A Corpus of Scottish Medieval
Parish Churches

Historical outline

Dedication: St Giles

Dedicated to St Giles(1), and in origin a dependent chapel of the parish church of St Michael at Linlithgow, Binning had presumably passed into the hands of the canons of St Andrews when King David I granted its mother-church with all its dependencies to the cathedral-priory around 1141.(2)  It was specifically named as a chapel of Linlithgow in a 1266 confirmation of the canons’ rights.(3)

Through an unknown process but perhaps similar to that which led to the erection of the chapel of Auldcathy into a parish church in the course of the fifteenth century, by the 1530s it appears that Binning had gained full parochial status. In 1535, William Salmond was named as vicar of Binning, while in 1563 a second Salmond, William, set the teinds of his charge.(4)  At the Reformation it emerges that the parsonage had remained annexed to St Andrews and were collected along with those of Linlithgow and Preston under the terms of a single set.(5)  The vicarage perpetual was valued at £5 6s 8d.(6)

Notes

Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland. Non-Scriptural Dedications (Edinburgh, 1914), 358.

2. G W S Barrow, Charters of David I (Woodbridge, 1999), no.93.

3. Liber Cartarum Prioratus Sancti Andree in Scotia (Bannatyne Club, 1841), 188.

4. NRS Papers of James Beveridge, M.A., Linlithgow, `Religious houses in Burgh [of Linlithgow] and parish', GD215/1856.

5. J Kirk (ed), The Books of Assumption of the Thirds of Benefices (Oxford, 1995), 17.

6. Kirk (ed), Books of Assumption, 153.

Summary of relevant documentation

Medieval

Synopsis of Cowan’s Parishes: Originally a chapel of Linlithgow, and therefore pertaining to the priory of St Andrews. Parochial sometime before 1548, with vicar perpetual, although parsonage teinds still uplifted along with those of Linlithgow.(1)

According to Mackinley the church was dedicated to St Giles.(2)

#1535 James Salmond, vicar of Binning, is a procurator for a case involving the archdeacon of St Andrews (see Acts of Lords of Council).(3)

#1563 (21 May) William Salmont, vicar of Bynnie, sets the vicarage for 9 years to Robert Livingsone of Braidlaw.(4)

Post-medieval

Books of assumption of thirds of benefices and Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices: The Parish church held by the priory of St Andrews, set along with Linlithgow and Preston for a combined value of £266 13s 4d.(5)

Account of Collectors of Thirds of Benefices (G. Donaldson): Third of vicarage, 35s 6 2/3d.(6)

[Parish joined to St Michael’s, Linlithgow, in 1564. The statistical accounts for Linlithgow discusses whether Binny was ever an independent parish but makes no reference to its location or surviving ruins.(7) National Records of Scotland suggests that parishes were combined in 1564.]

Notes

1. Cowan, The parishes of medieval Scotland, 18.

2. Mackinley, Non-Scriptural Dedications, p. 358.

3. NRS Papers of James Beveridge, M.A., Linlithgow, `Religious houses in Burgh [of Linlithgow] and parish', GD215/1856.

4. NRS Papers of James Beveridge, M.A., Linlithgow, `Religious houses in Burgh [of Linlithgow] and parish', GD215/1856.

5. Kirk, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, 17.

6. Donaldson, Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices, 26.

7. New Statistical Account of Scotland, (1843), ii, 184.

Bibliography

National Records of Scotland, Papers of James Beveridge, M.A., Linlithgow, `Religious houses in Burgh [of Linlithgow] and parish', GD215/1856.

Cowan, I.B., 1967, The parishes of medieval Scotland, (Scottish Record Society), Edinburgh.

Donaldson, G., 1949, Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices, (Scottish History Society), Edinburgh.

Kirk, J., 1995, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, (British Academy) Oxford.

Mackinley, J.M, 1914, Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland. Non-Scriptural Dedications, Edinburgh.

New Statistical Account of Scotland, 1834-45, Edinburgh and London, (1843), ii.

Architectural description

In origin Binny was a chapel dependent on Linlithgow, and along with Linlithgow was a possession of St Andrews Cathedral Priory. By 1548 it had achieved parochial status, with the cure served by a vicar perpetual.(1)

Its history as a parish was short-lived, however, because in 1564 it was joined to the parish of Linlithgow, and the church appears to have been abandoned for worship soon afterwards. The site of the church is assumed to have been at NT 0308 7268, in an area of what is now pasture, though no traces of it remain visible.(2)

Notes

1. Ian B. Cowan, The Parishes of Medieval Scotland (Scottish Record Society), 1967, p. 18.

2. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Canmore online resource.