After the Reformation the buildings passed into the hands of laymen, and the monastery became the "manor place of Pittenweem." In 1588 a portion of the grounds was granted to the burgh, in order that a suitable church might be erected, which was carried out soon thereafter (Fig. 1582). Possibly some portions of the church of the priory are included in this building, but it has in recent years been restored and extended.
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Fig. 1582.—Pittenweem Priory. Plan.
The quaint tower (Fig. 1583), with its mixture of Gothic and classic features, is the only part which has not been interfered with. The tower, which stands at the north-west angle of the church, is about 18 feet square externally. It rises with a plain square outline for a considerable way without buttresses or anything to distinguish it from a castle keep. There are even shot-holes under the windows, as in the domestic structures of the time. The stair turret in the north-east angle has the outline and corbelled gablet similar to the cape-house of the stair turrets of the Scotch castles of the period. The spire, with its remarkable lucarnes, helps to give the erection a little more of an ecclesiastical character, but the balustrade again recalls the attention to the domestic and Renaissance style of the design.[1]
POLWARTH CHURCH, Berwickshire.[2]
This church (Fig. 1584) was reconstructed in 1703, and is believed to
rest on the foundations of an older structure, dedicated by Bishop Bernham
in 1242. The building measures 55 feet by 24 feet over the walls. Although
of such a late date, it is of pleasing form, and has fine large mouldings round
the doors and panels above them. A stone on the east gable contains the
Polwarth arms, three piles engrailed.
The font of the old church stands outside the building. It is of a round form 28 inches in diameter. The basin, which is 22 inches in diameter,
