ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 7 



(Earlston) is somewhat peculiar. The Priory of Colding- 

 ham and the Abbey of Kelso would each appear to 

 have had an interest in the church or chapel, which 

 continued to be a fruitful source of contention between 

 the two religious houses until 1171, when an agreement 

 was come to whereby Kelso gave up all claim to the 

 chapel of Ercheldun and the church of St. Lawrence 

 in Berwick, and received undisputed right to the church 

 of Gordon.* 



In another charter by King Edgar, as to whose 

 genuineness I have never been able to satisfy 

 myself, a number of other manors, including those of 

 Chirnesid, Hilton, Huton, Fulden, Morthyngton, and 

 Vpsetinton, are bestowed on the bishop and monks of 

 Durham.f Even if authentic, the charter does not ap- 

 pear to have been followed by possession for any length 

 of time, for at the close of the thirteenth century we 

 find the churches of Chirnside, Hilton, Hutton, Foulden, 

 and iMordington appearing as rectories, the rights of 

 patronage being doubtless vested in the hands of the lay 

 proprietors of the respective manors. Even as regards 

 Aldcambus, the monks of Durham do not appear to have 

 considered the church a necessary pertinent of Coldingham. 

 In an inventory of the possessions of the monastery 

 compiled, according to Mr Raine, immediately after the 

 battle of Falkirk, in 1298, the church of Aldcambus is 

 said to be in the hands of the Master (Magister) of 

 Fame "in proprios usus"l This, hoM'ever, was no doubt 

 only a temporary arrangement, and we may, without 

 much hesitation, place Aldcambus on the list of churches 

 ' and chapels held by the Priory of Coldingham at the 

 beginning of the fourteenth century. The full list of 

 these churches within the Deanery of the Merse, em- 

 braced the following: — 1, the Priory church itself, with 

 the chapels of Ay ton, Eyemouth, and St. Nicholas, 



* Coldingham Charters, No. 643. 



t Ibid., No. 7. 



if Coldingham Correspondence, &c., Surtees Societj^, p. xcix, 



