The Church of St. Boswells stands near the right bank of the Tweed, at a point about half-way between the village of Lessudden and Maxton Railway Station. The village of St. Boswells is stated to have formerly stood near the church, but it has gradually and entirely disappeared, and the nearest village to the church is now Lessudden, which is fully a mile off. The situation is very fine, and the views of the Tweed, with its wooded banks, in the vicinity are very beautiful.
Fig. 340.—St. Boswells Church. Fragments.
The place is of great antiquity, and is supposed to have derived its name from Eadwine of Northumbria. The church, which has been entirely rebuilt, contains a few small relics of the Norman edifice which undoubtedly once stood on the site. These consist of some carved corbels ([Fig. 340]) and other fragments, which are evidently of Norman date, and which have been preserved by being built into the restored church.
The Church of Lessudden was bestowed on Dryburgh Abbey in the middle of the twelfth century.
SMAILHOLM CHURCH, Roxburghshire.
As in Berwickshire, so in Roxburghshire, a large number of Norman churches were erected during the Norman period. We have not attempted to compile a list of these, as in most cases almost no trace of them now remains, or so little that it can only be detected by an antiquarian. There is, for example, the Church of Hassendean, of which Cardonell gives a view of the chancel arch, granted by David I. to the Bishop of Glasgow. This, judging from Cardonell’s view, must have been a rich and important structure, with an eastern end similar to what we
