St Bathan's Chapel
Burial Ground (Medieval), Chapel (Medieval), Font (Medieval)
Site Name St Bathan's Chapel
Classification Burial Ground (Medieval), Chapel (Medieval), Font (Medieval)
Canmore ID 58761
Site Number NT76SE 11
NGR NT 75989 61771
NGR Description Centre
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/58761
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Abbey St Bathans
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Berwickshire
- Former County Berwickshire
NT76SE 11 7601 6177.
(NT 7601 6177) St Bathan's Chapel (NR) (Site of)
OS 6"map, Berwickshire, 2nd ed.,(1908).
These church foundations lie about 1/4 mile S of the present church. The structure, which shows no sign of a chancel arch, has measured internally some 38ft by 15ft, the end walls being about 5ft thick, and the side walls about 3ft. Lying in the centre of the church is a broken ring of stone about 2 1/2ft in diameter, which may have formed the edge of a font.
RCAHMS 1915, visited 1908.
The saint commemorated is Baithene (d 600 AD), who succeeded Columba as Abbot of Iona.
W J Watson 1926.
The course of the chapel walls, 16m by 7m, are still traceable. There is no trace of this chapel outside the wood. A possible grave slab lies in the centre of the chapel next to the broken ring of stone mentioned by the RCAHMS.
Visited by OS(JD) 20 December 1954.
The site is generally as described in the previous field report although the length and width of the chapel cannot now be ascertained.
Visited by OS(RD) 3 May 1966.
The remains of this chapel are obscured by dense shrubbery. When excavated in 1870 it was found to be rectangular on plan, measuring 11.6m by 4.7m internally, with a 'small chancel' at the E end. About 32m to the NW of the building there was a stone coffin 'turned upside down, and on it another coffin was formed by flat stones being set up on edge. No remains were found in either of them'. Little is known of the history of this chapel although it has been suggested that it may indicate an Early Christian site.
RCAHMS 1980, visited 1979; Statistical Account (OSA) 1794; New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845; J Turnbull 1872; J Ferguson 1892; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1897; J Robson 1896.
Field Visit (5 August 1908)
2. Church (foundations) Abbey Hill.
About ¼ mile south of the present church, within a shrubbery on the north slope of the Abbey Hill, lie the foundations of a church excavated in 1870. The structure, which shows no sign of a chancel arch, has measured internally some 38 feet in length by 15 feet in width, the end walls being about 5 feet thick, and the side walls about 3 feet. The remains of the south wall are about 2 feet high. This was probably the pre-Reformation parish church.
Font (supposed remains of). Lying in the centre of the church is a broken ring of stone about 2 feet 6 inches in diameter, which may have formed the edge of a font.
RCAHMS 1915, visited 5 August 1908.
See Eccles. Arch., iii. p. 411 (plan); Ber, Nat. Club, 1869-72, p. 131, ibid., 1890-91, p. 91.
Note (23 December 2019)
The location, classification and period of this site have been reviewed.
Project (January 2020)
NT 7601 6177 Chapel Field is the supposed site of an early Christian chapel (Canmore ID: 58761). Geophysical surveys (gradiometer survey and earth resistance survey) undertaken in January 2020 to the N and W of the putative chapel site revealed numerous anomalies, potentially archaeological in origin.
Geophysical survey was also undertaken nearby at Blakerstone (NT 77327 61880), targeting a possible rectilinear anomaly identified in the LiDAR data. The surveys identified numerous anomalies considered possibly of archaeological origin. However, investigative trial trenches encountered only field drains and natural geology.
Work was undertaken, in January and February 2020, as part of Whiteadder: Historic Heart of the Lammermuirs, a community arts and archaeology project led by Scottish Borders Council in partnership with East Lothian Council, and delivered by AOC Archaeology Group and CMC Associates.
Archive: NRHE
Funder: Fallago Environment Fund and Scottish Borders LEADER
Charlotte Douglas – AOC Archaeology Group
(Source: DES Volume 21)
Resistivity (January 2020)
NT 7601 6177 Resistivity survey.
Archive: NRHE
Funder: Fallago Environment Fund and Scottish Borders LEADER
Charlotte Douglas – AOC Archaeology Group
(Source: DES Volume 21)
Magnetometry (January 2020)
NT 7601 6177 Magnetometry survey.
Archive: NRHE
Funder: Fallago Environment Fund and Scottish Borders LEADER
Charlotte Douglas – AOC Archaeology Group
(Source: DES Volume 21)
Sbc Note
Visibility: Upstanding structure, which may not be intact.
Information from Scottish Borders Council.
