The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
East Lothian (now)
Chapel
A Romanesque stoup was set against an interior wall of the chapel until the 1950s, when it was moved to the Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Ruined parish church
The surviving stonework shows that the 12th-c church consisted of an aisleless nave and chancel, but it is unknown whether the chancel was square ended or had an apse. A drawing in 1817 shows the plan of the chancel at that date as square ended. The Romanesque chancel arch and S nave doorway (filled in) survive, with chevroned arches. There are also large sections of Romanesque string coursing on the exterior of both the nave and chancel. During or shortly after the Reformation, the so-called ‘Congleton Aisle’ was added onto the N side of the nave. But, in 1612, the church at Gullane, by Act of Parliament, was translated to Dirleton, as its site in Gullane was deemed too remote from the centre of the parish, and because church and churchyard were continually being overblown with sand. After this, the church became effectively abandoned, with the nave and chancel converted to use as private burial spaces. A late 18th-c etching shows the chancel arch as still open at this date. By 1817, the eastern and western burial extensions had still not been built, but a small burial area (the Cochrane Aisle) had been created on the exterior corner where the Congelton Aisle and chancel meet. By 1896, the chancel arch and Congelton arch had been filled in and E (Yule Aisle) and W (Forrest Aisle) burial extensions created. Various grave stones, a few of which show early decoration, are to be found in the churchyard on the S side of the church ruins.
Ruined parish church
Situated within the policies of Tyninghame House, St Baldred’s Church survives as a roofless structure. The only significant structural survivals at Tyninghame are the two chancel arches and two apsidal wall shafts. The west face of the chancel arch also has two round-arched altar recesses. Portions of the lower courses of the walls remain, allowing clear identification of the original plan, which consisted of a western tower, an unaisled rectangular nave, a square chancel and an eastern apse. There is a late medieval tomb recess in the south wall of the chancel which encloses an effigy. At some point following the Reformaiton, the interior of the church was re-organised, a school set up in the western part, and a laird's loft built within the eastern section. The church remained in use until the village was cleared in 1760-61, at which time the parish was united with Whitekirk. In 1628, the Earl of Haddington bought Tyninghame and its land. Following this, the earls and their families were buried within the church, which continued even after the church ceased to function in 1761. In 1924, some work was carried out on the surviving ruins, and in the 1930s an excavation took place, at which time the nave and west tower foundations were discovered, as well as the correct line of the eastern apse. In 1947 damage was caused to the east apse during a severe storm, requiring some reconstruction work, as inscribed on the rear of the SE respond. A letter from Lady Binning concerning this storm and damage is kept in the Haddington files of the Scottish Record Office, Edinburgh.
Parish church
The church is rectangular on plan. It was enlarged in 1677 and again in 1829, but much of the lower masonry courses may be of medieval date. Sections of a Romanesque string course survive on the exterior.
Ruined church
A report in 1627 describes the church as owned by the laird of Ormiston. In 1642, another report suggested that the parish be united with that at Pencaitland. Although the old church appears to have still been in use in 1649, the church was described as ruinous in 1695, and it was decided that a new church should be built at some convenient place in the parish. By November 1696, the new church was complete enough to have the first sermon preached within it. The main part of the old church appears to have been demolished in 1730. Thereafter, the old church served as a burial enclosure. In the 19thc, a roof was built over the E end, but was subsequently removed. It now lies open to the elements.
Ruined church
The ruins of the church are situated to the E of the town, in the area called the Nungait. Only the nave now survives, but originally the church consisted of a rectangular two-chambered structure, excavations revealing that there was a squared chancel east of the nave. Surviving evidence shows that the nave was vaulted, but it is thought that the vault was added, along with the exterior buttressing, in the 13th century. The side walls of the nave have large, single-splayed, rounded windows without decoration. However, the original chancel arch does survive, as does one voussoir re-used in the N interior wall.
Private house
The Stable House at Tyninghame is the S wing of the former stables of Tyninghame House. It, and the other stables, have been subsequently developed into a series of private houses, of which the S wing is the oldest part. Built into the fabric of the building are numerous, re-used medieval stones, many of which are 12th century. It has been assumed (most likely correctly) that the stones come from the nearby church of St Baldred, which is now a folly ruin in the grounds of Tyninghame House. Although the Earl of Haddington purchased the estate in 1628, the date for the construction of the Stable House appears to fall into the period 1761-1829. The church of St Baldred ceased to operate in 1761 when the old village was moved to a new location. In 1829, William Burn was employed to make make significant architectural changes to both Tyninghame House and its stables, work on the stables apparently undertaken in the early 1830s. As Burn's stable blocks were attached to what is now the Stable House, the Stable House must be older, as noted by Historic Environment Scotland in the Listed Buildings report. No medieval stones appear to have been used in the stable blocks designed by Burn. Tyninghame House and its policies, on which the Stable House is built, were sold in 1987, a year after the death of the 12th Earl of Haddington. The stables were made into houses in 1988, a date displayed above the north entrance of the Stable House.