TWEEDSMUIR PARISH HISTORY.
1.3.1.b. (Carved Stone Slab) Armorial Plaque.
The photograph on left of the previous church shows a plaque above the main East window which must be the plaque presently leaning against the Kirk wall in the Kirkyard. The RCAHMS in their survey of 1959(1) noted the plaque and commented as follows - "What seems to be a relic of the church (previous) or of a contemporary burial-vault is to be seen in a carved stone slab which now leans agatnst the NW corner of the existing building. This slab is carved in relief with a shield, surrounded by a helm and mantling and having at either side an hour glass, and below, a cartouche which no doubt once bore an inscription; weathering, however, has made the charges on the shield illegible and entirely removed the inscription"
The slab would have depicted, without any doubt, the armorial of the Tweedie family. It was probably recovered by the the Rev. John Dick, related by marriage of his daughter Leonara Littledale Dick to the Tweedie/Stodarts of Oliver. He was the Minister of Tweedsmuir Kirk in 1874 when the old Kirk was pulled down and the new Kirk built on the same site. Because of the above photograph I think that the RCAHMS assumption regarding a burial vault is correct - see page 1.3.2 Tweedsmuir Kirkyard regarding a probable Tweedie burial site at the east end of the Kirk that would have been overlooked by the plaque on the Kirk gable end.
Recent photograph of plaque below with Tweedie/Tweedie Stodart lair to left and in background - the location I think is significant.. One feels that there is unfinished business here and that the Rev. Dick had further plans for the plaque.
References.
1) Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Inventory for Peeblesshire, HMSO Edinburgh, 1967. Vol 2, pp216-217. Canmore ID 990663.