The village of Cockburnspath is situated about seven miles south-east of
Dunbar. The church here is peculiar and unique, in having a round tower
in the centre of the west wall. It is a long narrow building (Fig.
1349), measuring about 80 feet in length by 18 feet 3 inches in width.
The structure has been much knocked about, having undergone at least two
restorations at different times, the last being about twenty years ago.
It is therefore not surprising to find that there is nothing left inside
the building of any architectural interest. Four angle buttresses at the
corners, however, remain intact, together with portions of an early base
course near the east end, and the head of a window, containing
geometrical tracery (Fig. 1350), has been preserved and built into the
south wall over the door near the east end. Judging from these details
and from the thickness of the walls (3 feet 2 inches) it seems probable
that the church is not later than the sixteenth century.
The tower (Fig. 1351) is about 9 feet in external diameter, and its
interior diameter is about 6 feet. It is about 30 feet high, and
contains
[Illustration: FIG. 1349.--Cockburnspath Church. Plan.]
a circular stone stair. There is a string course above the level of the
ridge of the church, above which the tower rises one story. In this
there are several openings or loop holes of a roughly formed cross
shape, similar to those sometimes found in the old castles. The tower is
built of rubble work in quite a different style of masonry from that of
the church. There is nothing to indicate that it is older than the
church, except its position. Mr. T. S. Robertson[160] is probably
correct when he states, “From its position, I am clearly of opinion that
it existed before the church, and that the church walls were built up to
it. I cannot believe that any one capable of building the round tower
would have taken out the centre of a gable fully 3 feet thick to insert
this tower,” for it will be observed that the tower projects inside.
“The most that would have been done, had the church been earlier than
the tower, would have been to slap a door of communication through the
wall of the church.” The tower was probably erected independently as a
belfry and for other occasional purposes. A circular stair beginning at
the level of the church floor, and entering from the church by a
square-headed door, is carried up as far as the upper story of the
tower, which has been mended with brick work, otherwise the tower is all
of one age. The walls are only 18 inches thick, but the
[Illustration: FIG. 1350.--Cockburnspath Church. Door and Window Head at
East End.]
stone steps of the stair bind them together, and make the building as
strong as if it had been built of one solid mass of masonry.
The small building at the east end is probably a century later than the
church. It has a pointed barrel-vaulted roof, and an original
square-headed doorway in the centre of its east wall. It is now used as
the heating chamber of the church.
On the apex of the south-west buttress there is a remarkable sundial,
which has already been illustrated.[161]
From Mr. Ferguson’s remarks[162] it is evident that the history of this
building has not been investigated. There were a chapel and a hospital
at
[Illustration: FIG. 1351.--Cockburnspath Church. View from South-West.]
Cockburnspath in early times. Robert, Chaplain of Colbrundspath, is
mentioned in 1255, but Mr. Ferguson has doubts as to this being the site
of the chapel referred to.