THE CHURCH OF HUME 219 



phase still exist. It must be kept in mind that the Church 

 of Scotland in Bernicia. in which Hume is situated, was Celtic 

 or Columban for at least a period of thirty years, from 634-664, 

 during which time Bishops sent from lona administered the 

 diocese from Lindisfarne or Holy Island. Traces of this 

 lona mission were bound to linger for a generation longer 

 after the return to lona in 664. Concerning the relics of this 

 Celtic church of Hume one is a Celtic bell of that quadrangular 

 shape, which was in use before the twelfth century, and was 

 meant to be held in the hand, and struck in order to sound. It is 

 of iron dipped in brass. It was found in the castle and came 

 into the possession of a former teacher of the school of the 

 adjoining parish of Ednam ; by the scholars it was inverted 

 and partly buried in the ground to serve the purpose of a 

 door scraper. Presented to the Tweedside Antiquarian Society 

 of Kelso it rests in honoured seclusion in the Museum 

 there. 



The same safe custody preserves the other possible relic of the 

 Celtic church of Hume. It is a brass bason, richly and curious- 

 ly ornamented with Celtic hammered work, which was taken out 

 of the old christening or verter well, that used to be on the farm 

 of Hume Byres. 



The church that existed before 1147, had either been replaced 

 by a new building, or had not been known to have been 

 consecrated when Bishop Robert of St. Andrews dedicated it to 

 St. Nicholas on the kalends of April of that year.' The con- 

 secration was signalised for all time by a gift of a carucate of 

 land from Cospatric, Earl of Dunbar. 



In connection with this custom of consecration or reconsecration 

 of parish churches, which appears to have prevailed in the 

 twelfth century, it must be kept in mind that the church in 

 Scotland had just passed through the second of her Re- 

 Formations, viz : — that of Margaret, Saint and Queen. This 

 was her Roman Catholic phase, and it dominated the church 

 until the Protestant Re-Formation of Knox in 156(». Her first 

 Re-Formation may be associated with the name of Wilfred. It 

 occurred about the year 665 and was signalised by the triumph of 

 the Anglo- Romish party over the native Celtic Bishops, sent from 



' lijber de Calchon, No. 288, 



