Bathgate Church, Linlithgowshire .
About one mile east from the town of Bathgate stands the old ruined church, surrounded by an ancient burial-ground. It is a long, narrow,
ivy-covered building (Fig. 437), measuring internally about 91 feet 2 inches from east to west by 19 feet 5 inches from north to south, with walls from 3 to 4 feet in thickness. The doorway, which was probably round arched, is almost the only feature of its architecture left. The opening is unusually wide, showing 7 feet of daylight (see Fig. 437.), and, judging from its details, the church belonged to the transitional period. The doorway was decorated with shafts placed in square nooks or recesses, with carved capitals having the square abacus, a certain feature of early work. (Fig. 438.) Both inside and outside the walls are so entirely covered either with ivy or tombstones that almost no part of the masonry can be seen; only one small window on the north side, about six inches wide, being partly visible.
The grave slab (Fig. 439) has lately been fixed into the south wall. Some time ago it was lying on the floor. It measures 6 feet 2 inches long by 2 feet 3 inches wide, and bears a beautifully lettered inscription to the memory of Andreas Crichton. In the centre of the slab there is a cross, with the Calvary steps, and beneath the cross limb a shield with the Crichton arms (a lion rampant), and on the dexter side a long sword.
In the Exchequer Rolls for the year 1497, Andrew Crichton of Drumcorse (the name of the estate adjoining the church on the north) first comes into view. On the 1st May 1502, Crichton entered office as the Chamberlain of the Lordship of Linlithgowshire. He presents his accounts yearly, his last being rendered from July 1513 to July 1514, when he presumably died. His monumental slab was, doubtless, carved shortly after that date.
There is a very beautiful recumbent statue (Fig. 440) lying in the church. It appears to be an early work, but no record exists to tell whose memory it commemorates.
Malcolm IV. (1153 to 1165) granted the church of “Bathket,” with certain lands, to Holyrood.[200] Robert, Bishop of St. Andrews, who died about 1159, confirmed those grants. There was, further, a Papal confirmation in 1164. In 1251, by a taxation of churches in the diocese of St. Andrews, the vicar of the Church of Bathgate was to receive 12 merks of the altar dues, to be assigned him at the sight of William, Archdeacon of Lothian, and Master Alexander, of Edinburgh. This was confirmed by Bishop Gamelin.
The church and lands were afterwards given by the monks of Holyrood to Newbotle, in payment of arrears of rent for lands and salt works in the Carse of Callender, and this was confirmed by Bishop Landels, of St. Andrews, in 1327.[201] The church remained with Newbotle, and was served by a vicar till the Reformation.
The old church was probably abandoned in 1739, when a new church was erected in the town of Bathgate.
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