East Linton, Prestonkirk Parish Church And War Memorial

The parish church and churchyard of Prestonkirk are situated on an eminence overlooking a wooded haugh traversed by the River Tyne ¼ mile to the north of East Linton village. The church is an oblong structure erected in 1770 on a site previously occupied by a mediaeval church. The eastern termination of this early building has fortunately been preserved almost in entirety and presents an interesting example of mid-13th century design. It is unlikely that the 18th century structure, which is wider than the 13th century chancel, is erected on the foundations of its predecessor, as the chancel is obviously curtailed in length and would have extended farther west than the east gable of the present church. The internal width of the fragment - 17 feet 6 inches - suggests that nave and chancel were of the same width and were housed beneath one roof with no structural division other than a low screen.

The chancel is square ended. The eastern gable and some 18 feet of the south wall are intact from the ground to the wall-head. The north wall, though modern, appears to be built on the old foundations. These walls are about 3 ½ feet thick and are of ashlar quarried apparently from the same place as the stones of Tynninghame Church. Along the south and east walls there returns a heavy offset course with a weathered cope, from which arise buttresses of slight saliency to strengthen the angles of the chancel, while other buttresses divide the east gable into three bays. These latter buttresses rise squarely to a sill course, above which the arrises are chamfered and stopped beneath a weathered set-off.

In each of the bays of the east gable is a tall lancet window with an obtusely pointed head beneath a hood-mould received on either side by the flanking buttresses; the jamb mouldings consist of two splays with intermediate planes at right angles to each other. In the south wall are two shorter lancets under hood-moulds. Their sills are at a higher level than those of the east windows.

The chancel is roofed in and forms a mortuary chapel for the Hepburns of Smeaton. It is in good repair and, if denuded of its dense covering of ivy, will require no further attention for some considerable time.

A square 17th century tower built of rubble projects from the west gable of the church. It is four storeys in height, is divided horizontally by a stringcourse and terminates in a slated roof ogival in contour. The windows have semi-circular heads, and these and the quoins have back-set margins. On the south wall at ground level there is an offset course returning along the west wall. This course appears to be either later than the present church or to have been repaired subsequent to the rebuildings.

HISTORICAL NOTE. The church was at first designated of Linton, later as Hauch (1), next as Prestonhaugh, finally Prestonkirk. Linton was one of the three places in Lothian in which the body of St. Baldred was buried (2) and the church was dedicated to Baldred. In 1127 Blahan was priest of Linton (3) and the churchof Linton was among those dedicated byDavid de Bernham in 1240. Baiamund or ‘Bagimont’ (4) collected from the church of Linton, through its rector, for the terms December 25, 1274 and June 24, 1275 the sum of £8, comparatively a very large amount, being the payment for the first year of the crusading tenth; and a similar amount for the second year 1275-6 (5). On the foundation of the collegiate church of Dunbar it was annexed thereto as a prebend – ‘the church of Hauche, called the prebendarie of Lintoune’ (6). 1n 1493 John 1rland was parson of ‘Halch’ (7), but there was a notable succession of Hepburns in the prebendary before and after the Reformaton: Patrick Hepburn rector in 1462, George Hepburn parson or rector in 1548 and 1563, Robert Hepburn in 1588 and Edward Hepburn in 1617 (8). In 1584 the patronage of the prebend was ratified to Francis Earl of Bothwell and in 1606 to the Earl of Dunbar (9).

RCAHMS 1924, visited 11 July 1913.

(1) Act. Parl. iii., p. 256, No. 73; Reg. Mag. Sig. 1605 No. 1581; (2) Scotich. Lib. iii., cap. xxix.; (3) Liber Vitæ Eccl. Dunmel. (Surtees Soc.) p. 68; (4) Papal collector; (5) Theiner Vetera Monumenta, pp. 109, 113; (6) Act. Parl. iv., p.294; lnq. Spec. Hadd. No. 233; (7) Parl. Records (1804) p. 378; (8) Milne-Home MSS. Nos. 596, 608, 81, 462 and 614; (9) Act. Parl. iii., p. 256 ; iv. 294(a)..

A data upgrade project to record war memorials.

Graffiti has been recorded at Prestonkirk Parish Church, including the letters 'JKEI' carved into the stone jamb of a window on its SSE side.

Visited by HES Survey and Recording (JRS) 30 October 2017.