The Church of Molle

The church of Molle stood on the summit of a rising ground on the right bank of the Beaumont, but it also has fallen before the ruins of time, and the only eveidence of a religious house at this place is its small graveyard, still used by those who love to mingle their ashes with their forefathers. Until lately, all kinds of bestial had access to this sacred spot, but the sepulchres of the dead are now protected by a fence.

As has already been said, Liulf's son gifted, in 1153, the church and the land lying adjacent thereto, namely

'from Houlaushau to its river, and from the river along Houlaueshau as far as the ford of Bolbent, opposite the church, and from the ford upward as far as Houlaueshau, and thence along the road as far as Hunedune, and thence as far as the head of the river of Houlaueshau common pasture, in the town of Molle, with easements.' (Houlaueshau is probably Ellisheugh)

This grant was confirmed by Herbert, bishop of Glasgow, by Malcolm IV, William the Lion, and Bishop Josceline.

In 1186, Lady Eschina of Molle confirmed to the monks the previous grants of the church lands and liberties, and added, for the weal of the soul of her lord Walter, the son of Alan, of her daughter, who was buried at Kelso, and of others, that the monk's chaplain of Molle, their men dwelling in the town of Molle on the lands of the church, should have common pasture, with reasonable stock, and other privileges, in common with her men of Molle.

Henry of Molle, the second husband of Lady Eschina, confirmed the grants made to the monks.

About this time, a dispute arose between the monks and Henry of Molle and his lady, in regard to the extent of the rights claimed by the former in right of the church. It was at last agreed that the monks should have for ever, in the territory of Molle, pasture for 700 sheep and 120 cattle, in right of the church, with all the privileges which the parson ought to have, and also that the vicar and the men of the abbey, dwelling on the church lands of Molle, should have common pasture and easement in all things with the men of the land of Henry of Molle himself.

A like demand was made by the monks upon the lands of Anselm of Molle, which was settled by compromise. The monks gave up all claim made against Anselm in the name of the parson of Molle, and he granted to them pasturage for 700 sheep and 100 cattle, over his land of Molle, with liberty to pasture over the whole of that land, except on corn and meadow, at any time of the year, except for 15 days before the 24th of June and the 1st of August, during which time they were to use the pasture of Berehope only for cattle. He also gave them liberty to take wood for making sheep-cots, to allow both sheep and cattle to go at large, to give monks room for their folds, with free passage through the lands of Molle. In consideration of the monks having given up the tithes of his mill, he gave them the privilege of grinding at his mill at any time, whenever the hopper of the mill should be empty, unless the corn of hismown demesne was lying to be ground.

The monks of Kelso and Melrose disputed as to the smaller tithes and other rights belonging to the parish church of Molle, dur by Melrose monks for the lands of the Uggings. A referebce being made to the Pope, he delegated the abbot of Paisley and the treasurer of Glasgow to act as the principal judges in the cause; and they having appointed the sub-dean of Glasgow to hear parties and pronounce judgment, the parties appeared before the sub-dean. The monks of Kelso stated that they held the church of Molle for their own uses; that the monks of Melrose had, after the fourth council of Lateran, acquired lands within the parish, and withheld the tithes and other parochial rights of the church of Molle, to the injury of the house of Kelso: demanding that the monks of Melrose should pay £300 for the tithes which they withheld, and pay for the future. The sub-dean held that the monks of Melrose had unlawfully withheld the tithes and other rights claimed by the monks of Kelso in right of the church of Molle; that they should pay these tithes and rights to the monks of Kelso, as rectors of the church, as they had been accustomed to receive them from the other parishioners of Molle; and awarded 260 merks, as loss sustained by the monks of Kelso.

In 1273, it was arranged before the sub-dean of Glasgow, in the presence of William Wyschard, archdeacon of St Andrews, and chancellor of Scotland, who acted as mediator, that the monks of Melrose should pay yearly, for ever, to the monks of Kelso, thirteen chalders of good oatmeal, for the tithes of the lands of Molle, which they themselves cultivated, and for the teind sheaves of their men in Molle. The two houses of Kelso and Melrose seem to have had many differences as to this payment, till 1309, when a final settlement was agreed upon by several arbiters, in the church of St James of Roxburgh.

The chartularies of the abbeys contain many notices of the woods and forests in the territory of Molle. In the woods at 'the Scrogges' the monks of Kelso got a grant of wood for making flakes for securing their sheep, and rods for repairing their ploughs. From the woods of Persouth, the monks were allowed to take material for their ploughs and for making fences. The same monks had also right to the wood on the east side of Erndbrandsdene. Not a trace of these woods is now to be seen, except a solitary tree, standing here and there in the mountain dells, and in the neighbourhood of the principal houses of the district.

In 1573, Thomas Moffat, the acting reader at Linton, appears in the records as also being in charge of Mow, along with Yetholm, Merbotil and Hounam.

He was followed in these five charges by Robert Ker, titular Archdeacon of Teviotdale, who has his residence, initially at Mow, and later at Morebattle.

In 1607, John Balfour, who had been granted the Crown living of Yetholm by James VI, secures the vicarage of Mow, which had formerly been in the gift of Kelso Abbey. It is however recorded that:

'His interest in the cure was obviously slender since, while drawing its revenues, it is recorded that 'Mr John Balfour taught no time thereat', while the chancel of the church, which it is incumbent under Canon Law was bound to uphold, is reported altogether ruinous within half a century after the reformation.'

Tait, writing in 1889, states:

'Near the centre of the district, in a conspicuous situation, close to the water of Bowmont, but on a plateau considerably elevated above the bed of the river, is the old churchyard of Mow, on the tombstones of which inscriptions dated so far back as 1690 are distinctly legible.... A silent spot is now this remnant of an ancient village God's-Acre, where, each in his narrow cell, rest the remains of those once recognised as patriarchs within the glen, stood the little church, whence in the dark age, rays of light were diffused far across those rolling hills, which much resemble an ocean .... '

And later,

'Gone is the ancient 'town', which, as records say, contained 'many fair houses'. Vanished are the protecting towers, of which two existed here, and one farther up at Cocklaw, to bar English raiders from entering the valley. The mill, the malt-kiln, and the brew houses of the monks, all have passed away, despite the powerful protection of St Mary. Of human handiwork in those distant ages only faint outlines remain....'

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