This church, with its venerable tower, overlooks, in a very prominent
manner, the small county town of Greenlaw. The present building occupies
the site of an early church, and probably dates from the
[Illustration: FIG. 1551.--Greenlaw Church.]
beginning of last century. It is a very simple structure, and harmonises
well with the ancient tower. The latter (Fig. 1551), which is a part of
an earlier church, is an interesting example of a Scottish church
tower. It is quite plain in its lower stages, and has a corbelled out
parapet at the top, which is reached by a stair in the projecting
turret, seen in the sketch. The tower is a place of considerable
strength, being vaulted on the ground floor, and is probably a building
of the fifteenth century.
The manor of Greenlaw belonged to the Earls of Dunbar and Gospatrick,
and the third Earl granted the church, in 1159, to the Abbey of Kelso.
Greenlaw was one of the churches dedicated by Bishop David de Bernham.