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St Leonard's Hospital

Hospital (Period Unassigned)

Site Name St Leonard's Hospital

Classification Hospital (Period Unassigned)

Canmore ID 58359

Site Number NT73NW 11

NGR NT 7343 3578

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/58359

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Scottish Borders, The
  • Parish Ednam
  • Former Region Borders
  • Former District Roxburgh
  • Former County Roxburghshire

Accessing Scotland's Past Project

Twelfth century records indicate that there was once a hospital at Ednam. It may have stood about 1.5km south of the modern village, but no archaeological work has been carried out on the site, and no remains are visible above ground.

The hospital was founded before 1178, when a donation from the Countess of Northumberland and Huntingdon was recorded. Later patrons of the hospital included the Edmonstones of Ednam, whose payments to the hospital were recorded in 1426 and 1437.

A source dating from 1542 recorded that the English burnt the hospital during an incursion over the border. As records continue to mention it until 1649, the hospital cannot have been completely destroyed until at least the late seventeenth century.

Text prepared by RCAHMS as part of the Accessing Scotland's Past project

Archaeology Notes

NT73NW 11 7343 3578.

(NT 7343 3578) St Leonard's Hospital (NR) (Site of) St. Leonard's

OS 6"map, (1938).

Hospital (Site): No structural remains survive.

RCAHMS 1956.

Activities

Geophysical Survey (8 March 2010 - 12 March 2010)

NT 7333 3572 A geophysical survey was undertaken 8–12 March 2010 of a proposed cemetery development area at land S of Ferneyhill Toll. The survey of 40% of the proposed development area was followed by test pitting in areas where geophysical anomalies had been encountered. Three linear features and two possible structures were recorded during the survey, but it could not be ascertained if these features related to the medieval hospital of St Leonards, or the postmedieval farmstead of Spittal, which documentary and cartographic records indicate formerly occupied this site.

Archive: RCAHMS (intended)

Funder: Scottish Borders Council

Trial Trench (17 January 2011 - 19 January 2011)

A trial trench evaluation was carried out by Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd on the site of a proposed cemetery, close to the supposed site of the medieval hospital of St Leonard at Ednam. A programme of geophysical survey and test-pitting, previously carried out by GUARD, had identified two possible buildings and a linear cobbled surface in an area to the east of the current evaluation, and closer to the probable site of the hospital. The trial trenches covered a low-lying area close to the road. The features identified include a ditch 6m wide, possibly a catchwater drain, and a number of smaller ditches and stone-packed drains, all of which are probably post-medieval. No evidence relating to the medieval hospital was found.

Information from Oasis (headland1-93639) 17 June 2013

Archaeological Evaluation (17 January 2011 - 19 January 2011)

NT 7331 3565 A trial trench evaluation was carried out 17–19 January 2011 on the site of a proposed cemetery, close to the supposed site of the medieval hospital of St Leonard at Ednam. An earlier programme of geophysical survey and test pitting, undertaken by GUARD, had identified two possible buildings and a linear cobbled surface, in an area closer to the probable site of the hospital and to the E of the current evaluation. The trial trenches covered a low-lying area close to the road. The features identified included a 6m wide ditch, possibly a drain, and a number of smaller ditches and stone-packed drains, all of which were probably post-medieval in date. No evidence relating to the medieval hospital was found.

Archive: RCAHMS

Funder: Scottish Borders Council

Headland Archaeology Ltd, 2011

Sbc Note (21 March 2016)

Visibility: This was the site of an archaeological monument, which may no longer be visible.

Information from Scottish Borders Council

Previously also listed under duplicate site NT96SW 510 -CANCELLED. HES (LCK) 11.6.2024

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