88 Pre- Reformation Ghurches in Beriuicksldre. 



It is clear from what we find in Becle and other early annalists 

 that it was at the eastern and western extremities of the district 

 now comprehended in the county of Berwick, that these zealous 

 missionaries began their labours and first planted churches. 

 At these points, if anywhere, it was possible to subsist, not 

 merely by hunting, but by the cultivation of the soil as well. 

 The interior of the county was then, as it continued to be long 

 afterwards, covered with dense forests on the higher parts : in 

 the lower it was a vast morass. Only in a few isolated localities, 

 therefore, could there be population sufficient to admit of the 

 construction of churches ; but in all likelihood the sites chosen 

 at that remote era were in most cases adhered to when the 

 parochial system came to be instituted in the succeeding cen- 

 turies. Indeed the names still borne by several of the parishes 

 in the county {e.g. Ayton, Coldingham, Mertoun, Edrom, etc.) 

 give clear indications of their Saxon origin. 



No remains of the religious structures erected at that early 

 period, or indeed at any time previous to the end of the eleventh 

 century, are now extant, unless those of the ancient chapel at 

 Abbey St. Bathans form an exception. The materials of which 

 they were constructed — in most cases wood and turf, in a few 

 others stones and earth — were such as to put durability out of 

 the question ; and it would be a mere waste of time to look for 

 any trace of the religious art of our Saxon forefathers among 

 the ruins of our ancient churches and churchyards, excepting 

 perhaps some monumental crosses or tombstones, or which it is 

 possible a few fragments may still exist, though, with the ex- 

 ception of those at Coldingham, Norham, and Holy Island,* 

 I am not aware of any examples either in the county or on its 

 borders. 



There caa be no question that the era of greatest architec- 

 tural activity in Scotland — I am. referring of course to religious 

 architecture— commenced about the close of the eleventh century 

 and continued down till very near the termination of the thir- 

 teenth, when the War of Independence placed a fatal arrest 

 on the progress of Scottish art, and banished from men's minds 

 all projects and ideas save one — the preservation of the national 

 freedom. In the course of that long struggle, we may well 



* Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. iv., p. 218. Sculptured Stones of Scotland, 

 vol. II., Plates XXVI., xxvii., xxviii., ex. The strong Celtic feeling exhibited 

 iu the ornamentation of these fragments is worthy of note. 



