154 REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1907 



of curios and weapons, besides a handsome collection of 

 stuffed birds, were among the objects of interest provided for 

 their entertainment indoors ; but it was deemed expedient to 

 delay any examination of them till the party had returned 

 from visiting the Parish Church and the adjoining property 

 of Rathburne. For their enjoyment of the former item 

 of the day's programme they were fortunate in having as 

 their guests Rev. J. J. Drummond, B.D., Jedburgh, who in 



the course of his ministry in the parish had 

 Church devised and carried out a scheme of church 



of Long= renovation, and Rev. Wm. D. Harvie, M.A., 

 formacus. the present incumbent, each of whom supplied 



interesting details of the alterations and improve- 

 ments which in 1892 had been executed by a committee of 

 the Heritors and subscribers. For many centuries a church 

 had existed near the spot now enclosed as a graveyard, 

 and in all probability the foundations of the present fabric 

 are very ancient. At the date of the renovation a great 

 quantity of human bones were discovered only a few inches 

 below the flooring; and almost underneath the Longformacus 

 gallery a pre-Reformation grave-cover, bearing an incised 

 cross with graduated stem, was unearthed, which has since 

 been set up in one of the vestibules of the building. The 

 present structure may be assigned to the beginning of the 

 18th century, being modelled after the plain fashion in vogue 

 at that period. The original pulpit, and the precentor's 

 desk at a lower level in the front, stood on the South wall 

 facing the gallery of the transept, while at the East and 

 West ends similar galleries reached up to the low, flat ceiling, 

 imparting a depressing and dingy appearance to the interior. 

 In consequence, the scheme of improvement consisted mainly 

 in removing the inner roof and the galleries, and, by 

 reseating the area, in accommodating the large proportion of 

 the worshippers there. The curtailment of sittings, however, 

 necessitated the addition of an apse, and the extension of 

 the nave Westward, the North wall being pierced with a 

 Gothic arch which opens into what is now the Whitchester 

 pew. A new oak pulpit of simple design was placed on the 

 angle of the South-East pillar of the apse, and a central aisle 

 formed a convenient division between the rows of dark-stained 



