Old Churchyard

The ivy-covered ruined church is supposedly of 1761-2, with an 1803 schoolroom at the east end further extended by a burial aisle to the local Scott family in 1872. (1) What the Buildings of Scotland Borders volume (1-03) describes as a ‘hogback stone 0.2 km S of the church’ in fact seems to be the coped grave slab c 20 m south of the south-east corner of the old church; c 2.0 m long by 0.50 m wide and 0.23 m high, it is in poor condition and broken into several pieces; it seems to have had a ridge with a central groove, and sides with four rows of semi-circular tegulae. 12th century; a common type in the North of England. (2) An intact tapered and slightly coped grave slab now lying in the south-west corner of the Scott burial aisle, overall, 1.98 m by 0.55 m, with roll-moulded angles to the central panel and sloping sides. At the head of the panel is an odd circular sinking 160 mm in diameter and 60 mm deep, with below it an incised chalice with an oddly triangular bowl and base. Medieval. (3) A stone c 0.26 m square re-used as the top surviving stone of the external east jamb of a window to the east of the doorway on the south of the main body of the church. It is not clear whether it has been part of a sepulchral monument or an architectural feature; it has two carved faces, with an angle of c 80° between them, but set at right angles to one another. The present south face has the figure of an archer shooting to the r.; the west face has a beast with a long curling tail dividing into foliage, with a ball beneath it; the head is missing. The BOS describes ‘what may be a crudely carved Agnus Dei’ but this seems unlikely; the carving is actually of surprisingly good quality. The cited 12th -century date however seems unarguable. (4) A stone 0.83 by 0.26 m re-used in the external face of the north wall of the church, above the head of a blocked window near the west end of the wall. Incised design, the stepped base of a cross, now upside down. A broad slab, perhaps a floor stone, and perhaps late medieval. (5) Recumbent tapering slab 6 m south of the south-east corner of the Scott burial aisle, 16.2 by 0.51 m, with a double-chamfered surround, worn and now devoid of any further carving. Medieval.

Peter Ryder July 2015

Also, in the churchyard, is the grave of Walter Bertram Potter brother of Beatrix Potter authoress of many children's books. Behind the church is a cholera pit containing graves of victims of the cholera epidemic when the Waverley line was being built in the late 1840s.

There is an interesting single arched bridge over the Ale, possibly 13th century, from which can be seen on the cliff downstream Maggie Dun's cave. this cave contains a seat and hearth carved out of rock. On the summit of the hill on the left is Castlehill fort.