A Corpus of Scottish Medieval
Parish Churches

Historical outline

Dedication: St Michael(1)

The church of Saltoun was granted to the canons of Dryburgh Abbey by Hugh de Morville and his son, Richard, with possession confirmed in 1161 by Pope Alexander III and around 1162 x 1165 by King Malcolm IV.(2)  The abbey possessed only the patronage of the church until c.1220 when Bishop William Malveisin confirmed Saltoun in proprios usus.(3)  Bishop David de Bernham dedicated the church on 21 April 1244.(4)  A vicarage settlement was instituted by Bishop Gamelin in 1268, whereby both parsonage and vicarage revenues were annexed to Dryburgh and a vicarage pensionary established to serve the cure.(5)  As a fully appropriated church, no record of Saltoun occurs in the accounts of the papal tax-collector in the 1270s but the church of Saltoun with the vicarage was recorded in the 1290s in the taxation for the archdeaconry of Lothian under the abbey, valued at £39 7s 10d.(6)

In the sixteenth century the vicarage appears to have been held on occasion by a canon of Dryburgh.  In 1515 John Brown, canon the abbey, was vicar and in 1550 the vicarage was held by John Dewar.(7)  At the Reformation, the annexation of the parsonage to the abbey continued, the fruits set annually for £66 13s 4d.  The vicarage, also held by the abbey, was valued at £33 6s 8d annually.(8)

Additional altars in the church are referred to in two undated but probably fourteenth-century charters.  The first refers to an endowment by John and Agnes of Saltoun to pay for a light to be kept burning before the altar of St Mary Magdalene.(9)  The second records the foundation of an altar of the Holy Cross by one John ‘Burgulus’.(10)  Neither altar is recorded in any subsequent document.  There is one reference to a substantial pro anima bequest to the church by John Sinclair of Hermiston, whose tomb was located there.  In 1529, he bequeathed in his testament £30 for the upkeep of the building and for the saying of masses for his soul.(11)

Notes

1. Liber S Marie de Dryburgh (Bannatyne Club, 1847), nos 188, 190 [hereafter Dryburgh Liber].

2. Dryburgh Liber, nos 6, 7, 254 [the reference to ‘Robert’ de Morville is probably a mistranscription by the fourteenth-century copyist]; Regesta Regum Scottorum, i, The Acts of Malcolm IV, ed G W S Barrow (Edinburgh, 1960), no.218.

3. Dryburgh Liber, no.237.

4. A O Anderson (ed), Early Sources of Scottish History, ii (Edinburgh, 1922), 525 [Pontifical Offices of St Andrews].

5. Dryburgh Liber, no.40.

6. The Correspondence, Inventories, Account Rolls and Law Proceedings of the Priory of Coldingham, ed J Raine (Surtees Society, 1841), cxv.

7. NRS Material relating to the parish: Prestonkirk, Saltoun, Soutra, Spott, Stenton, GD1/413/11, fol. 28.

8. J Kirk (ed), The Books of Assumption of the Thirds of Benefices (Oxford, 1995), 174, 190, 191, 197.

9. Dyburgh Liber, no.188.

10. Dryburgh Liber, no.190.

11. NRS Edinburgh Commissary Court. Register of Testaments, 1515-1532, CC8/8/1A, fols. 26-27.

Summary of relevant documentation

Medieval

Synopsis of Cowan’s Parishes: Granted to Dryburgh by Hugh and Robert de Morville in 1161. A vicarage settlement took place in 1268, with the cure a vicar pensioner and both parsonage and vicarage annexed to abbey.(1)

Noted as the church of St Michael of Saltoun in Dryburgh Chartulary.(2)

1515 John Brown, canon of Dryburgh, vicar of Saltoun.(3)

1529 (21 Aug) testament of  James Sinclair of Herdmanston refers to his tomb in the parish church of Saltoun and a gift of £30 for the upkeep and masses for his soul.(4)

1550 John Dewar described as vicar of Saltoun.(5)

Altars and chaplaincies

Holy Cross

#? (undated) Founded by John Burgulum of Saltoun [mentioned in database of dedications but not clear from charter].(6)

Mary Magdalene

Undated charter: light added to the altar of St Mary Magdalene in Saltoun by John and Agnes de Saltoun.(7)

Post-medieval

Books of assumption of thirds of benefices and Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices: The Parish church entirely with Dryburgh, parsonage set for £66 13s 4d. Vicarage valued at £33 6s 8d.(8)

Account of Collectors of Thirds of Benefices (G. Donaldson): Third of vicarage £3 6s 8d.(9)

1613 (10 Mar) Report to the Presbytery of Haddington records the admission of Archibald Lavingston to the church of Saltoun [appears to be first minister since the Reformation].(10)

1627 (3 May) Report on the parish by the minister (A Livingstone) describes the church as situated in the middle of the parish in the toun of Nether Salthoun.(11)

1635 (15 Apr) Visitation of the church by the Presbytery of Haddington finds the minister (Thomas Maitland) to be competent but the kirk yard dykes are unbuilt. A taxation is ordained under the supervision of the minister.(12)

1636 (24 Feb) George Simson, mason, paid for building the kirk dykes (2 dollar).(13)

1637 (25 Nov) £3 paid out for mending of the church windows.(14)

c.1663 (possibly 13 Mar) Notes on p.1-2 of the session book record payments to a slater (Alexander Marshal), for pointing of the kirk, choir and building of a new porch, £146 in total. The next page notes that the kirk of Saltoun is in length 12 els and height 4 roods and a half, the choir is 9 els in length and 5 high.(15)

1666 (5 July) Visitation of the church by the Presbytery of Haddington notes that the laird of Saltoun is to build an aisle in the church about his burial place, an area with a chimney divided from the rest of the church by a partition wall. The minister also desired the Presbytery to recommend to the heritors the taking down of the mid-wall between the kirk and the ruined aisle so that people might be more commodiously seated.(16)

1671 (23 July) The session notes that repairing of something in the church to be paid out of the box, until the heritors repay it.(17)

1674 (May) Note in the session that £39 laid out of the repair of the kirk in the year 1674, to be repaid by the heritors.(18)

1674 (30 July) Visitation of the church by the Presbytery of Haddington finds that the fabric of the church needed a little reparation and the church yard dykes needed repair.(19)

1678 (13 June) Visitation of the church by the Presbytery of Haddington finds that the church and manse are in good care, only in need of pointing.(20)

1682 (14 Mar) The laird of Saltoun paid his proportion of £11 10s laid out of the box for lime and sand for pointing the choir and the south side of the church and for mending the church yard gates.(21)

Statistical Account of Scotland (Rev Andrew Johnston): [No reference to church fabric]

New Statistical Account of Scotland (Rev Robert Kerr Hamilton, 1835): ‘the period of the erection of the church is unknown. In 1805 it underwent such extensive repairs that the present building may be considered as almost entirely new… Part of the interior and of its former walls remain’.(22)

Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches (George Hay): 1805; interior recast 1885, 1806 bell. Semi-castellated style (‘T’ Plan church).(23)

Notes

1. Cowan, The parishes of medieval Scotland, 179.

2. Liber S. Mari de Dryburgh, nos. 188 & 190.

3. NRS Material relating to the parish: Prestonkirk, Saltoun, Soutra, Spott, Stenton, GD1/413/11, fol. 28.

4. NRS Edinburgh Commissary Court. Register of Testaments, 1515-1532, CC8/8/1A, fols. 26-27.

5. NRS Material relating to the parish: Prestonkirk, Saltoun, Soutra, Spott, Stenton, GD1/413/11, fol. 28.

6. Liber S. Mari de Dryburgh, no. 190.

7. Liber S. Mari de Dryburgh, no. 188.

8. Kirk, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, 174, 190, 191 & 197.

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

10. NRS Presbytery of Haddington, Minutes, 1613-1627, CH2/185/3, fol. 2.

11. Reports on the State of Certain Parishes in Scotland, pp. 131-133.

12. NRS Presbytery of Haddington, Minutes, 1627-1639, CH2/185/4, fol. 82.

13. NRS Saltoun Kirk Session, 1635-1647, CH2/322/1, fol. 93.

14. NRS Saltoun Kirk Session, 1635-1647, CH2/322/1, fol. 97.

15. NRS Saltoun Kirk Session, 1663-1696, CH2/322/2, fols. 1-2.

16. NRS Presbytery of Haddington, Minutes, 1662-1686, CH2/185/7, fols. 42-43.

17. NRS Saltoun Kirk Session, 1663-1696, CH2/322/2, fol. 41.

18. NRS Saltoun Kirk Session, 1663-1696, CH2/322/2, fol. 71.

19. NRS Presbytery of Haddington, Minutes, 1662-1686, CH2/185/7, fols. 171-172.

20. NRS Presbytery of Haddington, Minutes, 1662-1686, CH2/185/7, fol. 256.

21. NRS Saltoun Kirk Session, 1663-1696, CH2/322/2, fol. 104.

22. New Statistical Account of Scotland, (1835), ii, 122.

23. Hay, The Architecture of Scottish Post-Reformation Churches, pp. 120, 177 & 255.

Bibliography

NRS Edinburgh Commissary Court. Register of Testaments, 1515-1532, CC8/8/1A.

NRS Material relating to the parish: Prestonkirk, Saltoun, Soutra, Spott, Stenton, GD1/413/11.

NRS Presbytery of Haddington, Minutes, 1613-1627, CH2/185/3.

NRS Presbytery of Haddington, Minutes, 1627-1639, CH2/185/4.

NRS Presbytery of Haddington, Minutes, 1662-1686, CH2/185/7.

NRS Saltoun Kirk Session, 1635-1647, CH2/322/1.

NRS Saltoun Kirk Session, 1663-1696, CH2/322/2.

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.

Liber S. Mari de Dryburgh, 1847, (Bannatyne Club), Edinburgh.

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

Reports on the State of Certain Parishes in Scotland, Made to his Majesty’s Commissioners for Plantation of Kirks, 1835, ed. A. MacGrigor (Maitland Club), Edinburgh.

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

Architectural description

Saltoun was granted to the Premonstratensian abbey of Dryburgh by the abbey’s founders, Hugh and Robert de Morville, a grant that was confirmed by Pope Alexander III in 1161. In 1268 a pensionary vicarage was set in place.(1) Bishop David de Bernham carried out one of his dedications here on 21 April 1244.(2)

Very little is known about the form of the church before the Reformation. However, the oriented alignment of the main body of the present building, together with its elongated proportions, could suggest that it is raised on the footings of the medieval building, and the possibility that medieval masonry may have been embodied will be further considered below.

A little more is known about changes made to it to meet reformed needs. In 1666, for example, it was noted by presbytery that the laird of Saltoun was intending to build an aisle around his burial place, which was to be heated by a fireplace. There was also a tantalising reference by the minister to a ruined aisle.(3) Together these suggest that the church came to have at least one lateral extension, and possibly two.

The church was rebuilt in 1805, possibly to the designs of Robert Burn who was the architect of the manse.(4) What was done was described in the following terms by the minister, in the New Statistical Account:

In 1805, it underwent such extensive repairs that the present building may be considered as almost entirely new; part of the interior only of the former wall remains, and has been newly faced with neatly wrought rubble stone. The figure of the church is that of a cathedral cross, looking down the nave....At the period of the repair already mentioned, the external aspect of the church was beautified by the erection – at the entire expense of the late liberal patron, General Fletcher, - of a handsome spire, springing from a battlemented tower, and rising to the height (from the level of the ground) of 90 feet.(5)

The main body of the church is a rectangle. To its north is an extended lateral aisle raised over the mausoleum of the Fletcher of Saltoun family, which is approached down a sloping path. Corresponding to that aisle on the south, and giving the church its cruciform plan, is a tower surmounted by a tall spire. The entrances to the church are within arches at the east and west ends of the main body, and the seating in the three arms is directed towards towards the pulpit that is set against the north side of the tower, and within which there is the vestry.

The architectural vocabulary is in a charming early Gothic revival idiom, an idiom that shows some parallels with the work of the Adam brothers, as seen in the front they placed on the truncated nave at Yester Collegiate Church. The pointed-arched windows are set singly, in pairs or in triplets below rectangular labels, and in some cases above advanced aprons. The wall heads are capped by crenellated parapets projected out on corbel tables, and there are square bartizan-like pinnacles at the angles. On the south face of the tower is an inscribed tablet recording that the spire had been built by General Fletcher Campbell in 1805, in tribute to the memory of his ancestors.

In the more visible areas the masonry is of squared blocks of pink stone with droved tooling, with ample ashlar dressings. But, despite the general uniformity of finish, in at least two areas it is possible to see that earlier masonry has been retained, which may indicate that there has been more re-facing of existing masonry than is initially apparent.

Closer to the east end of the south wall there appear to be traces of two blocked windows, one above the other, but since both the blocking and the surrounding masonry has droved tooling it appears that some pains have been taken to re-tool existing masonry in the same way as the new masonry. A vertical arrangement of windows in this way is most likely to indicate that there was a gallery at the east end of the church in its previous form, with windows both above and below the gallery.

Another area where earlier work appears to have been incorporated is along the east face of the north aisle, where the masonry is random rubble. The case for retention is strengthened by the presence of a chamfered base course below the central section of the wall, which is unlike what is to be seen elsewhere. In this case it is perhaps probable that the aisle has embodied either part of the ruined aisle referred to in 1666, or, more likely in view of the presence of a mausoleum at a lower level, the aisle that the laird of Saltoun proposed to build around his burial place in that same year.

In both those cases, it is probably post-Reformation provisions that remain in evidence. Nevertheless, in the case of the wall at the east end of the south wall, taking account of the orientation of the main body of the church and its elongated proportions, the possibility that the wall at this point is a modification of medieval masonry cannot be ruled out.

Notes

1. Ian B. Cowan, The Parishes of Medieval Scotland (Scottish History Society), 1967, p. 179.

2. Alan Orr Anderson, Early Sources of Scottish History, Edinburgh, 1922, vol. 2, p. 525.

3. National Records of Scotland, Presbytery of Haddington, Minutes, 1662-86, CH2/185/7, fols 42-43.

4. Colin McWilliam, The Buildings of Scotland, Lothian, Harmondsworth, 1978, p. 200.

New Statistical Account of Scotland, 1834-45, vol. 2, p. 122.