Archaeology Notes

Event ID 716142

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/716142

NT36NW 11.00 33258 67442

NT36NW 11.01 NT 33280 67442 Church

(NT 3327 6744) Collegiate Church (NR) (remains of)

OS 1:1250 map (1967)

The SDD state that Dalkeith parish church was built about 1350 and enlarged about 1416-20. Originally a chapel, dedicated to St Nicholas, it was made collegiate in 1406 and became the parish church in 1467. The E part of the chancel was partitioned off about 1590, its roof collapsing about 1770. The rest of the church, which is still in use, was repaired at various times, and thoroughly restored in 1851-4. The choir (scheduled) which has not been restored, is now very ruinous. Within it is a monument, apparently not in its original position, in the form of an oblong stone table on which recline two weather-worn effigies.

D MacGibbon and T Ross 1897; RCAHMS 1929, visited 1915; D E Easson 1957; SDD List 1964

Description correct.

Visited by OS (BS) 30 October 1975.

NT 3327 6744 A watching brief was undertaken at St Nicholas Church in March 2005 during the excavation of four post-holes, part of a programme of restorative works on and around the Morton Monument ( ), an ancient memorial structure situated in the ruinous 15th-century choir of the old Collegiate Church. The post-holes were intended to hold the supports for a protective canopy over the newly restored monument.

At the time of the excavations the main part of the monument was off-site undergoing restoration, leaving only a large foundation slab in situ. The new post-holes, all of which would measure 400mm square by 500mm deep, were positioned at the four corners of the foundation structure.

The material below the monument slab was excavated in 1963 prior to the laying of a new floor and foundation slab, which may account for the layer of concrete seen 350mm down in two of the trenches, suggesting that this material only lay between the foundation slab and the S wall. Additionally, the lack of human remains, other than a few small fragments, may indicate the scale of the clearance work here 40 years ago.

Archive to be deposited in NMRS.

Sponsor: Kenneth Ferguson & Partners.

D Stewart 2005.