east-lothian-1924/05-132

Transcription

NORTH BERWICK.] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN EAST LOTHIAN. [NORTH BERWICK.

sandstone and partly of the local igneous red
stone. The north wall of the west portion has
a row of corbels on the exterior to bear a
hoarding or penthouse roof. East of the
square tower is a square projection housing a
large fireplace with a massive stalk. This
fireplace would appear to have superseded a
projecting porch covered with a splayed stone
roof. In the inner wall of the fireplace is a
pointed arched window of 14th century date,
which of course was built up on the formation
of the fireplace, as it then looked into the flue.
The east wall of the porch was pierced by an
arched opening, which, later, was contracted
and subsequently filled in, when a keyhole-
shaped window was inserted to overlook an
apparently later entrance immediately to the
east. This entrance has a pointed arched head.
The fireplace has cupboards and a drain in the
west wall. The projection had opened into a
vaulted room under a pointed arch in two
orders, the room being afterwards lowered to
a more suitable height on the erection of the
fireplace. The north wall is carried eastwards
from the entrance above mentioned for a
distance of 56 1/2 feet, where it has returned in a
southern direction. South-west of the west
portion, and not in alinement with this building,
is a gateway 12 1/4 feet wide with a segmental
arched head. There is no visible trace of other
structures.
A number of pieces of mediæval glazed
brick, tile, and pottery have been unearthed
beside the ruin. Five of these tiles bearing
raised figures of animals and eleven others
bearing geometric and floral patterns are
preserved in the National Museum of Anti-
quities, and a selection is illustrated in the
volume of Convent Charters issued for the
Bannatyne Club. A residue lies within one of
the vaulted cellars of the nunnery. An inter-
esting discovery in course of excavation was a
mediæval brick kiln, which is situated beside
the modern entrance to the property. A well
on the bank above the ruins has the name of
Abb's Well, and in the ground near by some
lead piping was found.
HISTORICAL NOTE.-This house for Cistercian
nuns was founded probably in the third quarter
of the 12th century, since some time before
1177 Duncan, " dei gratia " Earl of Fife, con-
firmed a grant to the nuns by his father, Earl

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Duncan, of the land of " Gillecamestone,"
otherwise " Gillecalmestun," upon which the
buildings of the convent were erected. This
same Duncan senior had founded two hospitals,
one at the north harbour of the ferry, that is
at the port known as " Ardros," the other at
the south harbour, which was North Berwick,
the name of the crossing being still preserved
in Earlsferry on the Fife shore (passagium
Comitis in 1303);1 and these hospitals were
granted to the nunnery by the second Earl
Duncan along with certain lands in Fife and
other revenues. The nuns were obliged to
receive into the hospitals poor folk and pilgrims
as far as the capacity of these places allowed.
Later grants by Earl Duncan the second and
his successor Malcolm conferred some Fife
churches on the nunnery. Another benefactor
was Duncan, Earl of Carrick, from whom came
a revenue from land and the church of May-
bole in Ayrshire. The convent also possessed
estates in the immediate neighbourhood of
North Berwick.
A witness to a charter of Earl Malcolm (a 1228)
is James " prior (sic) of Noberwic." A sub-
prioress appears on record in 1220, a prioress
and " master " are in another document and
a prioress and " master of the same nuns "
in a confirmatory grant by a Prior of St.
Andrews in 1293. In 1386 Elena de Carric was
prioress, but very few successors are named till
we come to a succession of Hume ladies in the
16th century, when the position became vir-
tually a perquisite of the Humes of Polwarth.
A papal bull of Clement VII., calendared in
H.M. Register House and dated 4 May, 1525,
confirms to Isabella Hume the priory of North
Berwick with the annual rents etc. thereof not
exceeding £125 on the resignation of Alison
Hume the former prioress. The total valued
revenue of the Convent in the thirteenth
century was £815 : 18 : 4 and at the Refor-
mation £556 : 17 : 8 in money besides income
in kind.
In 1539 William Fowler, chaplain of the alter
of the Holy Cross, in the church of the monas-
tery, granted to Alexander Hume his three
crofts with the consent of Prioress Isabella
Hume and the Convent. These eighteen
" dames " subscribe " with our hand at the
pen," as do the twenty nuns five years later
who make a further grant of property to