Maisondieu

Records show that the medieval burgh of Roxburgh had a hospice or 'Maisondieu'. It may have stood at a site south of the burgh, near Springwood steading. Place name evidence from the immediate vicinity also record the name.

Documentary evidence shows that, in 1128, David I made a grant of land to the hospital of Roxburgh, though whether this was the Maisondieu or another hospital is unclear as the hospital supposedly lay some distance from the burgh to prevent infection. The 'Massondew' was among the buildings of Roxburgh that were burnt by English forces in 1545, but the hospice appears in records until the end of the seventeenth century.

Place names such as 'Spittal' and 'Maisondieu' can sometimes be indications of where a medieval hospital stood. However, these names were often applied to any lands the hospital possessed as well as the actual building itself.

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

NT73SW 19 7141 3272.

(NT 7141 3272) Maison Dieu (NR) (Site of)

OS 6" map, (1938).

Floors: In 1488 James IV granted to Walter Ker the place and messuage of Maisondieu. The grant was confirmed in 1500. (Information from Register of the Great Seal of Scotland 1882-1914, Lib.12, No.16).

A Jeffrey 1855-64.

No remains exist here.

Visited by OS (RDL) 4 December 1963.

About 1145 David I granted land to the hospital of Roxburgh. It is impossible to say whether this was identical with the Maison Dieu. The hospital was situated some distance to the NE of Roxburgh. The description of it as for pilgrims and for the diseased and the poor is exaggerated. 'Massondew' is mentioned as one of the places burned by Hertford's forces, 17 September 1545. Mentions of the patronage of this hospital continue until at least 1696. Nothing of the medieval burgh of Roxburgh can now be seen. Archaeological investigations within the area of medieval Roxburgh have demonstrated the likelihood of good archaeological survival.

I B Cowan and D E Easson 1976; R Cachart, D W Hall and M Middleton 1999.