Cornhill / Cornhill-on-Tweed

The National Gazetteer of 1868 reports a baptismal font bearing the date 1669 in this church. Wilson (1870) notes: "The old church at Cornhill was a chapel of ease of Norham […] Mr. Raine says the building erected in 1752 was 'one of those barn-like, indescribable edifices miscalled a church.' As well as being unsightly, it must have been also unstable, for the present fabric was erected on its site in 1840 […] much improved in 1866 […] re-pewed in 1869". The font, which appears on the plan of the church interior located at the west end of the nave, just in front of the rear bank of pews on the north side, is described in Wilson as modern, but it is not clear whether Wilson is referring to the font from 1699 or a later replacement [cf. infra]. The Northumberland Communities website entry for Cornhill-on-Tweed [http://communities.northumberland.gov.uk/Cornhill-on-Tweed.htm] [accessed 15 January 2010] refers to a legend that dates the original church to 1082, and notes that the modern font is one of the gifts to the church by the Earls and Countesses of Home. [NB: not certain whether or not a font existed in the original chapel/church]