The Pre- Reformation Churches of Beriuickshire. 89 



believe, more churches were destroyed than were built, and 

 even after the independence of the kingdom had been secured 

 by the crowning triumph of Bannockbui-n, its resources were 

 too much exhausted to permit of the erection of religious 

 edifices on any very extensive scale. It is true that Bruce, who 

 seems to have added to his many splendid qualities a sincere and 

 earnest devotion, expended considerable sums in the repair of 

 several abbeys, such as Melrose and Dryburgh, which had 

 suffered at the hands of the English invaders ; and the work 

 then, or soon afterwards, executed takes rank among the most 

 beautiful architectural efforts to be found in Scotland, or perhaps 

 in Europe. But if we leave out of view the collegiate founda- 

 tions, most of which date from the fifteenth century, or the end 

 of the fourteenth, comparatively few absolutely new churches 

 were founded after this period, and scarcely any of them were 

 of the first class. In Berwickshire, the only remains of a later 

 date than the beginning of the fourteenth century are the nave 

 of Dryburgh, and the parish church of Ladykirk.* All the 

 other ancient churches within the bounds or the county, which 

 have left any traces, are either Norman or First-Pointed — that is 

 to say of twelfth or thirteenth century construction. 



I propose in the following pages to furnish the members of 

 the Club with a brief, but, as far as possible, complete des- 

 criptive list of such relics of pre-Reformation Christian art as 

 are left to us in Berwickshire. More than forty years ago, Dr 

 Joseph Eobertson, in his well-known essay on Scottish Abbeys 

 and Cathedrals, remarked that only one Scottish county ( Argyle) 

 had had its ecclesiology in any way explored as a whole. 

 Much has no doubt been done since to wipe away this reproach 

 to Scottish antiquarians, but many of the Lowland counties, and 

 Berwickshire among the number, still wait for a systematic 

 and thorough investigation of their ecclesiastical remains. Ex- 

 cepting Dryburgh Abbey and Coldingham Priory, these 

 remains in this county are, it must be admitted, of no great 

 importance ; but however simple and unpretending in style 

 most of them may be, almost all are possessed of sufficient 

 interest to demand a careful description ; and in view of the 

 paucity of such remains in Scotland, we cannot afford to 

 pass over any of them without notice. Their numbers are, 



* Portions of Bassendean and a window head preserved at Cockburns- 

 path are also Second-Pointed. 

 M 



