The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century; vol. 3/3

GREENLAW CHURCH, Berwickshire.

Reading edition

This church, with its venerable tower, overlooks, in a very prominent manner, the small county town of Greenlaw. The present building occupies the site of an early church, and probably dates from the

Illustration from The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century; vol. 3/3

Fig. 1551.—Greenlaw Church.

beginning of last century. It is a very simple structure, and harmonises well with the ancient tower. The latter (Fig. 1551), which is a part of an earlier church, is an interesting example of a Scottish church tower. It is quite plain in its lower stages, and has a corbelled out parapet at the top, which is reached by a stair in the projecting turret, seen in the sketch. The tower is a place of considerable strength, being vaulted on the ground floor, and is probably a building of the fifteenth century.

The manor of Greenlaw belonged to the Earls of Dunbar and Gospatrick, and the third Earl granted the church, in 1159, to the Abbey of Kelso. Greenlaw was one of the churches dedicated by Bishop David de Bernham.