Horndean Church, church and burial ground

Heritage listing

Date Added 25/03/2011 Type Ecclesiastical: burial ground, cemetery, graveyard; church Local Authority Scottish Borders Parish Ladykirk NGR NT 90503 49595 Coordinates 390503, 649595 — The monument comprises the ruins of a church dedicated to the Holy Rood. The first mention of a church at this location occurs in the 12th century. The church lies within a fenced enclosure at a height of around 40m above sea level. The site is situated at the head of a slope running down to a stream on the east and to the River Tweed approximately 400m to the south. Reduced to turf-covered foundations, the remains of Horndean parish church lie within an overgrown burial enclosure that is defined by a modern fence on the line of an earlier collapsed wall. The enclosure measures 34m ENE by 32m transversely. The church is aligned ENE-WSW and measures approximately 14.5m by 6.5m within walls up to 1m thick. The walls are best preserved on the N and E sides where they survive as a turf-covered mound up to 0.5m in height, while on the west and south the outline is less apparent and is overgrown by rank vegetation. The burial ground contains several gravestones, although others may have been removed (one report suggests several stones were sold for sharpening scythes). The church was founded in the 12th century and granted by William de Vetteriponte to Kelso Abbey. David de Bernham granted the income of the parsonage and vicarage to Kelso Abbey in return for a chaplain. It is not known when the church was abandoned, but it may have been out of use by the late 16th or 17th century, although burials continued in the burial ground into the 19th century. The area to be scheduled is sub-rectangular on plan, to include the remains described, as shown in red on the accompanying map. Specifically exclude

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.