The Pre- Reformation Churches of Beriuickshire. 121 



respectively. The two transepts, with the nave, which had been 

 repaired and fitted up for Presbyterian worship, were wholly 

 demolished in the operations of 1790 ; but the Wedderburn aisle 

 remained until 1 874, when, as already stated, it was removed at 

 the instigation of the minister of the parish, in the course of some 

 improvements which were being carried out on the church -yard. 

 The drawing (Plate II.) is an exact copy of a photograph of the 

 aisle in my possession, taken shortly before its demolition. A 

 stone coffin, found in excavating a grave within the church in 

 1736, was removed in 1790 to the manse, where it was utilised 

 for many years as a watering trough, and finally destroyed by 

 the minister about 1830. Such was the manner in which the 

 antiquities of the parish were dealt with by those who might 

 have been expected to take the chief interest in their preserva- 

 tion. 



There is a very beautiful statue of St. John, with pen in 

 hand, and an eagle by his side, in an old niche (with a modern 

 bracket, however) inserted in the external face of the north wall 

 of Duns Castle. Nothing has been ascertained regarding its 

 history, except that the niche and statue were built into the 

 wall when the castle underwent extensive alterations in 1820. 

 Can this have been a relic of the ancient church of Duns ? The 

 figure appears to be modern, but is so thoroughly mediaeval in 

 style and feeling that we may well believe it to have been copied 

 from an imperfect or mutilated statue of earlier date. 



A Chapel, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene,* stood about three 

 miles to the north-west of Duns, a little to the south of the farm- 

 steading of Chapel. Its remains were removed, and the founda- 

 tions dug up in 1808. One of the workmen engaged in the 

 operation, who died two years ago, described the building as 

 having been a plain rectangular one, without any features of 

 interest. Some ancient grave-stones were then lying about in 

 the surrounding burial-ground, but all traces of them have since 

 disappeared. On a wooded bank overlooking the Whitadder, 

 about half-a-mile to the east, there are visible some ruins, which 

 local tradition asserts to be those of the priest's house; but it is 

 in the highest degree improbable that the chapel was served by 

 a resident priest. 



In the Papal Taxation EoU of Churches and Monasteries in 

 Scotland, drawn up in the early part of the reign of Edward I., 



* Retours, Berwickshire, Nos. 205, 320. 

 Q 



