Field Meetings. 169 



been built in 1592, and to have measured 72 feet in length. The pulpit 

 was of oak, carved, and inscribed with the date 1598. It is now in the 

 Antiquarian Museum, Edinburgh. The remains of the church consist of 

 the east gable wall and small portions of the two side walls attached to it, 

 and the width of the building is 15 ft. 3 in. over the walls. The walls are 

 built of the common whinstone of the district, the corners being formed of 

 the same materials. The door, which is in the south wall, and a window 

 in the east wall, have hewn and chamfered dressings of a whitish sand or 

 gritstone ; and the lintel of the window deserves special notice. It is 

 curved lengthways, and gives to the window top the fomi of a segmental 

 arch, and its cross-section shews a hollow on the under side, a round on 

 the upper, and between them a flat edge about two inches broad, on which 

 there is an incised inscription in old English characters. The stone has 

 evidently been part of a dripstone of an arched opening, and there is little 

 doubt it is of mediaeval date. 



Two corbels of white stone, moulded and having leaf carvings, project 

 from the outer face of the gable wall at corresponding points near the 

 skewpits, which, as at present placed, could not have served any practical 

 purpose, and they have the appearance of being old work. Probably all 

 the hewn stones are remains of an earlier church. 



The bell turret is built of white sandstone, and there is a small panel in 

 the gablet of it, inscribed : Laus deo, 1636. 



The bell in the old turret, which measures 9 inches in heiglit and 10^ 

 inches diameter, is still in use, as there is not one in the new church. Its 

 age is unknown, and it bears no inscription. 



The early ecclesiastical history of Parton is meagre. We learn that in 

 August, 1296, Walter de Derringtou, parson of Parton, swore fealty to 

 Edward I., and nothing more until 1426, when John MacGilliauck was 

 rector. He was also secretary to Margaret Countess of Douglas, whose 

 rich tomb adorns the chancel of Lincluden Abbey. In the reign of James 

 IV. James Hepburn, afterwards Bishop of Murray, was rector. 



Some time ago, when the door step of the new church was being 

 repaired, a sculptured stone was turned up, and Mr Pattullo, the minister, 

 had it placed within the church for preservation, where it now is. The 

 stone is a very interesting one, and it clearly belongs to mediaival times. 

 It is part of a recumbent sepulcliral ettigy, cut in bluish white stone, and 

 is in such excellent preservation that its position must have been within 

 the church. 



There is at the bottom of the stone an inscribed border, the letters being 

 in old English and raised, and doubtless the border would extend round 

 the four sides of the complete slab. The effigy has been full length and in 

 half relief, and represented an ecclesiastic vested. The points of the feet 

 appear above the inscribed border, and over them the albe. Over the albe 

 is the stole, with ornamented end borders and fringes, inscribed in raised 

 old English letters what appears to he. the words 3!atjna» tnc. Above 

 the atok is a small part of the chcsihk, pointed, and coming low down, the 

 surface of which is richly and beautifully worked in scrolls and foliations, 

 representing embroidery, and the design possesses much delicacy and 

 grace. This beautiful monumental slab evidently belongs to a period 



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