Archaeology Notes

Event ID 715601

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/715601

NT36NW 24.00 30178 66106

NT36NW 24.01 NT 3018 6610 Cross; Stones: Sculptured

(NT 3018 6610) Church (NR) (remains of)

OS 6" map (1968)

The old parish church of Lasswade which was dedicated to St Edwin was built in the early 13th c. It was allowed to become ruinous after 1793 when a new church was erected (at NT 3012 6612). It consisted of a single oblong chamber 20' in width, with a tower 16' square at the W end. The aisle, on the N, was preserved and converted into a mausoleum in the 17th century Henry Dundas, First Lord Melville, is buried in it. W of it is the mausoleum of the poet Drummond of Hawthornden (died 1649): this was restored in 1892 when a medieval floriated finial cross, presumably from the old church, was erected above the entrance. The tower fell in 1866, and now all that remains of the rest of the church is a 13th century fragment of the S wall.

D MacGibbon and T Ross 1896; RCAHMS 1929, visited 1920; H Scott 1915

The present remains of the church are as described. Though considerably ruined, the existing ivy-covered walls are in fair condition. There is a striking Transitional window in the N wall of the N aisle. A modern burial vault on the S appears to be on the foundations of the early choir, and a fragment of the S wall of the nave is to be seen W of this vault.

Visited by OS (JLD) 1 September 1954