Mr. J.^tuart on St. Ehha and Coldingham. 211 



the sanctity of the spot, doubtless, suggested it to Edgar as a 

 site for his new foundation in the end of the eleventh century. 

 As at Melrose, so at Coldingham, the new building was 

 erected at a little distance from the earlier foundation ; but 

 the memory of the abbess is preserved in association with 

 Saint Mary and St. Cuthbert. 



The resemblance to the history of Melrose, is continued in 

 the fact that a middle-age chapel was erected on the site of 

 St. Ebba's Monastery, as occurred at Old Melrose — while 

 both chapels were dependent on the new establishments. 



Mr. Langlands in his instructive anniversary address deli- 

 vered to the Members in 1859, has described the ecclesiastical 

 remains on two of the hills constituting Abb's Point, viz. : — 

 the Kirk Hill and the Headland. Those on the Headland 

 are popularly known as St. Ebba's Monastery. It appears, 

 however, that the ruins in both cases are the remains of two 

 chapels, both about the same size, being 72 feet in length by 

 21 and 22 in breadth, with chancels of a square form at the 

 south-east corners of the nave, of about 12 feet in breadth by 

 8J feet long. To the Avest of the church on the Headland, 

 are obscure remains of other buildings, while on the Kirk 

 Hill the boundary of a small cemetery is visible, in the centre 

 of which the chapel stood. The platform on which the ruins 

 on the Headland stand, is united to the mainland by a narrow 

 neck. The access from the land side was guarded by a deep 

 trench and strong wall across the neck, so that the space 

 ■within was impregnable. In the Investitures of the lands, 

 of which this is a part, it is described as the " Promontory of 

 Abbsbrugh" — a name suggestive of its use as a fortified site, 

 in which respect, as I have remarked, it would resemble the 

 sites of many other early monasteries. 



The chapel on the Kirk Hill, has continued to the present 

 time to be called " St. Abb's Kirk ;" and Carr, the local 

 historian of Coldingham Priory, who wrote about thirty 

 years ago, says that " the walls of this chapel and a small 

 Saxon arch were to be seen, till within these few years." 



It may be impossible to fix the precise date of this chapel, 

 but there are some statements in early records connected with 

 it which may help us to form an opinion. 



We learn from the account of the translation of St. Ebba's 

 remains from her own Monastery to the Priory, preserved in 

 the Breviary of Aberbeen, that her oratory or chapel had 

 become almost obliterated. Soon after this event, a man of 

 the name of Henry, was warned in a vision by a virgin of 



