649
in which James, Earl Douglas, fell while crowned with success on the 6th of
August 1388 (z). The collegiate church of Bothwell was the most opulent
establishment of the kind in Lanarkshire. Besides the endowment, which has
been mentioned, there belonged to it the tithes and revenues of the parish
churches of Strathavon and Stonehouse, and the sixteen-pound lands of
Cathkin, with its mill, in the parish of Carmunnock, all which were shared among
the eight prebendaries, who also shared the lands and mill of Nether Urd in
Peeblesshire, and each of them had a manse and garden lying adjacent to
the collegiate church of Bothwell (a). To the provost was appropriated the
lands of Osbernstoun and the tithes and revenues, with the manse and
glebe of the church of Bothwell, which was formerly a parish of great extent,
as it comprehended the present parish of Shotts. In Bagimont's Roll the
provostry of Bothwell was taxed £20, being a tenth of the estimated value of
the ecclesiastical benefice of the provost. At the epoch of the Reformation,
the provost's benefice produced £222 Scots and five chalders of meal
yearly (6). From this sum there was paid to Mr. Alexander Hepburn, a
former provost of Bothwell, a yearly pension of £100 Scots, by a provision of
the Pope; and to Mr. William Chirnside, the last provost of Bothwell, a
yearly pension of £26 13s. 4d. Scots, by a similar provision. After these
payments, there remained to John Hamilton, who was then provost of
Bothwell, £95 6s. 8d. Scots and five chalders of meal. At the same epoch
the prebend of Newtoun, which was held by Mr. James Robertson, was let
on lease to Matthew Hamilton of Millburn, for £20 Scots yearly (c). The
prebend of Stonehouse, which was held by William Tailzefer, produced
£30 13s. 4d. yearly ; from which he paid £16 to a substitute, who officiated
(2) This long monkish, poem has been inserted by Bower in his continuation of Fordun. Good.
Ford., ii. 406-414.
(a) The eight prebends were entitled as follows : 1. The prebend of Strathavon, alias Nether-
toun ; 2. The prebend of Overtoun ; 3. The prebend of Newtoun ; 4. The prebend of Netherfield ;
5. The prebend of Cruickbum ; 6. The prebend of Stonehouse ; 7. The prebend of Hessildene ;
8. The prebend of Kittymuir. The first five shared the tithes and revenues of the parish
church of Strathavon ; the last three shared the tithes and revenues of the parish church of
Stonehouse; and the whole eight shared the lands and mill of Cathkin, and the lands and mill of
Nether Urd.
(b) The provost's glebe, consisting of a ten-pound land of old extent, had been granted, in feu-
firm, long before the Reformation, for payment of a feu-duty of £22 yearly; and the tithes and
revenues of the parish church of Bothwell had been long let on lease, and were then held on
lease, by the lairds of Carfin and Olelandtoun for payment of £200 Scots yearly. MS. Rental Book,
fol. 13.
(c) MS. Rental Book, p. 16.