EDROM CHURCH, Berwickshire.
Of the ancient parish church of Edrom, situated about one mile from Edrom Railway Station, there still survives a Norman doorway of beautiful workmanship. ([Fig. 269.])[175] It has been preserved by being made the entrance to a burial vault at the west end of the church. This doorway ([Fig. 270]) is one of the finest of the style in Scotland, and is of considerable size, being 11 feet high and 4 feet 8 inches wide. It has two shafts (one of them a nook shaft) in each jamb, and the ashlar work of the wall forms the support of the outer order. The arch contains three orders, all elaborately carved with Norman enrichments. The inner enrichment ([Fig. 271]) consists of a series of chevrons; the central order is also ornamented with two sets of chevrons, arranged so as to form lozenge shapes between them, which are filled with delicate carvings. The outer order contains a repeating ornament, arranged in squares, and the whole is enclosed with a small label carved with a delicately foliaged ornament.
The caps of the shafts are somewhat remarkable. [Fig. 271] shows those of each side. The cushion caps and the elaborately carved scrolls of the left central cap correspond with ordinary Norman work, but the peculiar and twisted serpent-like forms of the right jamb are remarkable.
It is not quite clear that the doorway is in its original state. There are three capitals on each side, only two of which have shafts. It is not unlikely that the remaining two capitals had either shafts or some kind of decoration continued to the base, as at Iffley or Middleton; Stoney,
Fig. 269.—Edrom Church. Norman Doorway.
Oxfordshire; or Kirkham Priory, Yorkshire (see Parker’s Glossary). It is also probable that the opening was square-headed, and the tympanum filled with a shield, as at Abercorn and Linton.
The lands and church of Edenham, with Nisbet, were granted to
Fig. 270.—Edrom Church. Doorway.
St. Cuthbert’s monks by Gospatrick, Earl of Dunbar, and confirmed, in 1139, by David I. The investiture is in favour of the Prior of Coldingham.
Fig. 271.—Edrom. Caps of Shafts.
Fig. 272.—Edrom. Angle Buttresses.
Fig. 273.—Edrom. Arms on Buttress.
Fig. 274.—Edrom. Shield on Aisle.
An aisle of some interest is attached to the church. It contains in a panel occupying the position of a niche on one of the buttresses a modern inscription giving the history of the aisle, viz.:—“Founded by Robert Blackadder, Archbishop of Glasgow, in the year 1499.” The only portions of the aisle still preserved which are of any interest are the two angle buttresses ([Fig. 272]). Both of these have had niches with canopies and corbels for supporting figures. The canopy of one is gone, but a sundial occupies its place. The archbishop’s arms and initials ([Fig. 273]) are carved on the buttress. His family name is derived from a place of the same designation in the parish. Another shield ([Fig. 274]), with arms almost obliterated, occurs a little further west.