Parochial Economy
Ecclesiastical History and State
Collegiate Church.--In the course of the same year, 1429, Sir John Forrester founded a Provostry or collegiate church in the kirk-yard of the then existing parish church of Corstorphine. The second chapel was probably built into this collegiate church, for there is no mention of its separate existence after the year 1429, and they were both dedicated to the same patron saint, St. John the Baptist. The original foundation of the collegiate church was for five prebendaries, of whom one was to be called the Provost, and two boys; and for their maintenance, Sir John consigned the annual rents of 120 ducats of gold, on condition that he and his successors should have the patronage of these appointments, and on the understanding, that, if the kirk of Ratho were united to the provostry, other four or five prebendaries should be added to that establishment, and maintained out of the fruits of the benefice of Ratho. Pope Eugenius IV., sanctioned this foundation by a bull, in which he directed the Abbot of Holyroodhouse, as his apostolic vicar, to ascertain whether the foundation and consignation had been made in terms of the original grant; and on being satisfied on these points, to unite and incorporate the church of Ratho, with all its rights, emoluments, and pertinents, to the college for ever (ii).
In 1444, Sir John Forrester made a second application to the Pope, in which he stated that the emoluments of the Collegiate Church were not sufficient for the comfortable maintenance of ten prebendaries and two boys, and prayed that the number might be restricted to nine. In consequence of this application, Pope Eugenius issued another bull, limiting the number of prebendaries to nine. This bull is dated 15th July 1444, and was confirmed and carried into effect by James Kennedy, Bishop of St Andrews, who proceeded in virtue of it to arrange and distribute the property of the Collegiate Church among its several office-bearers, by a charter dated 30th October 1444 (i). This division is as follows, viz.
To the Provost, the church of Clerkington, the teinds of Ratho, as well south as north, the teinds of Rolshaw (probably Rodinglaw), and six merks Scots, at two terms in the year, out of the common funds of the college.
And to the eight prebendaries or chaplains, as follows, viz.
To the two chaplains of Gogar and Addistown, the teinds of upper Gogar and Addistown, with ten merks Scots, half yearly, out of the common purse.
To the two chaplains of Haltoun and Dalmahoy, the teinds of Haltoun and Dalmahoy, with ten merks Scots half yearly, out of the common purse.
To the two chaplains of Boningtoun and Plet, the teinds of Boningtoun and Plet (now Ratho Hall and Hillwood), with ten merks Scots, half yearly, out of the common purse.
To the two chaplains of Nortoun and Byres, the teinds of Nortoun and Byres, (now Ratho Byres,) with ten merks Scots, half yearly, out of the common purse. And to the two boys in the said college, 24 bolls of usual victual, and L.3 yearly, from the common purse, to be equally divided between them.
And for the stipend of the vicar and the burdens of the kirk of Ratho, maintenance of the fabric, expense of bread and wine for the sacrament, of the altar, lights, cups, books, and other ornaments of the chaplainries and college, L.12 from rents mortified by Sir John Forrester, besides the fruits of the altarage of the kirk of Ratho, and 3 chalders of victual out of the teinds, above appropriated to the provost of the college (iii).
It is interesting to find this division of the Collegiate Church corroborated in the charter confirming the donation by the vicar of Kirkurd to the parish kirk, already quoted, dated 27th September 1473, in which the whole establishment of one provost and eight chaplains are mentioned as witnesses, the names being as follows, viz. Nicol Bannatyne, provost; Alexander Story, John Cramound, Hector Story, James de Hales, Andrew Gawmok, William Forrester, David Swintoun, and Malcolm Chepman, chaplains (iv).
In the foundation charter, the annual value of the church of Ratho is said not to exceed L.50 Sterling, according to common estimation. The four prebends, instituted in consequence of the union of this church with the college, were Haltoun, Dalmahoy, Boningtoun, and Plet, and as the vicarage of Ratho had been formerly in the gift of the Bishop of St. Andrews, when the union took place, he and his successors obtained a right to present alternately, per vices, with the family of Forrester, to these four prebends, while the Forresters continued to enjoy the sole patronage of all the other livings on the establishment.
In December 1475, Hugh Bar, a burgess of Edinburgh, founded an additional chaplainry, at the altar of the Holy Trinity, in the Collegiate Church. This chaplain, in addition to the performances of daily masses for the souls of the King and Queen, the Lords of the Manor, and the founder's own mother and wife, and of all the faithful dead, was specially directed, at the commencement of each season of Lent, to exhort the people to say one pater noster, and the salutation of the angel to the Virgin Mary for the souls of the same persons. This chaplainry was also in the gift of the Forresters after the death of the founder (v.).
Besides the above possessions, the parish kirk of Corstorphine, with its chaplainries, was afterwards united to the Collegiate Church, but the period when this happened is not known.
Possessing such revenues as we have enumerated, this Collegiate Church must have been regarded as an establishment of considerable importance, and, accordingly, we find among its provosts men of eminence and influence. Some of those whose names have been handed down to posterity we shall briefly notice.
The first provost was Nicol Bannatyne, who presided over the establishment from the year 1429 down to his death, which happened after 1473. He was buried within the church, as appears from a Latin inscription, which is afterward inserted.
Among the after provosts, the most noted were Robert Cairncross, about 1520, and James Scott in 1554.
Robert Cairncross was descended from an ancient family in Forfarshire. Having passed through the usual classes at one of the Scotch Universities, he applied himself to the study of divinity, and, soon after entering the church, he was appointed provost of Corstorphine; a place, says Crawford, of considerable dignity and revenue. He was then advanced to be one of the King's chaplains, and, by his talent and subserviency to his royal master, he raised himself to offices, both civil and ecclesiastical, of great trust and influence. In 1528, he was made Lord High Treasurer, afterwards a Lord of Session, then Abbot of Holyroodhouse, which he is said to have obtained as the result of a wager he took with King James V. He was next promoted to be Bishop of Ross, and received in commendam the Abbacy of Fearn. He seems to have been a corrupt and dissolute man, and to have aided in no small degree in exciting popular detestation against the church to which he belonged. Shortly before his death, which happened in 1544, he obtained letters of legitimation in favour of his three natural children, to enable them to succeed to the large fortune he had amassed.
James Scott was brother of Sir Alexander Scott, Vice Register of Scotland in the reign of James V. He was bred to the church, and, soon after entering into holy orders, was preferred to the office of Provost of Corstorphine. While Provost, he is said to have built a house or manse near the collegiate church, for the use of himself and his successors in office, and placed on it his cost of arms, from which it appears that he was related to the family of Buccleuch (vi). He was a man of great learning and integrity, and from his own acquirements, and the respect which King James cherished for the memory of his relative the Register, he was promoted to be Clerk to the Treasury, and afterwards made a Lord of Session.
The last Provost was Alexander McGill, who was probably a layman, and held the office in commendam. He quarrelled with the Presbytery of Edinburgh in 1601, refusing obedience to some of their orders, and, in consequence, both he and his wife, who had absented herself from church for a long period, were ordered to make public confession, on pain of excommunication. For a long time they resisted this order, till Mr. Arthur, minister of Corstorphine, actually commenced the process of excommunication, going through all the censures except the last prayer, which he delayed for a week, intimating that he would complete the remainder, unless appearance was made on the following Sabbath. This threat had the desired effect, and on 1st February 1602, the Provost "compeirit and satisfied the congregation in all points." Shortly afterwards, Isobel Carbeth, his wife, "compeirit before the Presbytery, and they having shairply rebukit her, she upon her knees confessit her sin, in not repairing to the kirk for a year and a-half, and promisit to amend, qlk humiliation and promise the minister was directed to intimate on the following Sabbath in the Kirk of Corstorphine (vii)"
Mr. Alexander McGill resided in the house adjoining the collegiate church, built by one of his predecessors. He is a witness to a sasine of lands in the parish of Cramond, on 17th July 1606.
Mr. Wood quotes two manuscript rentals (viii), without giving their dates, or mentioning where they are to be found, in both of which valuations of the provostry are contained.
In the first, which he calls a carefully compiled Manuscript Account of Benefices, Praepositura de Corstorphin is rated at L.46, 10s. 3d.; and the prebends are stated as eight in number, viz; Bonytoune, Plat, Norton, Ratho Byres, Overgogar, Halderstoun, Dalmahoy, and Haltoun. The second, which he calls " A Manuscript Roll and Rental of Small Benefices," rates the provostry at 500 merks, and separately values the eight prebends of Half Halton, Half Dalmahoy, Half Gogar, Half Addiston, Half Norton, Half Byres, Half Bonytoune, and Half Platt, at 450 merks, leaving 50 merks for the provost's salary.
In the Books of Collections of the Thirds, the revenues of the collegiate church after the Reformation are said to have consisted of the teinds of Ratho and parsonage of Clerkington, and are estimated in money at L.122, 13s. 4d. Scots.
At the Reformation, when church property was in general annexed to the Crown, an exception was made in favour of provostries and other endowments, which had been originally founded by private individuals for their own ease and spiritual advantage, and the existing patrons were then allowed either to dispose of their revenues to bursars in the universities, or to apply them to any other purposes consonant with the principles and spirit of the Reformation (ix); accordingly, we find Sir George Forrester, in 1621,
applying to Parliament for authority to separate the Parish church of Corstorphine, with manse, glebe, teinds, fruits, and rent of the same from the provostry, and to unite the four prebends of the provostry (i.e. the teind sheaves of Ratho,) to the parish kirk, but to reserve a certain sum " to be payit by the ministers of Corstorphine out of these revenues to the actual minister of Ratho."
A few years afterwards, when more enlightened opinions became prevalent, regarding the application of church property, another act of Parliament was obtained by Sir George, then Lord Forrester, dissolving the four prebends, the whole revenues of which were drawn from lands situated in the parish of Ratho, from the parish church of Corstorphine as " prejudicial to the kirk of Ratho, and repugnant to the common course and order intended for the plantation of kirks, whereby it is thought fit that each minister shall receive competent maintenance out of the teinds of his own parish."
After this separation, the sole remaining possession of the Provostry was the parsonage of Clerkington, which, in a manuscript in the Advocates' Library, is valued in 1625 at L.27, 10s. 8d. In 1634, the Provost and first prebendary, with the consent of the patron and other prebendaries, dissolved the collegiate church, and separated from it this parsonage, and, in 1641 Parliament confirmed the dissolution, annexing the four prebends to the estate of Dalmahoy, and the parsonage to the estate of Clerkington.
i. See Foundation Charter in Sir Lewis Stewart's Collection, p. 108, in Advocates' Library
ii. Ibid.
iii. Ibid.
iv. M.S.S. Reg. Mag. Sigil.
v. Ibid.
vi. Nisbet's Heraldry, Vol. ii. The house is said to have belonged to the provosts is a large house adjoining to the church-yard at the south-west corner, which has the initials A.S. Poes engraved on it, and a coat armorial partly defaced.
vii. Presbytery Register, Vol. iii.
vii. Wood's M.S. History of Corstorphine.
ix. The patronage and part of the teinds of Ratho were sold by James Lord Forrester in 1670 to Charles Maitland of Hatton. See p. 24.
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