260 REPORTS OF MEETINGS FOR 1911 



nieces of the late Mrs, Currie of Linthill. In one of the 

 burial enclosures, marking the site of the old church of 1110, 

 lies the stone coffin of a child of whose history there is no 

 authentic record. Into the South end of the enclosure belonging 

 to the ancient family of Riddell of that Ilk is built a very old 

 stone, bearing the date of 1110 between the letters H. and R. 

 According to a note by Sir Walter Scott, appended to the 

 Lay of the last Minst7'el, at the line where he speaks of " ancient 

 Riddell's fair domain," there were interred in this enclosure 

 two stone coffins, discovered in the foundations of an ancient 

 chapel at Riddell, one containing an earthen pot filled with 

 ashes, and inscribed with arms bearing the date 797, the other, 

 dated 937, enclosing the bones of a man of gigantic stature. 

 "In the Inquisitio Davidis, 1116, Lilliesleaf is first mentioned, 

 and the earliest incumbent of whom there is any trace 

 was Huchtred, who made an arrangement with Sir Anschittel 

 of Ridel as to the revenues of the Church of Lilliesleaf, con- 

 firmed by Pope Alexander III. about 1159. He was succeeded 

 by Walter, whose name is subscribed as a witness to a grant of 

 Church lands to the monks of Glasgow in 1186. He was in turn 

 succeeded by Simeon, who witnessed a similar document in 

 1192, and in the 13th century by Idello, Stephen, and John de 

 Rutherford. Between 1440 and 1460 Robert Turnbull ministered 



as rector of the parish. About the same 

 Historical period the church was taken by Pope Eugenius 

 Notes. IV. from the Bishop of Glasgow, but was 



restored thereafter by Pope Sixtus IV. At a 

 still later period, it came into the possession of the Duke 

 of Lennox. At the Reformation, Lilliesleaf was grouped with 

 Longnewton, Bowden and Melrose under the ministry of 

 Thomas Duncanson — a reader, Archibald Simsoun, being in 

 charge of the parish ; but in 1588 it was allotted a pastor 

 of its own in the person of Thomas Wilkie. Exactly three 

 centuries later the twelfth minister since the Reformation 

 was inducted to the charge, which he still occupies, however 

 unworthily. During the period of the Covenanters, Lilliesleaf 

 was well known as a district favourable to their cause, and 

 parishioners of local position and influence aided and protected 

 them. Among these the laird of Riddell, the Sir John Riddell 



