Volume 3

385
at forty marks. The church continued with those monks who served the cure,
by a vicar, till the Reformation established a different practice (f). On the
28th of August 1296, Walter, the vicar of Legerwode, swore fealty to Edward
at Berwick (g). On the 30th of May 1453, Thomas de Fersith, the vicar of
Legerwode, obtained from the English king, a passport for three years, to visit
as a pilgrim the shrine of the apostles (h). The church and manse of Legerwood
are modern, and are situated about half a mile eastward of the old village of
Legerwood (i). [The parish church is of unknown date, but was extensively
repaired in 1717 and 1804. Communicants 164 ; stipend ,�321].
The parish of GORDON derives its Celtic name from the appellation of the
ancient territory of Gordon. During the 12th and the two following centuries
this word was written in charters, Gordun and Gordyn. The original term
was probably Gor-din, signifying upon the hill (k). In fact there are two
villages called West-Gordon and East-Gordon, which are distant somewhat
more than a mile ; and which both stand on the summits of their several
hillocks ; and at West-Gordon stands the church, near some remains of an
ancient fortlet. The church of Gordon was originally dedicated to St. Michael
the archangel. The monks of Coldingham acquired the advowson of Gordon
during the reign of David I. In 1171, according to the spiritual traffic of
that pious age, they exchanged the church of Gordon with the monks of
Kelso, for the chapel of Earlston and the church of St. Lawrence at Ber-
wick (l). Richard, the diocesan bishop of St. Andrews, who died in 1177,
confirmed to the monks of Kelso the church of Gordon, with the entirety of
(f) Bishop William, who ruled the see of St. Andrews from 1202 to 1233, confirmed to the monks
of Paisley, for their proper use, the church of Legerwood, which, by his episcopal authority, he or-
dained thus : That the vicarius de Legerwode should have for the vicarage the whole altarages besides
the land, saving the possession of Robert, the king's chaplain, who, according to what he had ordained
with the monks' assent, was to enjoy the church during his life, rendering to the monks yearly �15
in money in the name of pension. Chart. Paisley, 15.
(g) Prynne, iii., 666.                                               (h) Rym., xi., 338.
(i) See the Maps of this Shire. For other particulars, the inquisitive reader may consult the Stat.
Acco., xvi., 484, and the Tabular State annexed.
(k) There is in Carnarvonshire a place called Gorddin-og, the final og being the Welsh di-
minutive.
(/) Chart. Cold., 71. At the epoch of that exchange, Richard de Gordon, who then held the terri-
tory, granted to the monks of Kelso and to the church of St. Michael at Gordon, in free alms, a piece
of land lying adjacent to the churchyard at Gordon, and an acre of land upon Todlaw, and an acre of
meadow in Hundley-strother ; and he conceded to the monks that whatever chaplain they should place
in the church of Gordon should have the usual privilege of pasturage within his territory of Gordon,
as his own men enjoyed the same. Chart. Kelso ; and the Charter is copied into the Hist, of the
Gordons, i., 385.
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