iiEFUUT OF MEETINGS t'OR 1907 17? 



of time, and perhaps in atonement for the ill-treatment meted 

 out to him, a church, dediculed to St. Cuthbert and controlled 

 from the Priory of Ooldingham, was re-erected on this ancient 

 site. This building continued till the founding, at Fordel, of 

 Melrose Abbey by King David, when, along with the ancient 

 church lands, it was conferred as a possession upon the newer 

 house. On the Chapel-knowe, at present occupied by the garden 

 already mentioned, a sanctuary seems to have remained ; and 

 judging from the quantify of human bones unearthed in the 

 vicinity, the gravej'ard of tlio convent may have continued 

 in use likewise. A straight road ran from this church 

 of St. Cuthbert to the Abbey of St. Mary at Melrose, along 

 wbich many a pilgrim may have tiavelled in the hope of 

 securing the "indulgence of forty days" ofiered by Symon, 

 Bishop of Galloway, in 1321 to all who should visit the 

 chapel of St. Cuthbert of Old Melrose, or should "contribute 

 to the rebuilding of the same place recently burned by the 

 English." Still later, in 1437, a monk of Melrose, who had 

 visited Home and procured spiritual privileges at the hands 

 of "our holy father, Paip Martin V.," assumed authority, 

 as from His Holiness, to publish indulgences to as many 

 as would undertake the liiie pilgrimage on the days of St. 

 Cuthbert, in whose honour the chapel had been built. A 

 sculptured stone, which forms the lintel of the eighteenth 

 century summer-house, of which notice has been already 

 taken, and which bears the date 1478, forms another link 

 in the chain of evidence, while the history closes with the 

 report of Lord Eure to King Henry VIII., in 1544, that 

 " Scottishmeu and Englishmen together have burnt Old 

 Melrose." ^' 



A walk through the grounds and a visit to the holy well, 

 situated beneath a shady bank to the South of the conjectured 

 burying-place, brought an enjoyable ramble to a successful 

 close, but left sufficient time only to drive back to Melrose 

 for dinner. In consequence, the kind invitation of Mr James 

 Curie to visit Priorwood could not be taken advantage of, 



* For a fuller account of the history, readers are directed to the 

 paper by Professor Cooper already named, from which much of 

 the foregoing information has been obtained. 



