224 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



The comparative scarcity of Mediaeval bells on the 

 Border may be attributed to various causes. 

 Reasons One great foe to Church property in the 



for their Middle Ages was Fire ; another, Theft- 



Scarcity. Tradition asserts that "one of the principal 

 bells upon the Cathedral of Durham was 

 taken from Oxnam."^ Kindred traditions regarding the 

 rape of bells exist at Coldingham, Linton, Eckford, and 

 other places. During the turmoil of the Reformation 

 period, bells were recognised objects of pillage, both 

 North and South of the Tweed. Under the cloak of 

 reforming zeal, some, having imbibed the tenets of Zwingli, 

 discountenanced the use of bells, holus bolus, as instru- 

 ments of idolatry. Then we have also the much-quoted 

 tale of Archbishop Abbot, who told Sir Henry Spelman 

 that, on his visit to Scotland in 1605 — " Not only had 

 the country churches no bells, but when at Dunbar he 

 asked the minister* how they chanced to be without such 

 a commodity, he, "thinking the question strange," replied : 

 — " It was one of the Reformed Churches ! " 



" Bells were not universal, even at the end of the 18th 

 century, and when provided, might often be seen " hanging 

 upon trees for want of bell-houses."^ 



The prime cause of the scarcity of ancient bells must 

 be sought, however, in Igorance and Parsimony. To 

 save the pockets of their niggardly custodiers, among 

 heritors it became the fashion, in later times, to have 

 the Church bells recast. In this many resembled the 

 Glasgow Town Council, who, in March 1610, ordained the 

 bell in the Black Friars steeple to he "taken downe, and 

 sent to Holland to be castin over againe, zuith the same 

 name, arms, and year of God, as is presently thereupon." 

 At Morebattle, the church bell was recast no less than 

 twice in the 18th Century, once in 1721, and again in 



^ Ber. Nat. Club, Proc, 1885, p. 21. 



^ The minister in question was, no donbt, James Home, haled before 

 the High Commission in 1620, for non-observance of the Articles of 

 Perth. 



^Scottish Ahbeyn and Cathedrals. Robertson, 101. 



