Only a small portion of the old church of Ormiston, in which Wishart and
Knox more than once officiated, has been preserved. It stands close to
the mansion house of Ormiston Hall, about one mile south from the
village of Ormiston. A new church having been erected about a quarter of
a mile distant, the old church has been allowed to go to decay. The
surviving fragment of the latter appears to have been the east end.
There are several stones built into the walls which must have belonged
to a Norman church, being carved with the chevron ornament.
The Church of Ormiston was dedicated to St. Giles. It was granted to the
Hospital of Soltre, founded by Malcolm IV., which was confirmed by the
Bishop of St. Andrews in the thirteenth century.
This church was subsequently made a prebend of the Church of the Holy
Trinity at Edinburgh, founded by Mary of Gueldres.
[Illustration: FIG. 1579.--Ormiston Church. Plan.]
The building (Fig. 1579) has been enclosed at the west end with a modern
wall, and measures, within the enclosure, 16 feet 6 inches in length by
13 feet 6 inches in width. It contains in the south wall the outlines of
two windows, now built up, and of one window in the north wall. These
have apparently been altered at some time and made square-headed. An
archway of considerable height (Fig. 1580) stands in the continuation of
the south wall westwards. It is in two orders, the outer order square
and the inner order splayed. This doorway has apparently entered into
the church, which, judging from the height of the archway, must have had
side walls of considerable height. They are now reduced as shown, and a
roof was put upon the east portion during this century, which renders
the interior very dark.
In the north wall of the chancel there is a monument of some importance
(Fig. 1581), as it contains one of the few brasses which exist in
Scotland. The brass consists of an engraved plate containing an
inscription to the memory of Alexander Cockburn, one of the members of
the family to whom the adjoining mansion house belonged. He died, as the
inscription tells, at an early age. The upper part of the inscription is
metrical, and was composed by the learned George Buchanan, and
[Illustration: FIG. 1580.--Ormiston Church. South Side.]
appears in his published works. Alexander Cockburn was a pupil of John
Knox, and in 1547 sought refuge in the Castle of St. Andrews. On the
dexter base of the brass are engraved the Cockburn arms, and on the
sinister base the arms of Sandilands, for the mother of a Cockburn, who
was of the family of Sandilands of Calder. These arms are quartered with
the arms of Douglas, and show the ancient relationship between that
family and the Sandilands.[249]
The barony of Ormiston was the property of the Cockburns from the middle
of the fourteenth century, when they acquired it by marriage.
The monument was no doubt erected not long after the death of the person
commemorated, or towards the end of the sixteenth century. It
corresponds in style with that of the Regent Murray, in St. Giles’
Cathedral,
[Illustration: FIG. 1581.--Ormiston Church. Monument to Alexander
Cockburn.]
Edinburgh[250] (1570), the inscription on which was also composed by
George Buchanan. That at Ormiston is as follows:--
Omnia quæ longa indulget mortalibus ætas
Haec tibi Alexander prima juventa dedit
Cum genere et forma generoso sanguine digna
Ingenium velox, ingenuumque animum
Excolint virtus animum ingeniumque Camenae
Successu studio consilioque pari
His ducibus primum Peragrata Britannia deinde
Gallia ad armiferos qua patet Helvetios
Doctus ibi linguas quas Roma Sionet Athenae
Quas cum Germano Gallia docta sonat
Te licet in prima rapuerunt fata juventa
Nonimmaturo funera raptus obis
Omnibus officiis vitae qui functus obivit
Non fas nunc vitae est de brevitate queri
Hic conditur Mr. Alexander Cokburn
primogenitua Joannis domini Ormiston
et Alisonae Sandilands ex preclara
familia Calder, qui natus 13 Januarii 1535
post insignem linguarum professionem
Obiit anno ætatis suae 28 Calen. Septe.[251]