one on the right contains the arms of Thomas Hepburn, incumbent of Oldhamstocks, and of his wife, Margaret Sinclair, who died in 1581. This Thomas Hepburn wasadmitted Master of Requests to Queen Mary two days after her marriage with Bothwell, and he was tried and convicted for aiding the Queen in her escape from Lochleven.[247]

Fig. 1578.—Oldhamstocks Church.

This church is of an old foundation. In 1127 Aldulph, the presbyter of Aldehamstoc, witnessed a charter of Robert, the Bishop of St. Andrews, and the church is rated in the ancientTaxatioand inBagimond’s Roll. It is also recorded as an existing rectory in the Archbishop’s Roll of 1547.

There is a peculiar sundial on the south-west corner of the church, which is illustrated.[248]It may be mentioned that in the centre of the west end of the church there is a tower which is finished at the top with a modern belfry. This tower or turret is probably of pre-Reformation date.

Only a small portion of the old church of Ormiston, in which Wishart and Knox more than once officiated, has been preserved. It stands close to the mansion house of Ormiston Hall, about one mile south from the village of Ormiston. A new church having been erected about a quarter of a mile distant, the old church has been allowed to go to decay. The surviving fragment of the latter appears to have been the east end. There are several stones built into the walls which must have belonged to a Norman church, being carved with the chevron ornament.

The Church of Ormiston was dedicated to St. Giles. It was granted to the Hospital of Soltre, founded by MalcolmIV., which was confirmed by the Bishop of St. Andrews in the thirteenth century.

This church was subsequently made a prebend of the Church of the Holy Trinity at Edinburgh, founded by Mary of Gueldres.

Fig. 1579.—Ormiston Church. Plan.

The building (Fig.1579) has been enclosed at the west end with a modern wall, and measures, within the enclosure, 16 feet 6 inches in length by 13 feet 6 inches in width. It contains in the south wall the outlines of two windows, now built up, and of one window in the north wall. These have apparently been altered at some time and made square-headed. An archway of considerable height (Fig.1580) stands in the continuation of the south wall westwards. It is in two orders, the outer order squareand the inner order splayed. This doorway has apparently entered into the church, which, judging from the height of the archway, must have had side walls of considerable height. They are now reduced as shown, and a roof was put upon the east portion during this century, which renders the interior very dark.

In the north wall of the chancel there is a monument of some importance (Fig.1581), as it contains one of the few brasses which exist in Scotland. The brass consists of an engraved plate containing an inscription to the memory of Alexander Cockburn, one of the members of the family to whom the adjoining mansion house belonged. He died, as the inscription tells, at an early age. The upper part of the inscription is metrical, and was composed by the learned George Buchanan, and

Fig. 1580.—Ormiston Church. South Side.

appears in his published works. Alexander Cockburn was a pupil of John Knox, and in 1547 sought refuge in the Castle of St. Andrews. On the dexter base of the brass are engraved the Cockburn arms, and on the sinister base the arms of Sandilands, for the mother of a Cockburn, who was of the family of Sandilands of Calder. These arms are quartered with the arms of Douglas, and show the ancient relationship between that family and the Sandilands.[249]

The barony of Ormiston was the property of the Cockburns from the middle of the fourteenth century, when they acquired it by marriage.

The monument was no doubt erected not long after the death of the person commemorated, or towards the end of the sixteenth century. It corresponds in style with that of the Regent Murray, in St. Giles’ Cathedral,

Fig. 1581.—Ormiston Church. Monument to Alexander Cockburn.

Edinburgh[250](1570), the inscription on which was also composed by George Buchanan. That at Ormiston is as follows:—

Omnia quæ longa indulget mortalibus ætasHaec tibi Alexander prima juventa deditCum genere et forma generoso sanguine dignaIngenium velox, ingenuumque animumExcolint virtus animum ingeniumque CamenaeSuccessu studio consilioque pariHis ducibus primum Peragrata Britannia deindeGallia ad armiferos qua patet HelvetiosDoctus ibi linguas quas Roma Sionet AthenaeQuas cum Germano Gallia docta sonatTe licet in prima rapuerunt fata juventaNonimmaturo funera raptus obisOmnibus officiis vitae qui functus obivitNon fas nunc vitae est de brevitate queriHic conditur Mr. Alexander Cokburnprimogenitua Joannis domini Ormistonet Alisonae Sandilands ex preclarafamilia Calder, qui natus 13 Januarii 1535post insignem linguarum professionemObiit anno ætatis suae 28 Calen. Septe.[251]

Of the old monastery of Pittenweem, which was connected with that on the Isle of May in the Frith of Forth, only some altered fragments survive. The priory seems to have derived its name from its being built close to a cave or “weem” on the shore of the Frith of Forth, with which it had communication by a vaulted chamber in the garden and a long straight staircase. The monastic buildings surrounded a courtyard. On the south side was the prior’s mansion (now restored and occupied by the Episcopal clergyman of the place). On the west side was the refectory, now converted into the Town Hall, and to the north of it the dormitories.

Some of the walls of these structures still exist, with two square projecting windows overlooking the courtyard. On the east side is the gatehouse, a battlemented structure with a round archway passing through it, now greatly decayed and covered with ivy. Beyond the courtyard to the north lay some outer grounds and a chapel.[252]

Fig. 1583.—Pittenweem Priory. Tower, from North-East.

After the Reformation the buildings passed into the hands of laymen, and the monastery became the “manor place of Pittenweem.” In 1588 a portion of the grounds was granted to the burgh, in order that a suitable church might be erected, which was carried out soon thereafter (Fig.1582). Possibly some portions of the church of the priory are included in this building, but it has in recent years been restored and extended.

Fig. 1582.—Pittenweem Priory. Plan.

The quaint tower (Fig.1583), with its mixture of Gothic and classic features, is the only part which has not been interfered with. The tower, which stands at the north-west angle of the church, is about 18 feet square externally. It rises with a plain square outline for a considerable way without buttresses or anything to distinguish it from a castle keep. There are even shot-holes under the windows, as in the domestic structures of the time. The stair turret in the north-east angle has the outline and corbelled gablet similar to the cape-house of the stair turrets of the Scotch castles of the period. The spire, with its remarkable lucarnes, helps to give the erection a little more of an ecclesiastical character, but the balustrade again recalls the attention to the domestic and Renaissance style of the design.[253]

This church (Fig.1584) was reconstructed in 1703, and is believed to rest on the foundations of an older structure, dedicated by Bishop Bernham in 1242. The building measures 55 feet by 24 feet over the walls. Although of such a late date, it is of pleasing form, and has fine large mouldings round the doors and panels above them. A stone on the east gable contains the Polwarth arms, three piles engrailed.

The font of the old church stands outside the building. It is of a round form 28 inches in diameter. The basin, which is 22 inches in diameter,

Fig. 1584.—Polwarth Church.

is 11½ inches deep, with a central aperture. The height of the fragment is 21 inches.

This panel (Fig.1585) was discovered in 1891 during some alterations of the seating of the church. It then formed the back of a seat in the gallery, and was concealed by a green cloth. Doubtless, from its heraldic decorations, it must originally have occupied a more prominent position. The arms and initials show that it belonged to the Hamiltons of Preston. The date on the panel (1604) connects it with an earlier church, the present church having been erected later. The panel is of oak and in good preservation, except where cut away to make it fit its new position, and the colours are still rich and fresh. The panel is in two pieces, each 2 feet 3 inches high. The whole is divided into eight compartments, of which only four bear arms. They are all arched, and are separated by

Fig. 1585.—Heraldic Panel from Prestonpans Church.

pilasters. On the four compartments arms, surrounded by laurel wreaths, are blazoned in colour, together with initials. The initials G. H. and B. C., which refer to George Hamilton, Laird of Preston, and Barbara Cockburn, his wife, are carved in relief in the spandrils. The letters painted within the arches, viz.,S/J. H.andD./K. H.stand for Sir John Hamilton, the son of the above, and Dame Katherine Howieson, his second wife, married 1620. The lady died 1629. The shields beneath these initials contain the Hamilton arms twice, and the Cockburn and Howieson arms for the wives of the father and son. The initials of the son and his wife were carved over the windows of the tower, while over the centre window they appear in a monogram with the date 1626.

This panel, which is one of the very few early coloured decorations which survive in Scotland, is now in the possession of General Sir William Stirling Hamilton of Preston.

A ruinous building situated about three miles south from Fraserburgh, and standing in an old churchyard. The east end has entirely disappeared, and only a small part of the north wall remains (Fig.1586). What

Fig. 1586.—Rathan Church. Plan.

survives of the south wall of the nave is 49 feet long, but it doubtless considerably exceeded that length; the interior width is 21 feet. A south aisle is entire, but roofless. It enters from the nave by a plain round-arched opening (Fig.1587) 8 feet 8 inches wide, and the outside dimensions of the aisle are 35 feet long by 20 feet 8 inches wide.

The nave (see Fig.1587) has a door in the west end, with a window

Fig. 1587.—Rathan Church. Interior of South and West Sides.

above and a belfry on the apex of the gable, dated 1782, which probably superseded an earlier one.

Fig. 1588.—Rathan Church. Doorway of Aisle.

The aisle has a round-arched doorway (Fig.1588) with a bar hole in the west wall, and over it a panel with an inscription in raised letters, “Alexander Fraser of Philorth, Patron,” a coat of arms, and part of a broken stone with an inscription. It is possible that these stones are not original, but have been inserted; they are so covered with ivy that it is not easy to determine. In the south gable (Fig.1589), which is crow-stepped, there is a well-moulded window with a straight lintel, and asundial over. In the east wall there is an ambry (Fig.1590) with an ogee arch, and alongside it what was probably a piscina is now filled with an old memorial inscription.

Fig. 1589.—Rathan Church.Window in South Gable.

Fig. 1589.—Rathan Church.

Window in South Gable.

The Church of Rathan was dedicated to St. Ethernan or Eddran, from whom the place is said to take its name. This saint lived towards the end of the sixth century. “He consecrated several churches, and particularly Rethin, which was afterwards dedicated to his own memory.”[256]

Richard, parson of Rathen, is a witness to charters by Adam, Bishop of Aberdeen, between 1207 and 1228, and the benefice of Rathyn was given to the Chapter and College of Canons of St. Machar’s Cathedral by Robert i. in 1328; and in 1520 Rathyne was let in lease for the yearly rent of £212.[257]

Of the early church nothing remains. On the south aisle of the existing structure, according to the Rev. Mr. Pratt, there is the date

Fig. 1590.—Rathan Church.Ambry.

Fig. 1590.—Rathan Church.

Ambry.

1646. It may be that part of the church is somewhat older than this date. Ten years earlier there appear to have been building and repairs going on; and an action was brought before the Privy Council to restrain Alexander Fraser of Philorth from putting up his arms on the newly built kirk stile.[258]What was the result of the case we do not know, but Fraser evidently succeeded in getting his name carved on the church, as we see, together with his arms and his title of patron.

About one mile south from the railway station of Fairlie, on the level ground facing the sea, and with its back close to the railway, stands the ruin of Southannan Castle. It has been an extensive structure (Fig.1591), having had a high enclosing wall, with a courtyard and an arched entrance porch to the west, defended with shot-holes (Fig.1592). There

Fig. 1591.—Southannan Chapel and Castle. Plan.

has been a considerable range of dwelling-house accommodation, two stories in height, along the north side, and smaller buildings on the east side, leaving a large courtyard in the centre, now forming the garden of the adjoining farmhouse (Fig.1593). The situation is fine, and the edifice is backed by the high range of thickly wooded hills which extends between Largs and Kilbride.

The lands of Southannan were granted to Lord Semple in 1504. Chalmers says[259]that John, Lord Semple, in the reign of JamesIV., builta chapel, which was dedicated to St. Annan or St. Ennan, and granted for the support of the chaplain in it an annual rent of 10 merks from certain lands, “with two sowmes of pasture grass in the mains of Southennan,

Fig. 1592.—Southannan Chapel and Castle. View from West.

and an acre of land on the north side of the cemetery belonging to the said chapel for the chaplain’s manse. This grant was confirmed by the king in June 1509. The ruins of the chapel are still extant in the

Fig. 1593.—Southannan Chapel and Castle. North-West Angle of Courtyard.

front of the fine mansion of Southennan, which is also in ruins.” “Saint Inan or Innan is said to have been a confessor at Irvine, and to have died in 839.”

The castle was much enlarged by Robert, fourth Lord Sempill, ambassador to the Court of Spain in 1596; but some of the existing remains have the appearance of being still more modern. The old mansion was dismantled towards the end of last century, and the materials used in the erection of farm-buildings and dykes. “What remains are chiefly the outer walls to the left (north) of the courtyard and some more ancient-looking remnants at the back (east), attached to which are remains of what may have been the chapel of the saint.”[260]This may be the case, as some of the walls are old and have been altered; but the vaulted chamber to the east has the appearance of being much more modern.

On the whole, we fear that the chapel has entirely disappeared, and that this account of Southannan should rather have appeared amongst the castles than the churches of Scotland.

The village of Stenton is situated about three and a half miles south-east from East Linton Railway Station. The church (Fig.1594), which, with the exception of the tower and the entrance doorway, is a total ruin (Fig.1595), extends for a length of about 65 feet, but as the east end is

Fig. 1594.—Stenton Church. Plan.

entirely gone, it is impossible to say how much longer it was. The width of the building within the walls is about 18 feet. The doorway (Fig.1596), which is on the south side near the west end, is arched with a flat segment of a circle, with the mouldings of the jambs (Fig.1597) continued round the arch, and with a splayed impost separating the arch and jambs. The arch is finished with a hood moulding. The small flat-headed window seen alongside the doorway (see Fig.1595) is an insertion probably of the seventeenth century, and no other feature of the church is now in existence, except indications of a north door (see Plan).

The tower, however, stands complete and entire at the south-west corner of the structure. It measures about 16 feet 6 inches by 15 feet

Fig. 1595.—Stenton Church. Tower, &c., from South-East.

9 inches over the walls, and is two stories in height. It is entered by a narrow flat lintelled door on the south side. The space inside is about 10 feet by 7 feet, but it has been narrowed by masonry at the ground level, as shown on the Plan, to a width of about 5 feet. The tower communicated with the church by a doorway, now built up.

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