Coldingham

Parish No 732 Coldingham is located within the County of Berwickshire, which is now known as the Scottish Borders. Coldingham lies on the North Sea Coast approximately 3 miles North East of Eyemouth.  For a map showing the location of Coldingham please click here.

Coldingham is the second largest Parish in Berwickshire.  St Abb’s Head has the honor of having had the oldest known Christian foundation in Berwickshire nearby.  The foundation is that of St Ebba’s Monastery.  St Abb’s Kirk, a medieval Chapel was built on the same site.  The Free Church of the village of St Abb’s is now the Parish Church.

Coldingham Village once contained a mediaeval Priory.  The choir of the Priory makes up the Parish Church.  Other than the Choir there are only small remains of the old Monastery.  Coldingham once had an Episcopal Meeting House, a Congregational Church and a Catholic Church however evidence of remains of these buildings can not be found today.

"A town and parish in the county of Berwick. The town stands in a retired dry valley, having a small rivulet of excellent water running upon each side of it, and is about a mile distant from the sea. It appears to have been of considerable antiquity, for its monastery was one of the most ancient and flourishing on the east of Scotland ... The town appears long ago to have been much larger than at present; but, of late, it has assumed a more lively and cheerful appearance; and the wealth and population are visibly increasing. It contains about 720 inhabitants. The parish is of an irregular square figure, of 7 or 8 miles. The general appearance is flat; but there is a considerable portion of rising grounds, of easy ascent and gentle declivity ... About a mile W. of St Abb's Head is a beautiful piece of water, called Coldingham loch, which is about a mile in circumference, and of considerable depth. There are, besides the town of Coldingham, 3 or 4 small villages in the parish, the inhabitants of which are chiefly farmers or weavers ... Population in 1801, 2391."

from Gazetteer of Scotland published 1806, Edinburgh.

 

Church History

 

St Ebb’s Monastery, Kirk Hill

 

St Ebba’s Monastery was thought to be on a peninsula to the west of the lighthouse, where the Ordinance Survey Map shows ‘St Abb’s Nunnery, rems of’.  It is said that Kirk Hill which is about 500m to the south east of the lighthouse had the arch of an old church on it until around 1800.  It was also thought that this was the original site of St Abb’s Kirk.  It is now thought that the original site was the site of a mediaeval hall and that the site of St Ebba’s Monastery was on Kirk Hill.

 

The date of the foundation of St Ebba’s Monastery is uncertain, but it seems likely that Ebba was the first Abbess.  She was the daughter of King Edilfred, sister of Oswald and half sister of Oswy who became King of Bernicia in 643.  The Monastery must have been founded some time after that and before 661AD.

 

The customary story is that Princess Ebba, was taken prisoner to be married to the Pagan King of Mercia.  She escaped and a craft, amazingly provided, allowed her to flee from the Humber, a storm drove her boat northwards.  Princess Ebba came ashore near the present day St Abb’s and the site of the Monastery.  She then founded the double Monastery after her shipwreck and amazing escape. 

 

The alternative story is that the Monastery was already established when Ebba was shipwrecked and in gratitude to the Monastery she pledged her life and fortune.

 

St Abb’s was a double Monastery; there was a Monastery for Monks and another for Nuns on the same site.  The Monks and Nuns were supposed to be strictly segregated in their own buildings.  The abbess of St Abb’s was in charge of both Monasteries and was presumed to have given her orders for the Monks through a window in the Nuns’ building.  Ebba died in 685 and amongst the collection of relics at Durham Cathedral was said to have been one of her feet.  She was buried in the Monastery but her body was exhumed in about 1130.  Her remains were placed in a shrine which was located on the south side of the alter in Coldingham Priory.

 

Coldingham Priory

 

In 1098 with the help of King William Rufus of England, King Edgar drove out his Uncle Donald, and took the Scottish Throne which was rightfully his.  Donald had seized the Scottish Thorne when it was not legally his to have.  St Cuthbert had appeared in a vision to Edgar and to ensure success told him to take the Saint’s Banner from Durham Monastery and to carry it on horseback on a spear at the head of his army.  The banner was returned to Durham after Edgar’s victory.  Coldingham was given by King Edgar in 1098 to the Benedictine Monks of St Cuthbert of Durham.  The Church and later the Priory were dedicated to St Cuthbert because of his help in ensuring Edgar’s accession to the throne of Scotland.  The Priory was dedicated to St Mary and St Ebba as well as St Cuthbert; however the dedication to Mary was most often used alone.

 

King Edgar was present when the first church was consecrated in 1100.  Although the first church was not a Monastic Church it was probably serviced by the Monks from Durham Priory.  Even when Coldingham became a Priory in its own right it remained a subordinate to Durham Priory.  The archives of Durham Cathedral contain over 1000 charters and other documents relating to Coldingham Priory. 

 

On his return from a raid of the lowlands King John of England almost totally destroyed Coldingham Priory in 1216.  Shortly after the almost total destruction of Coldingham Priory a new and much larger Priory Church was built, the Monastic Buildings were also renovated.  It is thought that Prior Thomas de Melsonby, who was Prior of Coldingham Priory between 1215 and 1218, was probably responsible for the new Church and renovations of the Monastic Buildings, as after he became Bishop of Durham in 1237 he embarked on a similar building programme there.  During renovations to Coldingham Priory in 1855 the foundations of the first church were found.  The present day Parish Church is less than half the size of the second Priory Church was built following the destruction of the Priory in 1216.

 

As the Priory was in the Kingdom of Scotland and a subordinate of the English Priory of Durham, Coldingham had a divided allegiance and therefore suffered from both sides in the Border Conflicts until it was withdrawn from Durham’s control and annexed to Dunfermline in 1509.  Between 1537 and the Reformation [16th Century] Coldingham Priory was involved in the cross border warfare of the times, being besieged at least twice and reportedly ‘destroyed’ each time.  Before the 16th Century most of the Priors and Sacrists were English, and after that they were all Scottish.  Only the Prior was subject of the Kings of Scotland, the monks being subject of the Kings of England.

 

Robert II attempted to annex the Priory to Dunfermline Abbey in 1378 so that the Durham Monks at Coldingham Priory at the time would be replaced by Benedictine Monks from Dunfermline.  This was opposed by Durham and litigation dragged on so that it was 1442 before the Papal Court decided in favour of Durham.  John Olle and Englishmen was made Prior but he was the last English Prior and the last Durham Monk was expelled in 1462.  From 1473 James III attempted to make the Priory into a Collegiate Church to help pay for the Chapel Royal of St Mary of the Rock in St Andrews, which he was building at the time.  The Pope ordered that Coldingham Priory be withdrawn from the control of Durham Priory and joined with Dunfermline Abbey in 1504.

 

Population

Here are some figures showing the Parish's population through time:

1755

2313

 

1831

2668

 

1881

3180

1791

2391

 

1841

 

 

1891

 

1801

2391

 

1851

 

 

1901

 

1811

2424

 

1861

3237

 

 

 

1821

2675

 

1871

 

 

 

 

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