Publication Account
Date 1985
Event ID 1016217
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016217
The original late 13th century church consisted of an aisleless nave, chancel and sacristy. It forms the bulk of the surviving structure. The north wall of the nave rises to something like its original height; the east end of the south wall is also fairly complete, as well as the main doorway in the west gable. In its pre-17th century form, the chancel seems not to have been separated from the nave.
Fordun records that a "magnificent and venerable" cross had been found in 1261, lying on a stone inscribed with "the place of Saint Nicholas the bishop". The surviving fragments of a sculptured sandstone slab portraying an ecclesiastic, presumably St Nicholas, are, however, mid 16th century in date (cast: original in Tweeddale Museum). The church was apparently completed and the shrine dedicated in 1268, and a cult of St Nicholas developed, for pilgrimages are known to have been made at least from the later 14th to the early 17th century.
Consequently, the late 15th century Trinitarian Priory church and tower were designed from the first to incorporate shrine and relics; and in brder not to enclose or conceal this, the now-fragmentary priory buildings were added, unusually, to the north side of the church.
A more recent addition to the north wall is the burial site of the Douglas Earls of March, dating from 1705; adjoining the south wall at the point there formerly the feretory or repository for the saintly relics was located, stands the aisle of the Earls of Maxton and later the Erskines of Venlaw, mainly 18 th or 19th century.
Abandoned at the Reformation, the cloister and associated buildings were used to isolate plague victims in 1666; and schools were held there in the early 18th century. By 1796, however, little remained.
Information from 'Exploring Scotland's Heritage: Lothian and Borders', (1985).
