Coldingham is a village and parish in

Berwickshire Berwickshire (; ) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the ...

in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

. It lies a short distance inland from Coldingham Bay, three miles northeast of the fishing village of Eyemouth.

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 , meaning "moorland of the lambs". Geology The Lammermuir Hills a ...

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 Eyemouth, on the south-east by Ayton on the south by

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

and Bunkle, on the west by

Abbey St Bathans Abbey St Bathans () 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 Whiteadder Water. The pari ...

and on the north by

Cockburnspath Cockburnspath ( ) is a village in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders. It lies near the North Sea coast between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Dunbar. Cockburnspath is the eastern terminus of the Southern Upland Way as well as the northern terminus of ...

. 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 (formerly Coldingham Shore) * Reston * Auchencrow * Grantshouse The civil parish is divided between the Community Council areas of Coldingham, St Abbs, 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 (UK), act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered local government of Scotland, local government in Scotland on 16 May 1975. The act followed and largely impleme ...

, 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 Scottish feudal barony, feudal barons of Douglas, South Lanarkshire. The title was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1358 for William Douglas, 1 ...

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

beach hut A beach hut (also known as a beach cabin, beach box or bathing box) is a small, usually wooden and often brightly coloured, box above the high tide mark on popular bathing beaches. They are generally used as a shelter from the sun or wind, c ...

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 A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

at the Monastery of Coldingham, then under the management of Æbbe, the Elder, aunt of her husband.

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

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 a saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Hiberno-Scottish mission, Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monastery, monasteries of Melrose Abbey#Histo ...

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

prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

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 The Scottish Reformation was the process whereby Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland broke away from the Catholic Church, and established the Protestant Church of Scotland. It forms part of the wider European 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Fr ...

. However, a portion of it continued its religious activities until 1650, when it was fortified against

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

. 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.

People from Coldingham

Isabel Cowe Isabel Cowe (1 December 1867–3 January 1931) was a Scottish suffragist, campaigner for the local Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and boarding house owner. She was nicknamed the "Provost of St Abbs". Early life Cowe was born in ...

(1867–1931), suffragist, campaigner for the local

Royal National Lifeboat Institution The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat (rescue), lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on s ...

(RNLI) and boarding house owner

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