COLDSTREAM
In this parish, during early times, a Cistercian convent or priory stood near the junction of the Leet with the Tweed. It was founded and dedicated to the Virgin Mary by Cospatrick, the 3rd Earl of Dunbar, in the year 1165. In his foundation charter, Earl Cospatrick associated himself with Deider, his countess, and personally bestowed upon the nuns a carucate—that is, between sixty and a hundred acres—of the Hirsel, along with the church of that place. The Hirsel, situated about a mile northwest of Coldstream, now serves as the beautiful seat of the Earl of Home.
The following is an abstract of a charter granted around the year 1232, which illustrates the relationship between the Hirsel church and Coldstream Priory:
"To all the sons of Holy Mother Church, William, the son of Patrick, greeting. At the bidding of charity, he has given and granted to God, and the Church of St. Mary of Caldstrem, and the nuns there serving God, the Church of Herissille, with its lands, tithes, offerings, and all other just pertinents of the said church, in free, pure, and perpetual alms, as freely and quietly as the charters of Earl Cospatrick, Earl Waldeve, and Patrick, the grantor's father, witness and confirm, and as any church in the kingdom of Scotland is more freely, quietly, honorably, and fully held."
Another church belonging to the priory was that of Lennel (the name of the parish prior to 1716). From another old charter, granted near the beginning of the 13th century, we learn that:
"Earl Patrick of Dunbar confirms to God and the holy nuns of Caldestrem the whole church of Laynall, with all its pertinents, to be held in perpetual alms, as the charters of his predecessors, Earl Cospatrick and Earl Waldeve, his father, attest." (The Earl Patrick mentioned here died in 1232.)
During the Border wars, this convent suffered severely. Edward I, on his way northward, encamped at Coldstream with 5,000 horsemen and 30,000 infantry. On this occasion, the priory and its orchard sustained great damage, for which compensation was later demanded and granted.
On June 6, 1472, James III confirmed a charter under the Great Seal granted at Perth on July 23, 1459, whereby his royal predecessor, James II, bestowed upon the convent of Coldstream the lands of Simpryn (Simprim).
In 1515—two years after the Battle of Flodden—Lord Dacre wrote to Margaret, the Queen Mother of Scotland, who had sought his protection on behalf of the prioress (Isabella of Coldstream) and her sisters:
"Madam, In my most humble wise, I recommend myself unto your grace. And whereas it hath pleased you to desire me, for your sake, to cause all Englishmen to forbear doing any hurt unto the prioress of Coldstream and her house, Madam, I shall with good will observe your commandment and pleasure, provided that she and hers do not commit or support any harm against the King, my sovereign lord's subjects, nor keep or receive into her house any Scottish men of war."
The last ruler of the convent was Dame Janet Hoppringill, during whose tenure the structure was burned to the ground by the Earl of Hertford in 1545.*
Not a trace of the convent buildings remains today. The pomarium (orchard) of the priory is now represented by a large orchard occupying a considerable area on the southwest side of the town, sloping down toward the site of the buildings.† Tradition holds that many of the Scottish nobles who fell at Flodden were brought to Coldstream and interred in the priory burial ground. In 1834, during excavations at the site, numerous human bones and a stone coffin were unearthed.
A local tradition also suggests that the convent's bell was taken by the English to Durham and suspended in the cathedral there.
*The election of Dame Janet Hoppringill as prioress was an important and ceremonial event. The nuns assembled for the occasion and unanimously elected Dame Janet Hoppringill, a veiled and professed sister of their house, renowned for her virtues and aptitude in spiritual and temporal governance. She was deemed the most suitable, capable, and industrious candidate for the rule of the monastery and its revenues, and her election was marked by a formal declaration of her qualifications.
Extract from the Instrument of Election of Dame Janet Hoppringill as Prioress of Coldstream.
†In 1621, it was referred to as the "little croft, callit the lyttle orchard," and in 1640, it was styled the "little croft called the pomarium."
COLDSTREAM.
The church or chapel of Hirsel had disappeared as early as 1627, though the churchyard was still in use at that time.
The church of Bassendean also belonged to the monastery of Coldstream. It is discussed at considerable length under WESTRUTHER, to which parish it now belongs.
The ancient church of LENNEL stood on the north bank of the Tweed, slightly more than a mile northeast of Coldstream. The west gable, portions of the north and south walls of the nave, and indications of a narrower chancel are still extant. The nave measured 54 feet in length and 22½ feet in width externally, but the dimensions of the chancel cannot be satisfactorily determined. On the south side of the nave are traces of a doorway with a segmental head and slightly molded jambs, as well as two hollow-chamfered windows. These windows opened to the interior with a wide lateral splay and a segmental rear-arch.
The west elevation appears to have undergone alterations at a later period. It is crow-stepped and pierced by two rectangular windows, both plainly beveled on the outside. The upper window measures 3½ feet by 22 inches, while the lower, now blocked, measures 26 inches by 18 inches. The visible architectural details are sparse, but some elements can be dated to the late 12th century.*
An old handbell, formerly used for funerals and other purposes and later utilized in Coldstream, still exists and bears the following inscription:
"TMS IS LENDON HAND BEL."
The following extract from an official report illustrates the state of ecclesiastical affairs in this parish in 1627:
**"The said parish contains three miles in length and two miles in breadth. The easternmost town of the parish is distant from the said kirk one mile and a half; the westernmost, one mile and a half; the northernmost town, two miles. There is no town of the said parish on the south, the kirk standing upon the river of Tweed.
"As for any union of the said kirk to any other, or of any other kirk to it, we know none.
"The kirk of Lendell is a kirk of the Priory of Cauldstreame. It was of old but a chapel, called Lendell Chapel, and now it is the parish kirk by reason of the most commodious situation for the parish. As for chaplainries, we know none to be within our said parish, but there has been of old, near to the Hirsell, either a chapel or kirk, whereof there is only remaining a kirk yard called Granton Kirkyard, possessed by the Earl of Home, and we know no benefit belonging thereto.
"Written out and signed at Lendell Kirk, the twentieth day of May, in the year of God 1627."**
The current church of this parish stands at the center of the town of Coldstream. It was erected in 1716 and renovated in 1798. The building is functional and comfortable but is externally and internally severely plain.
Surrounding the ruins of the church at Lennel is the old churchyard, which contains some interesting gravestones.
On a medium-sized stone, only the latter part of the inscription is legible:
"To Lavrance Bell in Nevcastell who departed this life the 9 of December 1689."
A very small, peculiarly shaped stone bears along its upper curved surface, in nearly obliterated letters:
"Heir lyes ... Wleken (?) who dep... 1655."
The sides of this stone are engraved with a death’s head, an hourglass, and crossbones.
Another similarly shaped stone reads:
"Heir lyes Robrt Paterson vho dp the 15 April 1664."
On a small, plain stone are the words:
"Here lyeth the body of John Kers who deceased the 6 day of October 1694 his age 32 years."
A large horizontal stone bears the following inscription in bold characters:
"I. F.
1658.
B. B."
These words appear on another small stone:
"Here lyes the body of John Don who departed this life upon the 2 day of November 1699. His age 56 years."
A medium-sized stone, sadly mutilated and defaced, with its upper part broken off, reads:
"James Wa... son to Alexander Watsone, dyer in Calstream, he died the 4 of July 1686.
Jean Watsone died 28 of May 1683."
A large horizontal stone bears the following inscription:
"Here on the south side of this stone, at a small distance, lies the body of John Bell of Rwtchester Rig, who died June 1st, A.D. 1729, aged 55 years. On his left hand lies Margt. Donaldson, his spouse, who died January 4th, A.D. 1743, aged 77 years. On his right hand lies the body of Elizabeth Wrie, relict of Charles Bell of Craigfoody, who died September 11th, A.D. 1742, aged 62 years. Under this stone lies the body of George Bell of Rwtchester Rige, who died October 4th, A.D. 1742, aged 36 years."
On the bottom of this stone are the words:
"His father and his mother dear, his brothers and his sisters were buried here."
An elegant stone is erected to the memory of the Rev. Adam Thomson, D.D., minister of the United Presbyterian Church, Coldstream, who died on 23rd February 1861. His many excellent qualities are highlighted in a lengthy inscription, which concludes:
"The great success of his career was the abolition of the Scottish Bible monopoly, along with what he did and suffered for the cheapening and circulation of the holy book."
A son wrote these touching lines in tribute to his mother:
"I owe thee much: thou hast deserved from me
Far, far beyond what I can ever pay;
Oft have I proved the labours of thy love
And the warm efforts of thy gentle heart."
David Limes celebrates his wife with these lines:
"Closed, ever closed, those speaking eyes,
Where sweetness beamed, where candour shone;
And silent that heart-thrilling voice,
Which music loved and called her own.
Alas! Before the violet bloomed,
Before the snows of winter fled,
Too certain fate my hopes consumed,
For she was numbered with the dead."
William Beloe mourns his wife in these poignant words:
"Oft to this spot
Will memory fondly turn,
And love's pure flame
Still unextinguished burn
Within their breasts, who
Here doth mourn their loss,
But nails their sorrows
To a Saviour's cross.
Oh! Precious hope!
By faith to mortals given,
That loving hearts which
Hath on earth been riven,
May through the same
Dear Saviour's pleading love
Again unite in realms
Of bliss above."
On an upright stone in the southeast portion of the churchyard:
"To the memory of John Hume, tenant in Easter Bankhead of Eccles, who was born at Easter Coldstream on 7th June 1716 and interred here in 1785; and to several of his immediate ancestors also interred here, who suffered severely during the period between 1638 and 1689 in the noble effort to preserve unimpaired the civil and religious liberties of Scotland against prelatic oppression; one having fallen in a field of conflict in this neighbourhood, while others experienced persecution and confiscation of property. Erected by his grandson, John Hume of the Register House, Edinburgh, 1837."
On a mural tablet on the inner (eastern) side of the western gable of the old church, in the lower part of the watch-house, now used as the sexton's tool-house:
**"Here lies the body of Robert Blackie, late surgeon in Coldstream, who died July 4th, 1780, aged 36 years.
'No private interest did his soul invade,
No foe he injured, no kind friend betrayed;
He followed virtue as his truest guide,
Lived like a Christian, like a Christian died.'
This monument was erected by his widow, Margaret Denholm, in remembrance of him."**
On a stone, much sunk in the ground in the southeast part of the churchyard, is this inscription:
"This stone is erected by Vilam Shirif in remembrance of his daughter Margret Shirif, who departed this life in the year of God 1698."
Ministers of Coldstream Since 1576:
John Clapperton — 1576 to 1617
Francis Hepburne, M.A. — 1617 to 1632
Thomas Hepburn, M.A. — 1641 to 1642
James Home — 1642 to 1653
Wm. Johnstone, M.A. — 1659 to 1662
David Robertson, M.A. — 1663 to 1685
Thomas Blair, M.A. — 1686 to 1689
James Armstrong — 1690 to 1694
John Pow, M.A. — 1694 to 1735
William Wilsone, M.A. — 1735 to 1777
James Bell — 1778 to 1794
Robert Scott — 1795 to 1830
Thomas Smith Goldie — 1830 to 1859
Archibald Nisbett (present incumbent) — 1860
A handsome Free Church was erected in 1847, enlarged, and improved in 1891. Its square tower, 80 feet high, is one of the most conspicuous features of the town, visible from a great distance. The present minister is James Rutherford, B.D., settled in 1887.
The East United Presbyterian Church was erected in 1826. It is a large building of the old tea-caddy shape, seated for 800. The present minister is John Lockhart Elder, M.A., settled in 1882.
The West United Presbyterian Church was built in 1806. It is a large square building, exceedingly plain and unpretentious. Recent alterations have greatly improved the interior in appearance and comfort. The present minister is Archibald Macaulay Caldwell, settled in 1892.
SOURCE: The Churches And Churchyards Of Berwickshire By James Robson 1893, updated 2025 Nathan Zipfel