Accessing Scotland's Past Project
Event ID 562752
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Accessing Scotland's Past Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/562752
St Michael's Church, of which nothing remains visible, served the medieval parish of Maxwell and its principal village, also called Maxwell. The village occupied the area now within Springwood Park. Records suggest that the church was probably founded in the twelfth century and in 1159 its owner Herbert Maccuswell, Sheriff of Roxburgh, donated it to Kelso Abbey. Further details about the church itself are scarce, though it was reported as still in use in a record of the parish of Kelso written in 1649.
Springwood Park, a horse racing track, was built on the site in the 1960s, and it is reported that the burial-ground was completely removed. Recent archaeological investigation within the park could find no trace of the church, though it may have lain outwith the area examined.
A seventeenth-century document shows that by then, the village of Maxwell, and its church, were both in decline. In the space of 23 years, the number of communicants at St Michael's had dropped by nearly 100. By 1838, the village was gone and only the churchyard remained.
Text prepared by RCAHMS as part of the Accessing Scotland's Past project
