OS1/34/2/19

Continued entries/extra info

[page] 19

Abercorn Monastery -- page 219
[Continued from page 18]

"The antiquities of Abercorn flourish greatly in Scottish history. They may be reduced, however to the
Roman Wall, the Monastery, and the Castle, etc. etc.
Bede alone has also repeatedly mentioned the monastery of Abercorn which may with
propriety be supposed to have occupied the site of the present church, But although he
condescends upon the fact of a bishop named Trium having resided there near the close of the seventh
Century till the Northumbrians were driven forth by the Picts with the defeat and Slaughter of
their King Egfrid in 684, there is no record of it amongst the religious houses of Scotland and
Buchanan in his day could not trace its vestiges. It has however been conjectured, that the neighbouring
places called Priestinch Priest's Folly and St. Serf's Law take their names from the days when
this monastic institution existed. John of Avenel the Lord of Abercorn was foolish enough to
dispute with the Bishop of Dunkeld in the twelfth century about the patronage of Abercorn Church.
As might be supposed at such a period the bishop triumphed." -- Life on Land and Water at South Queensferry pages 218, 219.

"This parish derives its name, written formerly Abercorne from the ancient monastery of Abercurnig
The confluence of a rivulet called the Cornie burnie with another stream at the bottom
of the high bank on which the church stands points out the probable origin of the name
as descriptive of the site of the monastery" - New Stat. Acct. [Statistical Account] of Co. [County] Linlithgow page 18.

The Monastery of Abercurnig is more than once mentioned by Bede appears to have [Continued on page 20]