Alternative Names Staplegorton; Barntalloch; Staple-Gorton
Site type BURIAL GROUND, CHURCH, CROSS INCISED STONE
Canmore ID 67584
Site Number NY38NE 2
NGR NY 35222 87921
Council DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY
Parish LANGHOLM
Former Region DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY
Former District ANNANDALE AND ESKDALE
Former County DUMFRIES-SHIRE

Canmore Mapping
View this site on a map

Archaeological Notes

NY38NE 2 35222 87921

(NY 3521 8790) Staplegordon Church (NR) (Site of) (NAT)
OS 6" map (1957).

See also NY38SE 88.

Staplegordon Church was granted to Kelso Abbey by William de Cunigburc in the 12th century and confirmed by William the Lion (1165-1214). The date of building a stone church is not known. It became ruinous after the parishes of Staplegorton, Wauchope and half of Morton were amalgamated to form Langholm, and Langholm church was built, in 1703. The foundations of a long narrow nave and chancel remain, and a mausoleum of the Maxwell family has been built on those of the chancel.
G Chalmers 1890

The church of Staplegorton belonged to the Abbey of Kelso. In 1702, Staplegorton and Wauchope were united and a portion of the adjoining parish of Morton was included in the union. At that time the parish church was removed from Staplegorton to Langholm (NY38SE 4).
H Scott 1915-61.

That the site was used as an Early Christian burial ground is attested to by the boulder with a 7th-8th century cross carving, intended as a headstone, which is built into the churchyard wall 15yds W of the gate.
C A R Radford 1956; 1963

Staplegorton (Glasgow, Eskdale). Granted by its founder, William de Coningsburg, to Kelso, c. 1153, this grant was confirmed by William the Lion (1195x99) and to the uses of the abbey by Jocelin, Bishop of Glasgow (1175-99) and his successors. A vicarage had been erected before 1275, the parsonage revenues thereafter remaining with the Abbey, as they continued to do at the Reformation.
I B Cowan 1967.

No unequivocal remains of Staplegordon Church survive. (The usage 'Staplegorton' by Radford is not known locally). A square-cornered 6.1m stretch of drystone walling in the graveyard probably indicates the western limit of the church. This wall stands up to 0.5m high and is about 1.2m wide. It has been partly mortared in more recent times. No other walling exists. The Maxwell mausoleum was removed approximately twenty years ago. The church was about 25.0m long if the above-mentioned wall does mark the western extent and if the most easterly Maxwell grave is roughly coincident with the church's E wall. From the above evidence, the OS siting symbol is incorrectly positioned, the correct location being 7.0m to the N at NY 3521 8791. The cross-marked stone is as described and illustrated.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (JB) 2 October 1979.

This church is on record in the 12th century and was abandoned in 1703 when the parish of Staplegordon was suppressed. A boulder built into the wall of the burial-ground within which the church stood bears an incised cross which may be of Early Christian date.
RCAHMS 1980, visited November 1980.
R B Armstrong 1883; G Chalmers 1887-1902; J and R Hyslop 1912; C A R Radford 1956; C A R Radford 1963; I B Cowan 1967; A C Thomas 1971.

All that is visible of the old parish church of Staplegordon is a grass-grown rectangular platform (28.1m from W to E by 7.5m transversely) close to the centre of the burial-ground. Latterly, the E end of the platform seems to have been adopted as the burial-place of the Maxwells of Broomholm. Masonry footings are visible at the W end of the platform and can be traced for up to 3m along the N wall. Stone footings immediately to the S of the table tomb to Mathew (died 1792) and Blanche Little, may be the remains of a burial enclosure. On the S side of the burial-ground, there are several fine 18th-century grave-slabs, that to Janet Murray (died 1726) being particularly noteworthy). Incorporated into the inner face of the S wall of the burial-ground (to the W of the entrance) there is a stone bearing what may be an Early Christian cross.
Visited by RCAHMS (IMS, PC), 30 July 1993.

(Graveyard of a parish whose church was transferred to Langholm in 1702). Most of the monuments are 19th cent. but there is a line of 18th cent. headstones, carved with enblems of death and angels' heads (souls). To their SW, a grander version of the same type, commemorating Thomas Houd (died ?1747) with inept Ionic pilasters. Nearby, a stone to the wife of James Cranstoun (died 1725), its front carved with a strapwork cartouche containing the half-length figure of a woman; at the top, drapery and an hourglass and skull. In the SW corner, an 18th cent. heraldic stone with vines at the sides and an angel's head at the top.
J GIfford 1996.

Listed as church, burial-ground and Early Christian cross-slab.
RCAHMS 1997.

Armstrong, R B (1883) The History of Liddesdale, Eskdale, Ewesdale, Wauchopedale and the Debateable Land, Part 1, From the Twelfth Century to 1530, Edinburgh
Page(s): 100-2

Brooke, C J (2000) Safe sanctuaries: security and defence in Anglo-Scottish border churches 1290-1690, Edinburgh
Page(s): 233, 326, 363 Held at RCAHMS F.5.31.BRO

Chalmers, G (1887-94) Caledonia: or a historical and topographical account of North Britain, 7 vols + index Paisley
Page(s): vol. 5, 199-200 Held at RCAHMS C.1.2.CHA