Fig. 1349.—Cockburnspath Church. Plan.
a circular stone stair. There is a string course above the level of the ridge of the church, above which the tower rises one story. In this there are several openings or loop holes of a roughly formed cross shape, similar to those sometimes found in the old castles. The tower is built of rubble work in quite a different style of masonry from that of the church. There is nothing to indicate that it is older than the church, except its position. Mr. T. S. Robertson[160] is probably correct when he states, “From its position, I am clearly of opinion that it existed before the church, and that the church walls were built up to it. I cannot believe that any one capable of building the round tower would have taken out the centre of a gable fully 3 feet thick to insert this tower,” for it will be observed that the tower projects inside. “The most that would have been done, had the church been earlier than the tower, would have been to slap a door of communication through the wall of the church.” The tower was probably erected independently as a belfry and for other occasional purposes. A circular stair beginning at the level of the church floor, and entering from the church by a square-headed door, is carried up as far as the upper story of the tower, which has been mended with brick work, otherwise the tower is all of one age. The walls are only 18 inches thick, but the
Fig. 1350.—Cockburnspath Church. Door and Window Head at East End.
stone steps of the stair bind them together, and make the building as strong as if it had been built of one solid mass of masonry.
The small building at the east end is probably a century later than the church. It has a pointed barrel-vaulted roof, and an original square-headed doorway in the centre of its east wall. It is now used as the heating chamber of the church.
On the apex of the south-west buttress there is a remarkable sundial, which has already been illustrated.[161]
From Mr. Ferguson’s remarks[162] it is evident that the history of this building has not been investigated. There were a chapel and a hospital at
