Parish Church And Graveyard On Visit To Ladykirk In The Borders Of Scotland

Tour Scotland travel video clip, with Scottish music, of the parish church and graveyard on visit to Ladykirk in the Scottish Borders. The church is also known as St Mary's Church or Kirk of Steill and dates from the late fifteenth century, and overlooks the banks of the River Tweed. It stands directly opposite Norham Castle, an English stronghold associated with the Bishop of Durham. The church appears to occupy the site of an earlier church, as the fifteenth century building overlies earlier burials in the graveyard. The church represents a remarkably complete example of the final development of Gothic architecture in Scotland. Several features are evident which are typical of this late stage of Gothic architecture in Scotland: the row of buttresses which line the exterior walls are surmounted by short stone pinnacles, and the building is entered by semi circular arched doors. The roof consists of flagstones. There is a tower at the west end, flanked by a circular stair tower. This was apparently unfinished and not completed until the mid-eighteenth century. Some have linked the famous architect, William Adam, to this work. The church was ordered to be built by King James IV. Tradition has it that James, on returning to Scotland following a successful military campaign in northern England in 1496, fell from his horse while fording a swollen River Tweed at Norham Bridge. He believed that he had been saved from drowning by the Virgin Mary, and celebrated his deliverance from death by founding a church which was dedicated to her. The gentlemen of Selkirk, Jedburgh and Duns were summoned to meet Mary of Guise at Ladykirk on 24 November 1551, as she returned from France. The church and village are known as the place where a treaty supplemental to the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis was signed by the English and Scottish commissioners. The Treaty of Upsettlington, May 1559, was concluded within the Lady Kirk and exchanged at the church of Norham in England. The commissioners of Mary, Queen of Scots and Francis II of France were the Earl of Morton, Alexander, Lord Hume, Henry Sinclair, Dean of Glasgow and James MacGill of Nether Rankeillour. The English commission included the Earl of Northumberland and the Bishop of Durham. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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