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Nisbet, Old Churchyard

Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (Medieval), Hogback Stone (Early Medieval)

Site Name Nisbet, Old Churchyard

Classification Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (Medieval), Hogback Stone (Early Medieval)

Canmore ID 56961

Site Number NT62NE 4

NGR NT 67329 25724

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/56961

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Scottish Borders, The
  • Parish Crailing
  • Former Region Borders
  • Former District Roxburgh
  • Former County Roxburghshire

Early Medieval Carved Stones Project

Nisbet 2, coped gravestone

Measurements: L 1.65m, W 0.44m to 0.35m, H 0.23m

Stone type: pink sandstone.

Place of discovery: NT 67329 25724

Evidence for discovery: found in 1890 lying in Nisbet Old Churchyard. By the 1970s it had been broken into sixteen pieces and cast into the ditch surrounding the churchyard, and it was taken to Hawick Museum and restored by Hawick Archaeological Society.

Present location: Hawick Museum.

Present condition: restored but very weathered.

Description:

The stone has a level flat top, which has been re-used by carving a cross in low relief. Along both sides are three rows of semi-circular tegulae above a plain vertical plinth.

Date: early twelfth century.

Primary references: Laidlaw 1905, 36, no 22, fig 19; RCAHMS 1956, no 196; Lang 1974, 230; Binnie 2001, 80-1.

Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2019

Early Medieval Carved Stones Project

Nisbet 3, cross-slab

Measurements: H 0.64m, W 0.31m

Stone type:

Place of discovery: NT 67329 257 24

Evidence for discovery: recorded before 1905 by Laidlaw in Nisbet graveyard, standing free of the ground. By 1933 when it was recorded by RCAHMS, it was upright in the ground close to the hogback stone Nisbet 1.

Present location: unknown.

Present condition: unknown.

Description:

The upper part of this small slab is carved in the round to form a cross with wedge-shaped upper and side-arms that extend out to the original edges of the slab, linked by a ring with voids in the armpits. The lower part of the cross consists of two widely splayed bars, and here are traces of a roundel in the centre of the head.

Date: tenth century or earlier.

Primary references: Laidlaw 1905, 39-40, no 26, fig 22; Binnie 2001, 80-1.

Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2019

Early Medieval Carved Stones Project

Nisbet 1, hogback gravestone

Measurements: L 0.93m, W 0.29m tapering to 0.19m, H 0.31m

Stone type: sandstone.

Place of discovery: NT 67329 25724

Present location: at the top of the slope in the eastern part of Nisbet Old Churchyard.

Evidence for discovery: found before 1905 in Nisbet Old Churchyard. Set on a concrete base in the late twentieth century.

Present condition: very weathered, broken into three pieces.

Description:

This recumbent monument has a flat top and steep sides, but it is so badly weathered that the fragments show no details of carving apart from an incised line along both edges of the top,

Date: uncertain.

Primary references: Curle 1905, 265-6, fig 2; Lang 1974, 230; Binnie 2001, 80-1.

Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2019

Archaeology Notes

NT62NE 4 67329 25724.

(NT 6732 2572) Church (NR) (Site of).

OS 6"map, Roxburghshire, (1923).

Nisbet Church and Churchyard. The parish church of Nisbet was granted to Jedburgh Abbey in the second quarter of the 12th century; but it became superfluous in 1612, when the parishes of Crailing and Nisbet were united and Crailing Church was appointed to serve both (Acts Parl Scot). It was demolished about 1757, (Statistical Account [OSA] 1792) and by 1792 not a vestige of it remained. At the E side of the churchyard, which is near the railway-station, an entire hog-backed stone rests upon two unrelated fragments of others. It measures 5ft 5in in length and tapers in width from 1ft 6in to 1ft 1 1/2in, while the thickness is about 11in. Each of its sides shows three rows of shingle ornament. Of the two supports, one seems to be plain while the other one bears a chevron decoration. The only other stone falling within the period before 1707 is a small headstone commemorating THOMAS RUSELS, who died in 1670, and MARGARET RUSELS, the date of whose death is illegible. Some other names, probably of children, follow, but are covered with earth ; one may be MARGARET. A gable finial-cross, (W Laidlaw 1905) stands close to the hog-backed stone. It measures 1ft 3in in height by 1ft in breadth by 3 1/2in in thickness.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 21 March 1933, 24 October 1944.

NT 6733 2572. No trace of this church remains but at its site a rectangular depression in the turf, measuring c 13.5m EW by c 8.5m transversely and c 0.3m deep, may represent the outline of the formed church. The headstone commemorating Thomas Rusels was seen in the churchyard but the hog-backed stone and gable finial cross were not located (RCAHMS 1956). The hog-backed stone stood on top of a slope on the east side of the churchyard. (Information from Mr Young, blacksmith, Nisbet).

Visited by OS(WDJ) 25 November 1963.

The hog-backed stone was broken into several bits and buried in 1963 by the graveyard attendants to facilitate motor-mowing. It has since been restored by the Hawick Archaeological Society and is to kept in Hawick Museum.

Information in letter from George Wood to OS 15 December 1964; J T Lang 1975.

Activities

Sbc Note (21 March 2016)

Visibility: This was the site of an archaeological monument, which may no longer be visible.

Information from Scottish Borders Council

References

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