Volume 3

386
the parish of Gordon and of Spottiswoode, which it enjoyed, on the same
day that the cemetery was made, at the request of the abbot of Kelso. Yet
did he provide, that as long as the abbot and his monks pleased, the people of
the other Gordon might take the sacrament and bury their dead, either here or
at the mother church of Home as they might think proper (m). In the ancient
Taxatio the church of Gordyn was rated at thirty marks. The diocesan, Game-
lin, on the 27th of May 1270, granted to the monks of Kelso that the churches
of Gordon and Home, which they enjoyed to their proper use, should be
served, not by vicars, but by honest chaplains and sufficient clerks, for whom
he and his successors might be able to answer (n). The church of Gordon
continued in the hands of the monks of Kelso till the Reformation. In the
ancient parish of Gordon, which comprehended the present parishes of Gordon
and Westruther, there were of old several chapels. In 1309, the monks of
Kelso agreed that Sir Adam Gordon might have a private chapel at any place
within the parish of Gordon, with all oblations; yet without prejudice to the
mother church. In return, Sir Adam renounced all claims on a carucate of
land, with its usual easements, in the district of Westruther, which had been
granted to those monks by Sir Andrew Fraser, and for which they had agreed
to pay two marks yearly (o). There was also a chapel at Huntleywood, within
the parish of Gordon, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and the advow-
son of which appears to have passed into the family of Home during the reign
of James IV. (p). Daring the reign of David II. John de Spottiswoode built a
chapel, which was called Whitechapel, at his hamlet of Spottiswoode; the ruins
(m) Chart. Kelso, 417 ; Hist. Gordons, i., 400. The church of Gordon was also confirmed to the
monks of Kelso by bishop Roger, who finished his useful life in 1202. Ib., 82. The ancient parish
of Gordon which was thus established, was double the extent of the present parish of Gordon and the
greater part of Westruther.
(n) Chart. Kel., 426 ; Hist. Gordons, i., 400. When the monks drew up a state of their temporal
matters under Robert Bruce, they stated that they had the church of Gordon to their own use, which
used to be valued at �20 a year. Chart. Kelso, 32. They also stated that they had at Gordon, half
a carucate of land pertaining to the church, with pasture for a 100 young cattle and 400 sheep, and
they had here a toft whereon to build a mansion house for the chaplain. Id. They had other
property and easements at Gordon, for which they yearly paid two marks to the Lords of the manor.
Ib., 19-20.
(0) Chart. Kelso, 124. On that land the monks had various kinds of property, that were of great
value to them. Ib., 19-20.
(p) On the 26th January 1506-7, Alexander, the Earl of Huntley, resigned into the king's hands
the lands of East Gordon, with the patronage of St. Mary's chapel at Huntleywood; and thereupon
the king granted the same to Alexander, Lord Home. Dougl. Peer., 345.