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East Calder, St Cuthbert's Church And Graveyard
Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (16th Century)
Site Name East Calder, St Cuthbert's Church And Graveyard
Classification Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (16th Century)
Alternative Name(s) East Calder, Parish Church Of St Cuthbert; Calder-clere; St Cuthbert's Kirk
Canmore ID 49063
Site Number NT06NE 4
NGR NT 08418 67808
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/49063
- Council West Lothian
- Parish Kirknewton (West Lothian)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District West Lothian
- Former County Midlothian
EAST CALDER
The largest of the Calders, predominantly a long main street stretching from the parish kirk to the gates of Almondell. St Cuthbert's is a roofless, 16th-century, rectangular, consolidated ruin, belfry at the west, two lancet windows in the east, divided into burial enclosures for the Hares of Calder Hall and Blairlogie, and the Wilkies of Ormiston. Delightful 17th- and 18th-century gravestones of singular crudity.
Taken from "West Lothian: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Stuart Eydmann, Richard Jaques and Charles McKean, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
NT06NE 4 08418 67808.
(NT 0841 6780) St Cuthbert's Kirk (NR) (Remains of)
OS 6" map (1958)
East Calder parish church, which was dedicated to St Cuthbert, is now ruinous, and measures 53' x 17' internally. The N wall has been removed to give access to the burial places which now occupy the interior. The S wall and gables are entire. The W gable is surmounted by a 17th century belfry, from which the bell has been removed. In the E gable are the remains of a late Gothic window. The old doorways and windows have been built up. The SDD give an earlier 16th century date for the church.
A cross slab, bearing a Maltese cross, 20" x 14", has been incorporated in the W gable. East Calder (Calder-Clere) was disjoined from Calder Comities (Mid and W Calder) in 1641, this church then becoming the parish chruch. It fell into neglect after the union of the parish with Kirknewton in 1751.
RCAHMS 1929, visited 1915; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1897; SDD List 1963
The remains of the church are as described. No further information.
Visited by OS (JLD) 21 February 1953 and (DWR) 27 March 1974.
Calder-Clere (St Andrews, Linlithgow). Now known as East Calder, the church was granted to Kelso by Ralph de Clere, c. 1170. Subsequent confirmations included one to the uses of the abbey (1188 x 1200) and a vicarage settlement (c. 1251). The parsonage was set by the Abbey at the Reformation, while a seperate vicarage continued.
I B Cowan 1967.
Field Visit (9 July 1915)
Parish Church, East Calder.
Within the churchyard, on the north of the highway, which runs through the village, is the ruin of the former parish church. It has been an oblong single chambered structure, orientated, and measuring externally 62 feet 8 inches by 23 feet. The south wall and the gables are entire and are built of ashlar in courses 10 inches high with long and short quoins. The north wall has been removed to provide access to burial places now occupying the interior. The west gable is surmounted by a 17th-century belfry, from which the bell has been removed. Built into it is the upper portion of a cross-slab with foliage described below. In the east gable are the remains of a late Gothic two-light window. The structure appears to date from the 16th century.
The old church was dedicated to St Cuthbert and belonged to the Abbey of Kelso. The old parish of East Calder was united with Kirknewton soon after the middle of the 18th century.
TOMBSTONE. A tombstone (Fig. 86), of coffin cover type, lies 20 feet from the south wall of the church. It measures 5 1/3 feet long by 1 foot 4 ½ inches broad and has been elaborately sculptured, although the details are, in part, now much obliterated. The ends and sides are splayed and have a roll moulding on the edges. There appears to have been a cross or sword on the upper surface, but the head has been chiselled away and only the much-worn shaft or blade remains. The initials I. V., in incised letters, have been added on a portion of the re-chiselled space. On the splay of the southern side there is an elaborate design of drapery, broken towards the eastern end of the stone to admit a representation of the shears. On the opposing splay the ornament, except for the representation of a human hand or glove at the east end, is indecipherable. On the vertical north face there is a large key, 1 foot 5 inches long. Cf. Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., xl (1905-6), pp. 243-5.
SCULPTURED STONE IN WEST GABLE OF CHURCH. This stone could not be seen at the time of visit owing to the growth of ivy over the gable, and the description that follows is taken from Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., xl (1905-6), p. 242. ‘This interesting fragment shows very clearly the elaborately carved head of a Maltese cross, with a portion of its stem. This is not only attached to the circular nimbus, but runs right through it to a forked apex, a feature rather unusual in nimbus-bound crosses. Foliation of a somewhat elaborate character springs from the shaft and the nimbus, giving to the whole an effect peculiarly rich and pleasing. The stone measures about 20 inches by 14 inches, and has originally been about 20 inches in width’. (Fig. 84.)
RCAHMS 1929, visited 9 July 1915.
OS map: v N.E. (‘St Cuthbert's Kirk’).
