east-lothian-1924/05-162

Transcription

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

the inscription ' Pencaitland feare ye the Lord
1638 ' in raised lettering 3/4 inch long. The bell
is suspended by a single canon.

SUNDIALS. (a) Three-faced dial on south-
west buttress.
(b) Three-faced dial on apex of
east gable.
(c) On lintel on south face of
octagon of tower.

TOMBSTONES.-These call for no special
mention, but one may be instanced on account
of its exhibiting a late armorial bearing ; it
is built into the exterior of the south wall of
the church in front of and partly obscuring
another and later stone commemorating Tho.
Wedderburn. Within a moulded border is a
panel, the upper portion of which contains a
scrolled cartouche enriched with fleur-de-lys,
within which is a shield bearing a lion rampant
within a border engrailed (Renton) impaling
an oak tree eradicated (Watson) ; flanking the
shield are the initials G.R. and M.W. The
lower part of the panel is occupied by the
inscription.

VIRO PROBO GEORGIO RENTO / NO . ET .
IPSIUS . FAMILIÆ . P . / E . H . M QUI OBIIT
28 / MARTII AN 1640 ÆTATIS / SUÆ 76.

The two small 17th century structures which
stand at either gate are interesting. They
are understood to have been offering houses,
but for this purpose they are unusually large.
The masonry is of rubble and has been harled.
The roofs, which are of timber, have been tiled.

HISTORICAL NOTE.-In the late 12th and
13th centuries the church belonged to the
convent of Kelso by grant of Edverard of
" Pencatheland " and his son Walter,2 Walter's
charter of c. 1180 being witnessed by Bernard,
chaplain of Pencaitland. But about 1343 we
have a grant of the church to Dryburgh by
Sir John Maxwell of Pencaitland.3 In 1606
the church was dissolved from the abbacy of
Dryburgh and its patronage transferred to the
Earl of Mar.4

1 Fasti. Eccl. Scotic. i. p. 384 (new edit.) ;
2 Liber etc. Calchou Nos. 13, 83, 84, 369 ;
3 Reg. Dryburgh p. 271 (cf. Introd. p. xxi) ;
4 Act. Parl. ii. p. 346.

xiv. N.E. 1 September 1913.

84

CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC STRUCTURES.

136. Winton House.-This is the choicest
example of Renaissance architecture in the
county and one of the important buildings
in that style in Scotland.
The site is on the high left bank of the
river Tyne, less than half a mile north-west of
Pencaitland, where stood an earlier building, a
long L-shaped structure of indeterminate ex-
tent raised by George, fourth Lord Seton, who
died in 1508. This was " burnt by the Eng-

[illustration inserted]
FIG. 126.-Winton House (No. 136).

lish " and little of the building is now traceable.
In 1620 George, tenth Lord Seton and third
Earl of Winton, " founded and built the great
house from the foundation, with all the lairge
stone dykes about the precinct, park, orchard
and gardens thereof."1 In the 19th century
the structure was extended by the addition of
modern wings, which partially obscure the fine
Renaissance work (fig. 124).
What remains of the earliest masonry is of
freestone rubble, while the Renaissance and
modern additions are of ashlar. The main
portion (fig. 126) runs almost east and west
and measures 77 feet by 28 1/2 feet, while a
wing, which projects, in alinement with the
east wall, northwards for a length of 23 feet
has a breadth of 25 feet ; in the west re-
entering angle is a semi-octagonal tower
housing a wheel-staircase, and at the north-
west angle a square tower containing a second
and more spacious turnpike stair, which
ascends to the first floor and has bedrooms
above. These are reached from a circled