roxburgh-1956-vol-2/-05_061

Transcription

No. 567 -- MELROSE PARISH -- No. 567

lamentations, let whosoever see this tomb wash their
cheeks with tears. For a dutiful and loyal pro-
tector has been snatched away, a pastor who had
watchful care over his flock. Doing his duty thus
with distinction in both walks of life, he brought great
benefits to church and people. And now with Christ
he enjoys the reward of his labours, and his fame re-
mains to be celebrated on earth ".) The admonition
MEMENTO MORI (" Remember death "), together with
a skull and cross-bones, is carved at the foot of the
memorial.
(3) Fourth S. chapel. An inscribed panel reading
HIC IACET DOMINVS / IACOBVS PRINGALL/VS A GALLO-
SHIELS / EQVES QVI OBIIT / VIGESIMO DIE AV/GVSTI
AN(NO) DOM(INI) / 1635 AETATIS SVAE / 60. (" Here
lies Sir James Pringle of Galashiels, knight, who died
on the 20th day of August in the year of the Lord
1635 aged 60.")
(4) Fourth S. chapel. A memorial bearing a rude
effigy of James Pringle's father accompanied by the
inscription [HEIR] LIES ANE HONORA[BIL] MAN ANDRO /
[PRIN]GIL F[EVAR] OF G[ALLOSH]EILS / [QUH]A DECESIT
28 OF FEBRVARE AN(NO) / DOM(INI) / 1585.
(5) Fifth S. chapel. A recumbent slab with an
inscription reading HEIR LIES OF GVD MEMORIE DAME
MARRGARET KER / FIRST WYFE TO IAMES PRINGIL OF
WODHOVS AND / EFTER HIS DECEIS MAREIT SIR DAVID
HOME OF / WODDERBVRNE KNYCHT QVHA DECEISSIT
THE 24 OF / FEBRVARE ANNO DO(MINI) 1589.
(6) Fifth S. chapel. Another recumbent slab with
an inscription HEIR LYES ANE HO/NORA[BIL VO]MAN
CRISTIN LVNDIE / SPOVS TO IAM[ES PRINGIL OF]
QVHYTBANK SCHO DECEIS/SIT 19 IVLY 1602 /
LAMENT FOR / SYN AND STYL THOV MVRN /
FOR TO THE CL/AY [ALL] VE MAN TVRN.
(7) Sixth S. chapel. A weatherworn slab bearing
an incised effigy of the deceased bordered by an
inscription in Gothic lettering which reads HIC IACET
HONORA/BILIS VIR GEORGI[VS] HALIB[V]RTON IN . . . .
[OBIIT 1 OCTOBER ANNO DNI MDXXXVIII] (" Here lies
an honorable man George Haliburton in . . . who
died 1 October in the year of the Lord 1538.")
(8) At the S. end of the 13th-century Galilee there
are two burials, one of which has a coped cover
without an inscription.

TOMBSTONES IN THE CHURCHYARD.
1. A small headstone with a rounded top bearing
the inscription HEIR LYES / IOHN MILS / SEVEN
CHI/LDREN N I / C M 1693.
2. A small cubical stone enriched at the corners
with carvings of an hour-glass, a beetle, a cherub's
head and a skull. One side is inscribe THEY AL /
DEPARTIT / BE TWIXT / another side supplies FEB
AND / IVNNI / 1670. This block stands beside the
stone last described, and its inscription may refer
to the children mentioned thereon. It is likewise at
the foot of a recumbent slab on which the inscription
is illegible but for the words DIED DEC / 5 1705.
3. A small headstone with a curved top carved on
one side with a skull, a rose, an hour-glass, and
cross-bones, all contained within a cabled border
looped at the upper corners ; the other side is
inscribed HERE LIE/S ANDROU HEITO/N WHO DIED IN
(sic) THE / 10 OF IUNE 1684 AGE/63 HEIR LYES IOHN /
HEITON WHO DIED / THE 24 OF AVG/UST 1696 HIS
AGE 64. This stone is enclosed in a frame work of
much later date.
4. A small headstone of 1701 ; of the inscription
no useful reading can be given.
5. A headstone with a shaped top bearing the
initials I M and the date 1686.
6. A small headstone having on one side a skull
and cross-bones framed by pilasters, cornice, and
pediment, the other side being inscribed HEIR LYS
ALEXAN/DER BVNY SONE TO / THOMAS BUNY ME/ASON
IN NEUSTID / WHO DIED IN MAY THE 3 HIS AGE 15
16 [2 OR 9]6.
7. A headstone with a curved top which seems to
be dated 1681 ; the inscription is so heavily covered
with lichen as to be illegible.
8. A headstone with rounded top commemorating
ISOBEL BOUIE. The date is buried, but the lettering
seems to belong to the 17th century.
9. A small headstone commemorating [A]GNES
MEINE, who died in 1678.
10. A small headstone commemorating ROBERT
MEIN, a mason, and his wife whose name is illegible.
One or other died in 170[?].
11. A small headstone with rounded top com-
meorating the children of ANDRO WI/LSON MEASON /
[IN] NEVSTEID ; their names are ill cut and partly
illegible, but were probably JANET, ANDROW, and
ANN. The inscription ends THIS / DONE ANNO / 1701.
12. A small headstone with rounded top com-
memorating IAMES REID, a gardener in Melrose, who
died in 1700.
13. A grave-slab, now broken into three fragments
and inscribed [?HEIR] LYIS / [AN]DROV M[EI]N MEA/SON
IN NEVSTEID / SVMTIME / CALD VAS WHO DECEISIT IN
ANO 162[?4] AND OF HIS . . . The latter part of the
inscription, from CALD, is cut round the margin.
The square and compasses formerly seen on this
stone1 have been obliterated.
14. A narrow grave-slab decorated with a plain
moulding and bearing at its head a moulded panel
enclosing what may have been a skull and an hour-
glass. The inscription is illegible but seems to be
in 17th-century lettering. The stone is of interest
as it perpetuates a mediaeval type.
NOTE ON JOHN MOROW. John Morow is of interest
as being one of the very few Scottish mediaeval
master-masons to sign his work, for there can be
little doubt that he carried out at least the bay of the
S. transept on which his mason's mark and coat of
arms appear. The compasses, the mason's mark,
and the invocation of St. John, the patron saint of
Scottish masons, all go to show that he was a practical

1 Vernon, History of Freemasonry in Roxburgh, Peebles and Selkirkshire, 11.

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