170 The Pre- Re f ordination Churches of Berwickshire. 



the parish graveyard. In 1 296 '' Eadulphus de Hauden, parsona 

 de Whytesum " swore allegiance to Edward I. at Berwick, 

 along with the majority of the clergy of Berwickshire. The 

 name of " David, parsona de Hilton," likewise appears in the 

 list of these reverend traitors. 



Of tbe Church of Hilton there is now extant only a feature- 

 less fragment of the E. wall, 9 feet long, 8 feet high, and 2^ feet 

 thick. Some low mounds, nearly overgrown with grass, indicate 

 the position of the W. S. and N. walls. The building has 

 evidently been of the usual long and narrow type, and has 

 measured externally about 60 feet in length, by 16^ feet in 

 width. The site is a grassy knoll, partially shaded by trees, 

 close to the farm steading of Hilton, and rather more than a 

 mile to the east of the village of Whitsome. The graveyard in 

 which the ruins stand is now disused. It contains a few tomb- 

 stones, but none of earlier date than the beginning of the 17th 

 century. 



Though brief, and doubtless in many respects imperfect, the 

 foregoing notices will, I believe, be found to contain a tolerably 

 complete and accurate list of the ecclesiological remains of 

 Berwickshire. That these are so scanty may well excite our 

 regretful surprise, when we consider how many of the edifices 

 reared by the piety of our forefathers survived tb e destructive 

 inroads of the English, and the zeal of the Reformers. It has 

 been customary, among writers with a certain ecclesiastical bias, 

 to attribute the ruin which has overtaken the majority of our 

 ancient religious monuments to these two causes alone, and to 

 the latter more especially. But while the most sincere Presby- 

 terian, who is fully sensible of what his country owes to the 

 Eeformation, and to the heroism of Knox and its other leaders, 

 may be permitted to deplore that excess of zeal which deprived 

 us of so many glorious buildings, it would be easy to carry our 

 censures and regrets on this score much too far. The truth is 

 that the Reformation and the Reformers have much less to 

 answer for than the shameful ignorance and parsimony of those 



