Lilliesleaf Parish Church, Churchyard

NT52NW 12.01 53951 25296

An interment in 1934 on the line of the north walls of the Riddell and Hermiston aisles, revealed a very old foundation. The probability is that the first post-Reformation church was the nave of its predecessor and that the choir was left roofless and used by the Riddells for their own purposes.

J Mackenzie 1949.

Lilliesleaf Church and Graveyard. The parish church of Lilliesleaf, built in 1771 within the churchyard but N of its predecessor.

On a knoll within the churchyard and to the S of the church stand three burial enclosures; the E one belongs to the Riddels of Riddell; the W one to the Riddels of Muselie, and the central one to the Stewarts of Hermiston. The enclosure of the Riddels of Riddell, repaired in 1858, may stand on part of the foundations of the old church, but the stone on the S end, inscribed H 1110 R, is obviously of no great age. The enclosure contains the undernoted memorials:

(1) A mural panel within a moulded border which rakes upwards to enclose a shield and terminates in a finial bearing a monogram of the initials A R and V D (see infra). The shield, which is flanked by the initials A R, is charged: A chevron between three ears of rye slipped. Beneath it runs the inscription HIC IACET ANDREAS RIDDEL / DE EODEM OBIIT ANNO AETATIS / SVAE 32 4 MARTII AN(NO) DOM(INI) 1632 / VIVE MEMOR LETHI FVGIT / HORA ("Here lies Andrew Riddel of that Ilk. He died in the thirty-second year of his age, on the 4th of March in the year of our Lord 1632. Live mindful of death. Time flies"). The words in the penultimate line are separated by funerary emblems.

(2) A second panel with a slight moulded margin is inscribed HOC MONVMENTVM / DESIDERATI(S)SIMO MARITO / CONIV(N)X VIOLETA DOVGLAS / MOERENS POSVIT / A R BARO(N)E RIDDEL PLENVS / (DI)ERVM H(I)C DORMIT EXPECT(ANS) RESVRRECTIONEM IVSTORV(M) ("His wife, Violet Douglas, set up this monument in grief to a most beloved husband. A R, Laird of Riddell, sleeps here full of days, awaiting the resurrection of the just"). Andrew Riddel of Riddell and Haining died in 1632. His second wife was Violet, daughter of William Douglas of Pumpherston.

(3) A slab containing an incised panel with a shield in its lower part, flanked by the initials A R and I S. The shield is parted per pale and charged on the dexter side only for Riddel, the sinister side being uncarved. An inscription in the upper part of the panel runs NON DIV SED BE/NE VIXIT / QVI HAC (sic) IACET AN/DREAS RIDDEL DE /HAINING FILIVS / ANDREAE RIDDEL / DE EODEM OBIIT A (sic) / 8 APRILIS AN(NO) DOM(INI) / 1641 AETATIS SVAE 35 ("Not long but well did he live who lies here. Andrew Riddel of Haining, son of Andrew Riddel of that Ilk, died on the 8th of April in the year of Our Lord 1641, aged 35"); while a second one beneath the panel reads HIC PARTICEPS PRI/MAE RESVRRECTIO/NIS EXPECTAT SE/CVNDAM IN VITAM / AETERNAM ("Here a partaker of the first resurrection awaits the second, to eternal life").

(4) A fragment of a fourth slab of earlier date than the others. Of the marginal inscription, which is in Gothic lettering, there remains only ORATE PRO EA T ("Pray for her..."). Close to the S end of the vault of the Riddels of Muselie, there can be seen a slab, evidently intended to be set in a wall, but now standing like a headstone. The lower end of the slab, which tapers sharply from the head, is below the ground, and part may well be deficient. It bears the figure of a man in high relief, the head being flanked by cherubs blowing trumpets; the carving is badly weathered, and the legs of the figure are hidden from the middle of the thighs downwards. The style of the monument suggests a 17th-century date.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 1945

At the south end of the east and west walls of the Riddell aisle are the remains of two old walls. The west portion is 4.0m long and 0.6m high, and the east portion is 4.5m long and 0.4m high. The repaired burial enclosure is built on top of the old walls, the latter projecting 0.2m from the vertical face of the interior of the enclosure. Externally, there are no indications of early masonry. These remains may be part of the old church. The sundial, etc. are in the locations given by RCAHMS. The present church is still in use.

Visited by OPS (EGC), 15 February 1961

This church is in a good state of repair, and in regular ecclesiastical use. The burial-ground is well-tended.

Visited by RCAHMS (RM, JRS) 28 September 1993.