The Pre- Reformation Churches of Berwickshire. 163 



POLWARTH. 



A Chuech, dedicated to St. Kentigern, existed here at a remote 

 period ; but the statement in the Latin inscription* on the 

 south wall of the present building, to the effect that it was 

 dedicated and endowed as a rectory before the year 900, does 

 not appear to be supported by sufficient evidence, although the 

 old spelling of the name — Poules worth — points to a Saxon 

 origin. Bishop Bernham dedicated the church on 7th April 

 1242. Its parson, Adam Lamb, was one of the Berwickshire 

 clergy who paid homage to Edward I. in 1296. The benefice 

 was valued in the Ancient Papal Taxation Poll at £14 5s 6d. 



The Parish Church of Polwarth is popularly believed to be 

 a very ancient structure ; and what a local guide book calls " its 

 time-worn and venerable appearance " imparts to it an air of 

 antiquity mucih greater than it can properly lay claim to. It is, 

 in fact, as the inscription already referred to tells us, a re- 

 construction, so recent as 1703, on an ancient site; and the 

 ecclesiologist looks in vain for any trace of the original fabric, 

 unless it be the vaulted sepulchral aisle underneath the east end, 

 which is noteworthy as having been, in 1684, the hiding place of 

 Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth, who afterwards became Earl of 

 Marchmont, and Lord High Chancellor of Scotland. The 

 dimensions of the building, 55 feet by 24 feet externally, 

 indicate that it rests upon the old foundations, the proportions 

 being those common to many small pre-Eeformation churches. 



* This inscription is as follows : — 



" TEMPLUM HOC DEI CULTUI IN ECCLKSIA DE POLUARTH 

 A FUNDI DOMINIS EJUSDEM PRIUS DESIUNATIOXIS 

 DKIN COGNOMINIS .^iDIFICATUM ET IJICATUM ANTE ANNUM 

 SALUTIS 900 RKCTORIOQUK BENEb'IClO UOTATUM 



SEI) TEMPORIS CUKSU LABEFACTUM 

 A DNO JOHANNE ASANCTO CLARO DF, HERDMANSTON 

 GENERO DNI PATRICII DE POLUARTH DE EODEM 



CIRCA ANNUM 1378 KEPARATUM 

 TANDEM VERO VBTUSTATE AD 'RUINAM VERGENS 

 SUMPTIBUS UTRIUSQUE PBOSAPI^ H^EREDIS 

 DNI PATRICU HUMK COMITIS DE MARCUMOXT ETC. 



S0MJII SCOTLE CANCELLARII 

 A DNiE GRISELL^ KAR COMITISS^ EJUS SPONS^ 

 SEPULCURI SACELLO ARCUATO RECENS CONSTRUCTUM 

 ET CAMPANARUM OBELISCO ADAUCTUM FUIT 

 ANNO DOMINI 1703. 



