A Corpus of Scottish Medieval
Parish Churches

Historical outline

Dedication: St Michael

Innerwick first appears on record c.1163 when Walter son of Alan, the lord of Innerwick, granted the church to his newly-founded Cluniac priory at Paisley.(1)  Shortly thereafter the church was confirmed to the uses of the priory by King Malcolm IV and Bishop Richard of St Andrews.(2)  It was noted amongst churches dedicated by Bishop David de Bernham, who performed the dedication on17 October 1242.(3)  Evidence for the formal appropriation of the parsonage to Paisley does not survive before the reference in the accounts of the papal tax-collector in Scotland in 1275, where the church of Innerwick was listed as one of two held in the diocese of St Andrews by the abbot of Paisley, while the church itself appears listed separately as a perpetual vicarage.(4)

The vicarage settlement remained as instituted until December 1446 when the then incumbent vicar perpetual, Gilbert Herring, complained of the inadequacy of his income relative to the great wealth of Paisely, and supplicated for an inquiry to be made into his situation.(5)  Herring was still incumbent in April 1447, when he was decribed as a canon and prebendary of Glasgow, so hardly a poorly-resourced individual.(6)  It is not recorded if he was successful in securing an increase in his payment from the vicarage.

In 1468, a supplication to the pope narrated how Alexander Home, lord of Dunglass, had founded and endowed from his own resources a collegiate church at Dunglass.  To augment its revenues, he sought the appropriation to its capitular mensa of the vicarage of Innerwick on the death or resignation of the current vicar.(7)  Although granted in 1470 by the pope the annexation attempt was unsuccessful.(8)  Hume’s supplication coincided with a period of dispute over the provision to the vicarage.  A certain William Gray was collated on the death of Gilbert Herring but was quickly mired in litigation with Nicholas Graham over the church. On Gray’s death in 1469 conflict arose over patronage rights between Paisley, who provided Thomas Frog, and the bishop of St Andrews, who collated first a papal candidate Alan Cunningham (who eventually resigned his rights to Frog), and then their own candidate Edward Robertson, the last going so far as to question the rights of Paisley in the parsonage.(9)

Challenges to Paisley’s possession were ultimately unsuccessful and the parsonage of Innerwick remained appropriated to it at the Reformation.  Likewise, the position of the vicarage remained as established in the twelfth century.  At the Reformation the parsonage was noted as having been set at £80 per annum by the abbey, while the vicarage was valued at £40.(10)

Notes

1. Registrum Monasterii de Passelet (Maintland Club, 1832), 7 [hereafter Paisley Registrum].

2. Paisley Registrum, 116-7, 249.

3. A O Anderson (ed), Early Sources of Scottish History, ii (Edinburgh, 1922), 523 [Pontifical Offices of St Andrews].

4. A I Dunlop (ed), ‘Bagimond’s Roll: Statement of the Tenths of the Kingdom of Scotland’, Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, vi (1939), 33, 34.

5. Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome, iv 1433-1447, eds A I Dunlop and D MacLauchlan (Glasgow, 1983), no.1332.

6. Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome, v, 1447-1471, eds J Kirk, R J Tanner and A I Dunlop (Glasgow, 1997), no.15 [hereafter CSSR, v].

7.CSSR, v, no.1301.

8. Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland: Papal Letters, xii, 1458-1471, ed J A Twemlow (London, 1933), 363.

9.CSSR, v, nos 1347-48, 1362, 1363, 1371, 1404.

10. J Kirk (ed), The Books of Assumption of the Thirds of Benefices (Oxford, 1995), 174, 529.

Summary of relevant documentation

Medieval

Synopsis of Cowan’s Parishes: Granted to Paisley by its founder William, Fitz Allan c.1163. An attempt to unite the perpetual vicarage to the college of Dunglass in 1468 was unsuccessful, as the vicarage was still separate at the Reformation (see Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, v, no. 2070).(1)

1420 Thomas of Heriot confirmed in possession of Enerikik value £10 [editors suggest possibly Innerwick].(2)

1431-47 Gilbert Heryng holds the vicarage, £10 [same value as ref in 1420].

1446 Heryng complains that the ‘fruits, rents and profits of the church, formerly united to monastery of Paisley, are so slender, frequently not exceeding 3 florins, that the vicar cannot easily sustain himself. Later supplication concedes that value is 3 ducats in times of war and £5 in times of peace.

1447 Hugh Hary attempts to have Gilbert deprived, accusing him of saying mass whilst excommunicated [no further information].(3)

#1445 Gilbert Henry vicar in 1455 (see Lib de Melrose).

1468 Petition by Alexander Hume, lord of Dunglass to have the church united to his new collegiate foundation. Granted in 1470 but ineffective.(4)

1469-70 William Gray collated on death of Gilbert, in litigation with Nicholas Graham over the church. On Gray’s death in 1469 conflict over patronage rights between Paisley who provided Thomas Frog, and the bishop of St Andrews who collated first a papal candidate Alan Cunningham (Alan eventually resigns rights to Frog), and then their own candidate Edward Robertson. Dispute on going in 1470.(5)

#1524-5 Thomas Johnson, curate of Innerwick (see Marchmont writs).

#1540-46 Alexander Crichton holds vicarage (see Register of the Great Seal of Scotland III).

Post-medieval

Books of assumption of thirds of benefices and Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices: The Parish church parsonage with Paisley, set for £80. Vicarage of Innerwick, valued at £40.(6)

Account of Collectors of Thirds of Benefices (G. Donaldson): Third of vicarage £13 6s 8d.(7)

1640 (14 Apr) Complaint made before Synod of Lothian and Tweedale that James Maxwell of Innerwick, rightful patron of the church, had lately presented William Forbes to the church but his presentation had been refused by the presbytery of Dunbar. (synod supports the presbytery, and tells them that they should only accept recommendations from Maxwell when he ‘shall consent and conform to the laudable customs of the church’.(8) (Forbes eventually instituted anyway by 1643).(9)

1659 (9 Mar) Visitation of the church by the Presbytery of Dunbar (at request of the minister); complaint that the minister and session are for the most part not resident, the kirk fabric is sufficient but the manse is in disrepair and 100 marks are required to mend it.(10) In a meeting of the kirk session on 31 Mar it was noted that the heritors have agreed to be stented as suggested by the visitation.(11)

1663 (5 May) An act was passed in the kirk session for repairing of the church and manse of Innerwick.  £260 are initially agreed. [this seems to have been the result  of long discussions from 1659].(12)

1664 (27 June) After consultation it was decided that £260 would not be sufficient and ultimately a collection for £1042 was organised to mend the church, manse and the school masters house. [repairs are not specified but this presumably explains why the visitation of 1676 found the church to be in good repair].(13)

1676 (12 June) Visitation of the church by the Presbytery of Dunbar reports that there are no faults in the fabric.(14)

1700 (16 Oct) Visitation of the church by the Presbytery of Dunbar notes that Richard English, mason, George Fermer, wright, and John Sanson, wright, were asked what materials and money were required for doing such work as is needed; the kirkyard dykes, manse and office house have to be repaired. The kirk porch and whole walls were mended at a cost of £15, as part of £383 spent on the manse and office houses.(15)

1781 (22 May) New minister installed in the church [no references in this extended process to the new church].(16) [No other references to the new church in presbytery or kirk session records]

Statistical Account of Scotland (Rev John Harvie, 1791): ‘The church was built in 1784’.(17)

New Statistical Account of Scotland (Rev Adam Forman): [Has nothing to add to above; neither makes reference to parochial buildings from prior to 1784]

Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches (George Hay): 1784; recast internally.(18)

Notes

1. Cowan, The parishes of medieval Scotland, 87.

2. CSSR, i, 243.

3. CSSR, iv, nos. 1332 & 1340, CSSR, v, no. 49.

4. CSSR, v, no. 1307, CPL, xii, 363.

5. CSSR, v, nos. 1347-48, 1363, 1371 & 1404.

6. Kirk, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, 174 & 529.

7. Donaldson, Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices, 28.

8. Synod Records of Lothian and Tweeddale, p. 106.

9. Synod Records of Lothian and Tweeddale, p. 143.

10. NRS Presbytery of Dunbar, Minutes, 1657-1684, CH2/99/2, fols. 33-34.

11. NRS Innerwick Kirk Session, 1608-1782, CH2/1463/1, fol. 61.

12. NRS Innerwick Kirk Session, 1608-1782, CH2/1463/1, fol. 88

13. NRS Innerwick Kirk Session, 1608-1782, CH2/1463/1, fol. 112-113.

14. NRS Presbytery of Dunbar, Minutes, 1657-1684, CH2/99/2, fol. 204.

15. NRS Presbytery of Dunbar, Minutes, 1694-1704, CH2/99/3, fols. 117-119.

16. NRS Presbytery of Dunbar, Minutes, 1766-1819, CH2/99/7, fol. 71.

17. Statistical Account of Scotland, (1791), i, 124.

18. Hay, The Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches, p. 255.

Bibliography

NRS Innerwick Kirk Session, 1608-1782, CH2/1463/1.

NRS Presbytery of Dunbar, Minutes, 1657-1684, CH2/99/2.

NRS Presbytery of Dunbar, Minutes, 1694-1704, CH2/99/3.

NRS Presbytery of Dunbar, Minutes, 1766-1819, CH2/99/7.

Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome 1418-22, 1934, ed. E.R. Lindsay and A.I. Cameron, (Scottish History Society) Edinburgh.

Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome 1433-47, 1983, ed. A.I. Dunlop and D MacLauchlan, Glasgow.

Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome 1447-71, 1997, ed. J. Kirk, R.J. Tanner and A.I. Dunlop, Edinburgh.

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.

Hay, G., 1957, The Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches, 1560-1843, Oxford.

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

New Statistical Account of Scotland, 1834-45, Edinburgh and London.

Statistical Account of Scotland, 1791-9, ed. J. Sinclair, Edinburgh.

Synod Records of Lothian and Tweeddale, 1589-1596, 1640-1649, 1977, ed. J. Kirk (Stair Society), Edinburgh.

Architectural description

Innerwick was granted to the Cluniac Abbey of Paisley in about 1163 by William Fitzallan, and subsequently confirmed to the uses of the abbey by Bishop Richard. This situation continued, despite an unsuccessful attempt to unite the perpetual vicarage with the capitular mensa of Dunglass Collegiate Church in 1468.(1) Bishop David de Bernham carried out one of his dedications here on 17 October 1242.(2)

By the mid-seventeenth century the church was in need of major repairs costed at £1042, though that sum also covered works on the manse and schoolmaster’s house.(3) The church was eventually rebuilt in 1784,(4) and was internally re-ordered almost a century later, in 1870.(5)

The church stands on a platform at the highest point of the churchyard, which is likely to have been the location for the medieval church, and its dimensions of 20 by 8.9 metres would be consistent with the existing building having been built at least partly on the footprint of its predecessor. However, the present building, which is constructed of pink droved ashlar pierced by a regular succession of point-arched windows, with a bellcote over the west gable, has clearly retained nothing visible of the medieval church.

Notes

1. Ian B. Cowan, The Parishes of Medieval Scotland (Scottish Record Society), 1967, p. 87.

2. Alan Orr Anderson, Early Sources of Scottish History, Edinburgh, 1922, vol. 2, p. 523.

3. National Records of Scotland, Innerwick Kirk Session, 1608-1782, CH2/1463/1, fol. 112-3.

4. Statistical Account of Scotland, 1791-9, vol. 1, p. 124.

5. Colin McWilliam, The Buildings of Scotland, Lothian, Harmondsworth, 1978, pp. 260-61.