Field Visit
Date 5 August 1908
Event ID 1088180
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1088180
1. Abbey St Bathans Church.
The parish church of Abbey St Bathans is situated on the right bank of the Whitadder, about 4 miles south-west of Grant's House on the site of the ancient Church of the Priory of St Bothan (Cistercian), of which the east wall and the lower portions of the north wall are the only remains. The east wall, 24 feet wide by 4 feet thick, is pierced by a round-headed late 14th-century window of two trefoil-headed lights surmounted by a quatrefoil. Near the west end of the north wall are traces of a blocked-up doorway with a semicircular head. Foundations have been observed to the east of the present church, and also for a considerable distance to the west.
The last Prioress was Elizabeth Lamb, who, with consent of three nuns, conveyed in 1558 to John Renton of Billie the lands of Nunmeadow, Nunbutts, and Nunflat (1).
Recumbent effigy. In a low-arched recess of recent date in the east wall lies the effigy of a nun, apparently a prioress of this or another of the Cistercian nunneries, of which there were several in this part of Scotland. The figure, which is 6 feet long, is dressed in a full tunic or kirtle falling in heavy folds over the feet, but with close sleeves. The hands, which are mutilated, are joined in prayer, and a plain narrow girdle is just visible between. the wrists. The neck is covered by a barbe or wimple, the lower edge of which is straight, the upper parts showing folds following the line of the chin. A plain cope-like mantle covers the shoulders and sides of the figure, extending with long vertical folds to the feet; it is not joined or fastened at the neck. Two veils cover the head and fall infolds on the shoulders, and the under veil, presumably representing linen, shows a crimped edge alongside the plain edge of the outer veil. There are the remains of a crosier lying within the right arm, the head of the crosier being close to the head of the figure and the point resting on a small animal which lies outstretched across the ankles. The feet of the figure are hidden by the folds of the habit, and the head rests on two cushions with short tassels at the corners. The crosier is much broken, but there are indications that the head was crocketed. The middle of the effigy has had a miniature supporting angel at each side; of these the one on the right is almost entirely broken away, but enough remains of the other to show a girded alb, raised arms, and outstretched wings, indicating that the angels were represented as rising up from beneath the effigy and supporting it with their backs, wings, and arms. There are no traces of supporters at the head or feet.
That the crosier was not confined to abbots, but was also used by priors, is shown by such cases as that of the prior of Taunton, Somerset, who received a papal grant of pontifical insignia, except the mitre, in 1499 (2). The priors of Christ Church, Canterbury, and Durham used the crosier from 1374 and 1378 respectively. It may be gathered from this effigy that some Cistercian prioresses also used it. The date of the effigy is perhaps the last half of the fifteenth century or the beginning of the sixteenth.
RCAHMS 1915, visited 5 August 1908.
See Eccles. Arch., iii. p. 410 (illus.); Ber. Nat. Club, 1890-91, p. 92; (1) Wedderburn Papers (Hist. MSS. Com.), p. 272; (2) Printed by Tanner, Notitia Monastica, Cambridge, 1787, p. xvi. n.
