REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1901 37 



of Whitekirk begin much later, as sereral of the early volumes 

 were lost long ago in a fire at the schoolmaster's house. 

 There came from the church at Tjninghame many interesting 

 relics : a Bible which used to be carried to and from the 

 Bass in the Covenanting times ; the Bell which announced a 

 death in the parish, and was carried at the head of the 

 burial procession ; a Basin for baptism, with a boss in the 

 centre for the laver to stand on ; silver and pewter Communion 

 plate, and leaden tokens more than 200 years old. The oak 

 front to the Earl of Haddington's gallery here was also 

 brought from his seat in Tyninghame Church. 



Whitekirk was not the original name of the church. We 

 know from a history of the church, which was found in the 

 library of the Vatican at Eome, that the spot was originally 

 called Fairknowe, and the church was dedicated to our Lady 

 of Fairknowe ; but at the Eeformation, when, as this account 

 says, it was given over to the preaching of heresy, the name 

 was changed to Whitekirk. A few years ago, when restoring 

 the south transept, I ventured to rededicate the window there 

 to our Lady of Fairknowe and of the Holy Well. For it is 

 a Holy Well church, and was first founded as a small shrine 

 in 1295 by a Countess of Dunbar, as a thankoffering for the 

 relief she received while in flight from Edward I., by drinking 

 the water of the well. The shrine was plundered and burned 

 in 1355 by sailors from the fleet of Edward III., and the 

 present nave and tower date from the restoration of that time. 

 Search has often been made for the well, but in vain. The 

 reputation, however, of the well and the sacred traditions 

 of the church made this place a frequent resort of pilgrims, 

 and there is said to have been as many as 16,000 pilgrims 

 in the year 1413. Among distinguished pilgrims in that 

 centurj was iEneas Sylvius, in 1435, afterwards Pope Pius 

 II., who walked all the way from Dunbar barefoot ; later 

 there came also the widow of James I. with her son. Until 

 the Reformation there were pilgrims' houses standing near 

 the church, but these were then destroyed. The building 

 which still remains in the field, and which has many old 

 pieces of masonry left in it, is said to have been the monks* 

 Tithing-barn. The tower of the church, in which there were 



