Coldingham ( sco, Cowjum) is a village and parish in

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

, on Scotland's southeast coastline, north of

Eyemouth Eyemouth ( sco, Heymooth) is a small town and civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is east of the main north–south A1 road and north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The town's name comes from its location at th ...

Parish

The parish lies in the east of the

Lammermuir The Lammermuirs are a range of hills in southern Scotland, forming a natural boundary between East Lothian and the Borders. The name "Lammermuir" comes from the Old English ''lambra mōr'', meaning "moorland of the lambs". Geology The Lamme ...

district. It is the second-largest civil parish by area in Berwickshire county, after Lauder.Coldingham - Parish and Priory, by Adam Thomson (minister at Coldstream), publ by Craighead, Galashiels,1908. P.20 It is bounded on the north-west by the North Sea, on the east by the parish of

, on the south-east by

Ayton Ayton may refer to: Places * Ayton, Ontario, Canada * Ayton, Scottish Borders, Scotland England * Great Ayton, a village and civil parish, Hambleton district, North Yorkshire * Little Ayton, a village and civil parish, Hambleton district, North Yo ...

on the south by

Chirnside Chirnside is a hillside village in Berwickshire, Scotland, west of Berwick-upon-Tweed and east of Duns. Church The parish church at Chirnside dates from the 12th century. It was substantially rebuilt in 1878 and extensively restored and a ...

and Bunkle, on the west by

Abbey St Bathans Abbey St Bathans ( gd, Abaid Bhaoithin) is a parish in the Lammermuir district of Berwickshire, in the eastern part of the Scottish Borders. Unique in its topography, it is situated in a long winding steep wooded valley that follows the Whitead ...

and on the north by

Cockburnspath Cockburnspath ( ; sco, Co’path) is a village in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It lies near the North Sea coast between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Edinburgh. It is at the eastern extremity of the Southern Upland Way a long-distance footpa ...

. Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, by Francis Groome, 2nd edition publ. 1896. Article on Coldingham Besides the village of Coldingham, the parish contains the villages of: *

St Abbs St Abbs is a small fishing village on the southeastern coast of Scotland, within the Coldingham parish of Scottish Borders. The village was originally known as ''Coldingham Shore'', the name St Abbs being adopted in the 1890s. The new name wa ...

(formerly Coldingham Shore) * Reston *

Auchencrow Auchencrow ( gd, Allt na Crà) is a small village in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, by the Lammermuir range of hills, and near Reston. Etymology Around 1210, the village was referred to as Aldenegraue. It had become Aldencraw by the e ...

Grantshouse Grantshouse is a small village in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders of Scotland. It lies on the A1, and its nearest railway stations are Dunbar to the north and Reston to the south. See also *List of places in the Scottish Borders *List of ...

The civil parish is divided between the Community Council areas of Coldingham,

, Reston and Auchencrow, and Grantshouse. It was included in the former Berwickshire District of Borders Region, by the

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered local government in Scotland on 16 May 1975. The Act followed and largely implemented the report of the Royal Commission on Local Gove ...

, from 1975 to 1996. Before the Reformation, a vaguely defined jurisdiction known as Coldinghamshire was linked to Coldingham Priory and extended along the east coast of Berwickshire.Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, by, Francis Groome, 2nd edition publ. 1896. Article on Coldinghamshire By the 15th century, there is some indication that the civil administration was gradually attaining paramount sway with the consent of the Church itself. In 1406, the lordship of the Priory was held by Archibald,

Earl of Douglas This page is concerned with the holders of the forfeit title Earl of Douglas and the preceding feudal barons of Douglas, South Lanarkshire. The title was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1358 for William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, son ...

. In 1414, the Prior and Chapter of Durham (the ecclesiastical superiors of the priory) signed a deed constituting the Earl of Douglas "sovereign bailie" and governor of the house and barony of Coldingham. The barony of Coldingham, which included Eyemouth and other areas adjacent to the parish of Coldingham, continued as a jurisdiction into the 17th and 18th centuries.Coldingham - Parish and Priory, by Adam Thomson, Galashiels,1908. pp.58 and 79 Because of the size of the parish, an additional chapel was set up for the interior or western part of the parish in 1794. With the opening of a new trunk road in the area (now the A1) in 1816, communications between Grantshouse and Reston were so improved, it was decided in 1836 to erect a church midway between the villages, at Houndwood. Houndwood was made an ecclesiastical parish for the western part of Coldingham in 1851.Historic Scotland’s article on Houndwood http://portal.historic-scotland.gov.uk/designation/LB4107 retrieved March 2016 This parish is now linked to Ayton and is served by places of worship at Reston (formerly a free church) and Grantshouse. The church became a crematorium in 2015. A Parochial Board was established under the Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845. With the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1894, Coldingham Parish Council was established, and it carried out poor relief and various public works, such as the acquisition and improvement of Houndwood cemetery in 1901.Coldingham - Parish and Priory, by Adam Thomson, Galashiels,1908. p.176 Civil parishes in Scotland, as units of local government, were abolished in 1929 Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 but have been used later for census and other purposes. In 1891 a Boundary Commission transferred a detached portion of

Oldhamstocks Oldhamstocks or Aldhamstocks ("old dwelling place") is a civil parish and small village in the east of East Lothian, Scotland, adjacent to the Scottish Borders and overlooking the North Sea . It is located south-east of Dunbar and has a populat ...

parish, namely Butterdean, to Coldingham. It was already in Berwickshire, despite its mother parish being in East Lothian. The civil parish has an area of Gazetteer of Scotland, publ, by W & AK Johnston, Edinburgh, 1937. Article on Coldingham. Places are presented alphabetically. and a population of 1,919 (in 2011).Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Population, publ. By National Records of Scotland. Web site http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ retrieved March 2016. See “Standard Outputs”, Table KS101SC, Area type: Civil Parish 1930

Village

The settlement of Coldingham has a population of 563 (in 2011).Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Population, publ. by National Records of Scotland. Web site http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ retrieved March 2016. See “Standard Outputs”, Table KS101SC, Area type: Settlement/Locality 2010 Nearby

Coldingham Bay Coldingham Bay is an inlet in the North Sea coast, just over three kilometres north of the town of Eyemouth in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is situated at grid reference and is easily reached by a minor road which leaves the B6438 r ...

has a sandy secluded beach popular with surfers, with rows of beach huts.

Monastery

There was a monastery of high order on this site as early as AD 660 when it is recorded that Etheldreda, the queen of Egfrid, became a nun at the Monastery of Coldingham, then under the management of Æbbe, the Elder, aunt of her husband.

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

describes it as "the Monastery of Virgins" and states that in 679, the monastery burnt down. It was rebuilt but was again destroyed by fire at the hands of a raiding party of Danes in 870. This time the ruins were not rebuilt, it would appear, until 1098, when King Edgar founded the Priory of Coldingham in honour of St.

Cuthbert of Lindisfarne Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of ...

. It became the caput for the Barony of Coldingham, with the

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

as the feudal lord. The priory continued in its religious purposes until 1560,Coldingham - Parish and Priory, by Adam Thomson, Galashiels,1908. p.82 when it was partially destroyed during the Scottish Reformation. However, a portion of it continued its religious activities until 1650, when it was fortified against Oliver Cromwell. After a siege of two days, the main tower in which the besieged defended themselves was so shattered by artillery that they were forced to capitulate. This great tower of the original priory finally collapsed about 1777. The ruins of about 40% of the original priory church were rebuilt in 1855; it is today used as the parish church and is the most notable building in the parish.

Gallery

File:Coldingham Parish Church.jpg, The parish church built using stones from the priory File:Coldingham Beachhuts1.jpg, Beach huts at Coldingham Sands File:Milldown Burn, Coldingham.jpg, Stream from the Spout, Coldingham Sands File:Coldingham Beachhuts2.jpg, Coldingham Sands beach huts File:Milldown Burn, Coldingham Beach.jpg, Coldingham Sands

References

*''History of the Priory of Coldingham'' by William King Hunter, Edinburgh & London, 1858.

External links

RCAHMS entry for ColdinghamScran: The Bogan, ColdinghamScran: Coldingham Shore 1868Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, 1882-1885

coldingham.info

{{Authority control Berwickshire Villages in the Scottish Borders Parishes in Berwickshire