A Corpus of Scottish Medieval
Parish Churches

Historical outline

Dedication: St Andrew

Dedicated to St Andrew,(1) the church of Melville was granted to the abbey of Dunfermline by Geoffrey de Melville c.1177x1188, his grant being made for the souls of King David I and Malcolm IV.(2)  Dunfermline’s possession was confirmed by Hugh, bishop of St Andrews (1178-88), who permitted the monks to convert all the fruits and obventions of this church and others in their possession to their own uses.(3)  This wording is unusual and reads like a possible inflation of a genuine original grant and confirmation in an effort to boost the benefit of that grant.  This suspicion appears to be confirmed by the fact that in the thirteenth century it seems that the monks possessed only the patronage.  The collation as rector of Gregory de Melville in July 1251 states explicitly that Dunfermline had only the right of patronage.(4)  The church thus appears as an independent parsonage in 1276 in the accounts of the papal tax-collector in Scotland where, as the church of Malenil, it was recorded as taxed at 6s 8d for half the year.(5)

Named rectors are recorded in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, often involved in litigation over control of the benefice.(6)  A mandate by James Beaton, archbishop of St Andrews and administrator general of Dunfermline Abbey, dated 7 November 1536, instructed the dean of Linlithgow to induct sir Archibald Hay, described as a student at Paris, into the rectory.(7)  This is the last known pre-Reformation appointment to the church.  At the Reformation Melville was still independent and was noted as being held by John Hay and set for £50 annually and £10 to the minister or curate.(8)

Notes

1. J M Mackinlay, Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland: Scriptural Dedications (Edinburgh, 1910), 210.

2. Registrum de Dunfermelyn (Bannatyne Club, 1842), no.158 [hereafter Dunfermline Registrum].

3. Dunfermline Registrum, no.100.

4. Dunfermline Registrum, no.160.

5. A I Dunlop (ed), ‘Bagimond’s Roll: Statement of the Tenths of the Kingdom of Scotland’, Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, vi (1939), 55.

6. Calendar of Papal Letters to Scotland of Benedict XIII of Avignon 1394-1419, ed C Burns (Scottish History Society, 1976), 86-7; Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland: Petitions to the Pope, ed W H Bliss (London, 1896), 623; Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome, iv, 1433-1447, eds A I Dunlop and D MacLauchlan (Glasgow, 1983), nos 1066, 1094, 1444; Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland: Papal Letters, ix, 1431-1447, ed J A Twemlow (London, 1912), 443, 553; Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland: Papal Letters, xii, 1458-1471, ed J A Twemlow (London, 1933), 498.

7. Dunfermline Registrum, no.527.

8. J Kirk (ed), The Books of Assumption of the Thirds of Benefices (Oxford, 1995), 118.

Summary of relevant documentation

Medieval

Synopsis of Cowan’s Parishes: Granted to Dunfermline by Galfrid de Malevin 1177x88. This involved the patronage alone. The right of presentation continued with the abbey and the revenues of the parsonage remained with the incumbent.(1)

Mackinlay notes that the church was dedicated to St Andrew.(2)

1398-1406 William Buning, rector, is involved in a suit over the will of Henry, lord of Logton between his widow Mary and James Douglas. Still has church in 1406 valued at 6 marks.(3)

1444 William Person (illegitimate) provided to church following death of last rector William Bell, but David De Bernale presented two months later. 1445 William complains that David has intruded himself along with his accomplice Robert Lithgow and gets mandate to remove David from church.(4)

1463 Thomas de Carmichael is recapture of the church.(5)

Post-medieval

Books of assumption of thirds of benefices and Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices: The Parish church parsonage and vicarage held by John Hay (also holds Monymusk), set for £60.(6)

Account of Collectors of Thirds of Benefices (G. Donaldson): Third of parsonage and vicarage £20.(7)

[United to Lasswade parish in 1633, there is no reference in accounts of Lasswade to the survival of earlier church buildings associated with the parish](8)

Notes

1. Cowan, The parishes of medieval Scotland, 146.

2. Mackinlay, Scriptural Dedications, Edinburgh, p. 210.

3. CPL, Ben, 86-87, CPP, 623.

4. CSSR, iv, nos. 1066, 1094 & 1444, CPL, ix, 443 & 553.

5. CPL, xii, 498.

6. Kirk, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, 118.

7. Donaldson, Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices, 27.

8. New Statistical Account of Scotland, (1843), x, 323.

Bibliography

Calendar of entries in the Papal registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland; Papal letters, 1893-, ed. W.H. Bliss, London.

Calendar of entries in the Papal registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland; Papal Petitions, 1893-, ed. W.H. Bliss, London.

Calendar of Papal letters to Scotland of Benedict XIII of Avignon, 1976, ed. F. McGurk, (Scottish History Society) Edinburgh.

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

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.

Mackinlay, J.M, 1910, Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland. Scriptural Dedications, Edinburgh.

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

Architectural description

Galfrid de Malevin granted the patronage of Melville to the Benedictine Abbey of Dunfermline some time between 1177 and 1188.(1) In the seventeenth century the parish was initially united with that of Newbattle, but was later divided between Lasswade and Dalkeith.(2)

Nothing remains of the church, which is thought to have been to the west of Melville Mains, in the vicinity of NT 30 67, where there is now a golf course.(3)

Notes

1. Ian B. Cowan, The Parishes of Medieval Scotland (Scottish Record Society), 1967, p. 146.

2. H. Scott, et al. Eds, Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, Edinburgh, 1915-61, vol. 1, p 331. 

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