east-lothian-1924/05-148

Transcription

OLDHAMSTOCKS.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [OLDHAMSTOCKS.

cist burials were discovered 340 yards south of
high water mark, while skeletal remains were
found at the burn side just below the 25 feet
contour.

ii. S.E. (unnoted). 8 August 1923.

120. Hut Circles and Enclosures, Craigleith.-
On the isle of Craigleith which lies 3/4 of a mile
north of North Berwick a number of hut
circles and enclosures 12 to 18 feet in diameter
can be traced. They lie on the 75 feet contour
line towards the south-western part of the
islet and are probably the remains of shielings.

ii. N.E. (unnoted). 8 August 1923.

SITES.

121. Castle Hill, North Berwick (site?).-On
the East Links, North Berwick, is Castle Hill,
a natural mound about 40 feet in height. The
summit is roughly pearshaped and measures
in diameter 36 by 30 yards. To the south is a
bank to which the mound is attached by a
narrow neck. There is no trace of a ditch at
base or across the neck. There are mounds
and traces of stonework on the summit pro-
bably relics of an early stone castle.

ii. S.E. 2 August 1922.

The O.S. map indicates the following site:-

122. Chapel, Tantallon Castle. iii. S.W.

OLDHAMSTOCKS.

ECCLESIASTICAL STRUCTURES.

123. Parish Church, Oldhamstocks.-The
parish church of Oldhamstocks lies within its
churchyard at the western end of the village.
It is a comparatively modern building of scant
merit architecturally, built for the most part on
the foundations of an early church, of which
only a portion of the east gable and certain
courses of masonry at the ground level remain.
Still there is evidence that the earlier church
was oblong on plan and had a square tower,
somewhat broader than its modern successor,
projecting from the centre of the west gable.
Across the east gable of the present building
there returns a boldly splayed c. 14th century
double base course, 2 feet 6 inches high with a
total projection of 11 1/2 inches, which apparently

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returned along the other walls of the church.
On the south-west angle of the building at a
height of 12 feet from the ground is set a
16th century inclining sundial, which is canted
from the south wall and has, with its projecting
gnomon, been wrought from a single stone. The
top is hollowed to form one dial ; a portion
of the halfits is cut back at an angle to form
two other dials, one to the east the other to
the west, while a fourth dial, below the hollow
dial on top, is moulded like a Gothic rib and
serves also as a gnomon. The treatment thus
resembles that of the terminal sundial set on
a buttress at the south-
west angle of Cockburnspath

[illustration inserted]
FIG. 111.-Oldham-
stocks Church (No.
123).

Parish Church.*
A vaulted building (fig.
111), measuring 14 feet 9
inches from north to south
and 17 feet 2 inches from
east to west within walls
3 feet thick, projects east-
ward from the east gable.
It is entered through a lintelled doorway in the
south wall, is lit by a late Gothic three-light
window in the east wall and is ceiled with a
semicircular barrel-vault covered exteriorly
with stone slabs. The head of the east window
is filled with tracery of a peculiarly rude and
debased description ; the mullions and jambs
are grooved for glass.
Exteriorly the window is flanked on either
side by a heraldic panel. On the northern,
under mantling and a scroll bearing the motto
" Keep Traist " (?), is a shield charged per
pale : dexter on a chevron a rose between two
lions combatant, in base a buckle in form of a
heart (Hepburn of Blackcastle) ; sinister three
pelicans vulned and on a chief three stars
(or mullets) (? Paterson). A John Paterson
was parson of Oldhamstocks in 1637.1 On the
southern panel is a shield parted as to the
lower third of the field, the upper portion con-
taining the initials T H (Thomas Hepburn,
parson of Oldhamstocks) and his arms as
above. On the lower portion of the shield
are the initials M S (Margaret Sinclair, his wife),
an engrailed cross (for Sinclair) and the date
1581.

* Inventory of Monts. in Berwickshire p. 23 ;
cf. Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. vol. xxiv., pp. 181-3 ;
cf. also p. 173.