Publication Account
Date 1985
Event ID 1016216
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016216
The church ofSt Marythe Virgin is one of the largest churches built during the 'boom-time' of the late 14th-late 15th century, when greater prosperity encouraged the building or rebuilding of a number of burgh kirks. It is second in Lothian only to Edinburgh's St Giles, and is comparable in size to the smaller Scottish cathedrals. The church is cruciform, with an aisled nave and choir; the transepts are unaisled. Above the crossing the massive tower is thought once to have had Cor been promised) an open crown in the manner of St Giles.
Stone vaulting was commonplace within, except for the timber-roofed nave. In the restoration of1971-73, the choir and transept vaults (ruinous since their destruction in the siege ofHaddington in 1548), were re-formed in fibre glass; the nave's plaster vaulting, however, is an unjustified reconstruction from 1811 when the aisle walls were raised and English-looking parapets and pinnacles added.
The former sacristy projects from the north aisle of the choir. Partly pre-Reformation, it was largely rebuilt in the 17th century since when it has been used as a burial aisle and houses a remarkable Renaissance marble monument to John Maitland, Lord Thirlestane, Chancellor of Scotland under James VI (died 1595), to his wife Jane Fleming and to their son John, 1st Earl of Lauderdale (see no. 31). Beneath lies the Lauderdale family vault. The churchyard contains a number of interesting 18th century table-tombs.
The late 12th century St Martin's Church (NT 521739: SDD) stands near the edge of the town on the by-road to Whittingehame. A two-cell rectangular building with only the nave remaining, it is an interesting ruin with 13th century buttresses built to support the pointed barrel-vaulted roof.
Information from 'Exploring Scotland's Heritage: Lothian and Borders', (1985).
