Dawyck Chapel
Encyclopedia
Dawyck Chapel, also known as Dalwick Church, is located (NGR NT 16798 34933) within the Parish of Drumelzier
Drumelzier
Drumelzier , is a village on the B712 in the Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders.The area of the village is extensive and includes the settlements of Wrae, Stanhope, Mossfennan and Kingledoors. To the north is Broughton and to the south the road passes Crook Inn to Tweedsmuir.The Drumelzier or...

 in the Scottish Borders
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...

 area of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. The chapel lies within the Dawyck Botanic Garden
Dawyck Botanic Garden
Dawyck Botanic Garden is a botanic garden and arboretum covering 25 ha at Stobo on the B712, 8 miles south of Peebles in the Scottish Borders region of Scotland, OS ref. NT168352...

s, an outstation or "regional garden" of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Originally founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies four sites across Scotland — Edinburgh,...

, some eight miles (13 km) south west of Peebles
Peebles
Peebles is a burgh in the committee area of Tweeddale, in the Scottish Borders, lying on the River Tweed. According to the 2001 Census, the population was 8,159.-History:...

 on the B712 and a similar distance south east of Biggar
Biggar
- Places :* Biggar, Cumbria, England* Biggar, Saskatchewan, Canada* Biggar, South Lanarkshire, Scotland- Electoral districts :* Biggar , provincial electoral district since 2002...

.

Owners of the Dawyck estate

The Veitch family owned the Dawyck estate from 1491 to 1691. In 1691 the Naesmyth family
Naesmyth Baronets
The Naesmyth Baronetcy, of Possos in the County of Peebles, was a title in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia. It was created on 31 July 1706 for James Naesmyth. The second Baronet sat as Member of Parliament for Peeblesshire. The title became extinct on the death of the eighth Baronet in 1928.-Naesmyth...

 took over the estate in the person of Sir James Naesmyth, 2nd Baronet of Dawyck and Posso (1704–1779); his grandson was Sir John Murray Naesmyth (1803–1876). In 1897 the estate was purchased by Mrs Alexander Balfour; her grandson, Colonel A. N. Balfour sold most of the property, but donated the gardens to the nation in 1978.

Chapel history

The name is also given as 'Dawic', and 'Dauwic' in circa 1200. It may derive from the Gaelic for an ox and the Old English 'wic' for a camp or dwelling. The suggested derivation from 'Davach' is more likely in the case of the nearby 'Davar', which, in the old Gaelic system of land measures, was an area of land equal to 32 ox-gates or 416 acres (1.7 km²). Until the Reformation (1598) it had been a chapelry
Chapelry
A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England, and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel which acted as a subsidiary place of worship to the main parish church...

 of Stobo Parish, becoming an independent parish soon after, being suppressed in 1742. Sir James Naesmyth, second Baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...

, was responsible for this economy measure and the church's stipend
Stipend
A stipend is a form of salary, such as for an internship or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from a wage or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work performed, instead it represents a payment that enables somebody to be exempt partly or wholly from waged or salaried...

 was added to that of the parishes of Stobo and Drumelzier
Drumelzier
Drumelzier , is a village on the B712 in the Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders.The area of the village is extensive and includes the settlements of Wrae, Stanhope, Mossfennan and Kingledoors. To the north is Broughton and to the south the road passes Crook Inn to Tweedsmuir.The Drumelzier or...

.

Sir James Naesmyth, third Baronet, acquired in 1789 the old glebe
Glebe
Glebe Glebe Glebe (also known as Church furlong or parson's closes is an area of land within a manor and parish used to support a parish priest.-Medieval origins:...

 of the parish from the ministers of Stobo and Drumelzier. The 4 acres (16,187.4 m²) glebe, which lay south-west of the church, carried pasturage rights for a horse, two cows, and forty sheep. Dawyck church lands, under reservation of the glebe, were feued in 1580 by Robert Douglas, titled the 'perpetual vicar' of Stobo, with consent of the archbishop, dean and chapter of Glasgow, to John Tweedie, tutor of Drumelzier, and are described as the vicarage lands of Dayik, with the pasturage of 38 soums of sheep; reserving four acres of land and the manse to the reader of the church. The feu-duty was five merks yearly. Marion Tweedie, John's daughter, by Crown charter dated 4 February 1606, was invested in the lands.

In 1837 the ruins were demolished by the lawyer Sir John Murray Naesmyth, known as the 'Deil o'Dawick' to make way for the present chapel, also used as the family mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...

. The chapel still contains a probable medieval font
Baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...

, and the chapel bell is said to carry a date of 1642, being recast in 1791.

The chapel remains private property, but is still used for weddings.

See also


External links

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