Southdean Church And Kirkyard

Heritage listing

Date Added 10/03/2000 Supplementary Information Updated 18/07/2016 Type Ecclesiastical: church Local Authority Scottish Borders Parish Southdean NGR NT 63141 09162 Coordinates 363141, 609162 — The monument comprises the remains of a medieval church and its kirkyard, situated at the roadside some 50m NW of Southdean. The church is associated with the Battle of Otterburn in 1388; the leaders of the Scottish army are said to have met at the church on the eve of the battle. The monument comprises the foundations of a church and the fragmentary outline of an earlier structure 1.5m outside the N wall of the nave. The later building consists of a chancel, nave and a W tower. The E side of the tower is about 1.8m high but its outer sides had been reduced to the lowest courses. The nave walls stand approximately 0.7m-0.9m high but those of the chancel stand just to the base courses. The tower and nave are generally believed to date from the 13th century and are constructed of rubble masonry, roughly squared and built to courses. The tower has a splayed base course and was entered directly from the nave. Towards the W end of the nave are two doors, one through the S wall and a smaller one through the N wall. The chancel walls are faced with ashlar and have two angle buttresses at the E end, with a splayed base course (now fragmentary) carried round the whole exterior. The chancel is evidently later than the nave and tower, probably dating to the 15th century. The roof of the church collapsed in 1688 and the site became a grassed-over mound. In 1910 the site was excavated by Hawick Archaeological Society. During the excavation numerous pieces of carved stone were discovered including a late medieval super-altar and a font, both of which are now used in the modern parish church. Ot

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.