Abercorn

Coordinates: 55°59′35″N 3°28′23″W / 55.993°N 3.473°W / 55.993; -3.473
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the village in the United Kingdom. For other uses, see Abercorn (disambiguation).

Abercorn
  • Scottish Gaelic: Obar Chùirnidh
Abercorn Church
Abercorn is located in West Lothian
Abercorn
Abercorn
Location within West Lothian
Population458 
OS grid referenceNT082788
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townSOUTH QUEENSFERRY
Postcode districtEH30
Dialling code0131
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
List of places
UK
Scotland
55°59′35″N 3°28′23″W / 55.993°N 3.473°W / 55.993; -3.473

Abercorn (

2011 Census.[1]

Etymology

Etymologically, Abercorn is a Cumbric place-name. It is recorded as Aebbercurnig in c.731.[2] The first element is aber 'mouth, confluence'. William J. Watson proposed that the second element meant 'horned', from a Brittonic word related to Welsh corniog. The name would thus mean 'horned confluence'.[3][2] However, because Abercorn sits by the Cornie Burn, Alan James has suggested that the name means 'mouth of the Cornie Burn'.[3] The name of the stream itself is also Cumbric and seems to derive from *kernan 'mound, hill' and so to be named after the hill on which Abercorn stands.[3][2]

History

The English monk and historian

Trumwine, who was the only bishop of the Northumbrian see of the Picts. The 7th-century monastery is now known to have existed close to the present-day church.[4] The church itself dates partially from the 12th century, although its most interesting features are the private aisles created for the three major families of the area, the Dalyells, the Hamiltons, and later the Hopes, who had their own enclosure behind the altar built by architect William Bruce. The Hope mausoleum, designed by William Burn, is located adjacent to the kirkyard.[5] Older burial monuments include Norse "hogback" grave markers, and fragments of 7th-century Northumbrian crosses.[6] Adjacent to the churchyard at Abercorn, is a small museum containing prominent examples of medieval gravestones.[7]

The lands of Abercorn were granted to

Earls of Hopetoun, and built Hopetoun House to the east of the village.[6] On the approach to the church, the Factor's house is a prominent L-shaped building in the Scottish baronial style, built circa 1855.[4]

The House of the Binns, seat of the Dalyell family, is within the parish.[6][4]

Abercorn's population was recorded as 1,044 at the time of the 1821 census, although it has since declined.[8]

Abercorn Castle

A castle also existed here, near Hope Burn, from the 12th century, belonging to the Avenel family. It passed through marriage to the Graham family in the mid-13th century and to the Mure family in the early 14th century. The Clan Douglas acquired the castle in about 1400.[9]

It was besieged and sacked in 1455 by James II in his attack against the "Black Douglases" and their chief James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas. It passed to the Seton family but they did not restore the castle and it was thereafter left to decay, such that it is now only marked by an earth mound. The site was excavated by archaeologists in 1963.[10]

Ecclesiastical history

Bishopric

For a very short time, Abercorn was a residential bishopric. In 681, during the reign of King

Bishopric of Lindisfarne.[12]

Four years later, Trumwine may have been present at the defeat and death of Ecgfrith at the Battle of Dun Nechtain,[13] after which he was forced to flee from his Pictish bishopric, retiring to the monastery at Whitby.[14] The bishopric of Abercorn thus ceased to be a residential diocese.

Titular see

It is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[15] The diocese was nominally restored as a Latin Catholic

Diocese of Abercorn
in southern Africa.

It has had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank:

  • Richard Charles Patrick Hanifen (1974–1983)
  • John Aloysius Mone (1984–1988)
  • John Charles Dunne (1988–),
    Auxiliary Bishop emeritus of Rockville Centre
    (USA)

Notable burials in Abercorn

Gallery

  • The Cornie Burn where it joins the Midhope Burn and thence passes into the Forth
    The Cornie Burn where it joins the Midhope Burn and thence passes into the Forth
  • The Cornie Burn
    The Cornie Burn
  • The village
    The village
  • The former school
    The former school
  • The beach at Abercorn
    The beach at Abercorn
  • The Church and Hopetoun Aisle seen from the east
    The Church and Hopetoun Aisle seen from the east
  • The Church and Hopetoun Aisle seen from the north-east
    The Church and Hopetoun Aisle seen from the north-east
  • Detailing of the West Front entrance to the nave
    Detailing of the West Front entrance to the nave
  • Abercorn church seen from the SE
    Abercorn church seen from the SE
  • Abercorn church front seen from towards the main gate
    Abercorn church front seen from towards the main gate

See also

References

  1. ^ Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usual Resident Population, published by National Records of Scotland. Website http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ retrieved Apr 2018. See “Standard Outputs”, Table KS101SC, Area type: Civil Parish 1930, Area: Abercorn
  2. ^
    OCLC 759569647
    .
  3. ^ a b c Bethany Fox, 'The P-Celtic Place-Names of North-East England and South-East Scotland', The Heroic Age, 10 (2007), http://www.heroicage.org/issues/10/fox.html (appendix at http://www.heroicage.org/issues/10/fox-appendix.html).
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-1873190258
    .
  5. ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "Hopetoun House, Mausoleum (142185)". Canmore. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  6. ^ a b c Abercorn History Archived 2014-04-08 at the Wayback Machine from The Seton Family retrieved 24 May 2013
  7. ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "Abercorn Museum (251979)". Canmore. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  8. ^ Abercorn from Vision of Britain retrieved 24 May 2013
  9. ^ The Castles of Scotland, by Martin Coventry ISBN 1-899874-00-3
  10. ^ The Castles of Scotland, by Martin Coventry ISBN 1-899874-00-3
  11. Ecclesiastical History IV.12
    .
  12. ^ Bertam Colgrave (tr.), Bede: The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, p. 403, s.v. 192.
  13. ^ Fraser, Battle of Dunnichen, p. 47.
  14. Ecclesiastical History IV.26
    .
  15. ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1
    ), p. 821

Sources and external links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abercorn.
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