NOTES ON CHURCH AND BARONY OF LINTON 161 



a remote resemblance between it and a fragment, built into 

 the wall of an old Norman church, at Fordington, in Dorset, 

 representing a mounted knight slaughtering men on foot ; 

 but the evidence produced is insufficient to support such an 

 assumption. Of all Saints on the Calendar, perhaps St. 

 George* is the last we should expect to find over the door 

 of a Scottish Parish Church. In olden days Scotland could 

 boast as her patron and protector the first called apoetle, 

 whereas the Cappadocian freebooter was Patron of England. 

 Needless to add, the sculpture is probably too old to have 

 been a St. George, forced upon the Church in the days of 

 the Eaglish occupation, or wars of succession. 



The same objections would not apply to St. Michael, Patron 

 of Normandy. All over Europe there are numerous examples 

 of the dedication of churches, on mounds, to the Archangel, 

 ever since about 500 a.d., when Monte Gargano,t the spur on 

 the Italian boot, witnessed the erection of a splendid sanc- 

 tuary in his honour. Mont-Saint-Michel, in Normandy, built 

 on the same model, and Saint Michael's Mount, in Cornwall, 

 furnish other illustrations. To come nearer home, the village 

 church of Felton,]: in Northumberland, stands on an " eminence 

 dedicated to Saint Michael." Tradition says that this stone 

 stood originally over the door of the church ; if so, the 

 fact is instructive, when one recollects that a tympanum, 

 without a porch, is an architectural detail of the Norman 

 period. On the western front of the Cathedral at Bale 

 there is also an ancient group, much like that on the 

 Somerville stone. 



It must further be noted, however, that the crest§ of the 

 Avenels, perhaps the earliest lords of the soil, who had lands 

 in this neighbourhood in the 12th century, represents a 

 knight mounted, and encountering a dragon. Here possibly 

 is another clue to the solution of the mystery. 



* It has been estimated that there are in England 162 churches 

 dedicated in honoar of St. George, bat in Scotland that dedication 

 is almost anknown. — Vid. Parker's Calendar of the Anglican Church, 

 p. 65. 



t Crawford's Rulers of the South, ii., 125. 



I Wiillis' Ant. of Northumberland, il., 357. 



§ Book of Ancient Scottish Seals (Maitland Club), Plate V,, No, 4, 

 Y 



