Publication Account

Date 1981

Event ID 1017879

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017879

The first mention of a church at Dunbar occurs in the 1176 Taxatio of Lothian (Miller, 1830, 183). The church itself was dedicated apparently to one St. Bey (also known as St. Ann) an obscure, pious female who lived in strict seclusion on the small island of Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde (Fish, 1929-30, 30). The original building was probably Norman with a western tower. A choir and presbytery were added in the thirteenth century. By the end of the eighteenth century the fabric of the church was described as being 'very old' and was 'till lately' in the inside 'especially of the worst and most inconvenient perhaps in Scotland' (Withringt0n, 1975, ii, 473). A new church was erected on the site of the old one in 1819.

Information from ‘Historic Dunbar: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1981).