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Whitekirk, Tithe Barn And Pilgrims' Houses

House(S) (Period Unassigned), Tithe Barn (16th Century), Tower (16th Century)

Site Name Whitekirk, Tithe Barn And Pilgrims' Houses

Classification House(S) (Period Unassigned), Tithe Barn (16th Century), Tower (16th Century)

Alternative Name(s) The Granary

Canmore ID 56676

Site Number NT58SE 12

NGR NT 59605 81615

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/56676

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council East Lothian
  • Parish Whitekirk And Tyninghame
  • Former Region Lothian
  • Former District East Lothian
  • Former County East Lothian

Archaeology Notes (1962 - 1981)

NT58SE 12 59605 81615

(NT 5960 8161) The Granary (NR)

OS 6" map (1968)

See also NT58SE 41.

This tithe barn stands about 100 yds N of Whitekirk Church (NT58SE 11). It is a three-storeyed building measuring 66ft E-W by 19ft transversely; its gables are crow-stepped. The W end of this building represents the remains of the tower built about 1540 by Oliver Sinclair with stone from the pilgrims' houses (see NT58SE 41); this was extended in the following century.

C McWilliam 1978; RCAHMS 1924, visited 1913

This tithe barn was in good condition when seen in 1962. The remains of the tower at the W end have a barrel-vaulted basement and a garderobe in the N wall.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 15 November 1962

Activities

Field Visit (4 July 1913)

203. Tithe Barn. (O.S. ‘The Granary’)

On the higher ground which overlooks the church of Whitekirk 100 yards distant to the south is a long narrow structure (fig. 16) built of rubble with ashlar dressings, which is reputed to have been the tithe barn of the parish. The building contains two storeys with a garret in the roof, is oblong on plan, and measures over walls 66 feet from east to west and 19 feet from north to south. On examination the western portion proves to be older than its adjunct and to have been the remains of a tower, which at a later period was extended eastwards and subsequently utilised for agricultural purposes (fig. 171). Its south wall is only 2 1/3 feet - the same thickness as the later walls, as against the other walls which are 5 feet thick, suggesting that this south wall was reconstructed when the eastern portion was built, but on the other hand it should be noticed that the original southwest angle of the tower is clearly defined. Three courses below the eaves on the south wall is a panel containing an angel figure supporting a shield charged apparently with a fess (for Crawford: cf. [RCAHMS 1924] p.126), all very worn. The north wall projects 2 feet 3 inches from the corresponding wall of the barn. The crow-stepped east and west gables are contemporary and receive a steeply pitched roof covered with slate.

On the ground floor the two portions do not communicate but have separate entrances in the south wall. The western leads to an unlit vaulted chamber, which measures 14 feet from north to south and 12 feet from east to west; at the north end of the east wall a doorway leads to a straight staircase within the thickness of the north wall and may also have led to the eastern portion of the structure. The latter is now entered from a wide doorway and is a long narrow space lit by windows in the external walls. In its west wall is a wide stone fireplace, which subsequently was contracted by a stone partition, a remnant evidently of a domestic structure which occupied this portion of the site and was afterwards adapted to the present arrangement. The upper floors of the western portion are thrown into the barn and are entered from a forest air on the south. The older portion appears to date from the 16th century and the addition about a century later. No care is taken to preserve the structure, which is still used as a stable. The roof particularly calls for repair.

HISTORICAL NOTE.

On this structure see Whitekirk Art. No. 200. As there shown, we have in the tower at least, part of the castle built for himself by Oliver Sinclair, after 1540, out of the pilgrim's houses. ‘A castle of Oliver Sanckler's’ was burnt by the English in their invasion of Lothian in 1544. Later, during the English occupation of Haddington in 1548 (1) they burnt in October of that year, among other things, ‘a village named the Longhoet Whyte Kirk belonging to ‘Olivier Sainkle’, and his own house where he lived’ (2).

RCAHMS 1924, visited 4 July 1913.

(1) See [RCAHMS 1924] Introd. p. xxx; (2) Sa maison proper ou qu'il se tenoit. Teulet Papiers d'Etat i., p. 197.

OS Map ref: vi. N.W.

Watching Brief (May 1997)

NT 5960 8161 As part of the Scheduled Monument Consent works for the conversion of the Tithe Barn, Whitekirk, East Lothian into a dwelling house and for the creation of a sunken car park to the immediate W of the building, Headland Archaeology Ltd carried out an archaeological watching brief on ground breaking works within and immediatly outside the building and also on access roads to the site. During the construction of an access road to the car parking area to the W of the barn archaeological remains were identified. This meant the car park was eventually constructed further to the NW. The deposits and features found to the immediate W of the barn appear to be the remains of buildings and demolition debris. A section cut through these deposits shows atleast two phases of construction or demolition on the site. Pottery from the 12th to 15th centuries found in relation to these deposits support the identification of the building remains as those of the 'pilgrim houses' which were established on the site in the early 15th century, due to the proximity of the nearby healing well which was a major focus of pilgramage in the later medieval period. The report also says that a panel that may have come from a 14th century shrine was found, built into the 17th century extension to the building. To the S of the barn the watching brief of service trenches revealed a halo of demolition rubble in the vicinity of the tithe barn and a series of possible structural remains in the SW corner of the field.

Sponsor: George Tuer, Whitekirk Mains

NMRS MS/899/34 (May 1997 Headland Archaeology Ltd)

Archaeological Evaluation (1997)

NT 5960 8161. Archaeological evaluation and a watching brief in advance of groundworks at and in the vicinity of the late medieval tithe barn at Whitekirk identified the rubble remains of at least two small rectilinear buildings, associated with sherds of Colstoun ware and Scottish East Coast redware (D Hall, pers comm). Given the archaeological and historical background to the site, these may represent the remains of the early 15th- century pilgrim houses which were established on the site by James I. Further structural remains of medieval date were identified in the SW corner of the field, close to the churchyard.

Work inside the tithe barn revealed four fragments of grey sandstone upon which were incised a series of compass-drawn motifs, including the Cistercian rose or marigold figure and a four-armed cross. Two of the fragments join. The pieces are interpreted as the remains of a possible gable-end stone shrine: it may be identical to a shrine at the site which was procured from Melrose in 1309 and destroyed at the Reformation.

Full details are lodged with the NMRS.

Sponsor: Mr George Tuer, Whitekirk Mains.

C Lowe 1997

Geophysical Survey (October 2014)

An area ground resistance survey totalling 4, 000 sq. m. was carried out in October 2014 in part of a field to the North of the churchyard of St Mary's Parish Church at Whitekirk, East Lothian in the parish of Whitekirk and Tyninghame. The survey, centred on NT 59602 81568 (NT58SE 12) was arranged by Connolly Heritage Consultancy. Ten 20x20 grids were surveyed over an area of 100x40 sq.m in a gently sloping pasture. The area was bounded by the wall of the churchyard to the S, by the garden fence of the tithe barn to the N and by field and garden walls to the East and West. Resistance variations recorded revealed that the site was generally of a low resistance with the exception of three areas of higher resistances at the SE, extending from the NE and at the extreme E of the survey area.

Edinburgh Archaeology Field Society

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