Return to
Sinclair Landmarks
Herdmanston
The following is from "St Clairs of Herdmanston", in
Sketches of East Lothian by D. Croal which was printed in 1875.
A carbon copy of the transcription was found among the papers of
Catherine St Clair (Begbie) Toynbee, 1924-1997, who visited
the site in 1978.
An interesting relic of the past is to be found near the modern
mansion of Herdmanston, the county seat of the family of St Clair,
though now for the most part unoccupied by the still surviving scions
of that ancient house.
Within a gunshot westward of the mansion, and so closely overhung
with ivy that its existence is never suspected by the passing visitor,
there are still extant the remains of the family chapel, but which,
for generations past have formed their burial vault. They form a portion
— and the only fragment now remaining — of a chapel erected
in the thirteenth century by John de Saint Clair. The fragment
has been roofed in, and protected from vulgar intrusion by a thick
door of solid oak. The walls, as we have said, are completely overgrown
with ivy and other parasitical roots which have even invaded the roof
and the exterior of this last resting place of the dead with such a mass
of vegetation that it is impossible to detect any traces of architectural
ornament.
The portion now remaining of this ancient chapel is not more than
30 ft. in length by 14 ft. in breadth, and in this spot the
mortal remains of the St Clairs have been interred for many hundreds
of years.
There is an old font still standing in the place that seems to have
been in use at some remote period; but perhaps the most interesting objects
inside are two flat stones, still in complete state of preservation, which
denote the last resting place of Sir William St Clair and his
spouse, who were buried here in the latter part of the sixteenth century.
The inscriptions, which run round the outer edge of the stones, are as
sharply cut and as easily decipherable as if they had been carved only
yesterday. The inscription over the remains of the knight is as follows:—
"Heir lyis ye richt honorabil schir William Synclar, umqle of
Hirdmiston, Knyt, quha decessit ye 2 of june, anno 1594." His spouse,
as we learn from the other stone, was "Ye richt honorabil Dame
Sibella Cokburne" — one of the Cockburns of Ormiston.
There is nothing else within the vault which possesses any antiquarian
interest; but in its immediate neighborhood is still standing an arched
gateway, supposed to have been the entrance of the old castle at
Herdmanston, all traces of which, with the exception of the arch in
question, have long since disappeared.
These afford a curious link between the past and the present. It is
certainly remarkable to find that an estate in East Lothian and this
by no means one of the largest, should have remained in the possession
of the same family for more than 600 years, and that in 1863 the bones
of Charles Lord St Clair, the lineal descendant of the Henry
de St Clair who obtained the property in 1190, should have
been interred in a spot where for hundreds of years the dust of his
forefathers have rested in undisturbed repose.
The arched gateway was reportedly demolished in the
20th century, and a diminishing pile of rubble marks its site.
The chapel, now kept clear of ivy, still stands on the privately-owned
land of Herdmanston farm.
Top
© Clan Sinclair Association Canada. All rights reserved.
Maintained by admin@clansinclaircanada.ca