Talk:Lothian/Linlithgowshire Towns and Villages A

Abercorn

Abercorn Parish Church in common with many churches is sited on an ancient religious site and has connections to noted local families, but few buildings have been so heavily influenced internally by those families than Abercorn.
The church sits on the Hopetoun estate, the site originally a 7th century monastry and also a 12th century Norman building, traces of the later building remain but the current building is predominently post-Reformation and dates to around 1579.
The Binns and Duddingston Aisles both date to the 1600's, and are named after two influential families (one of them the Dalyells) for whom the church became the family church.
It was the Hope family that created the more interesting features however, not only was an additional aisle added along with a "Lairds Loft" (known as the Hopetoun Loft, a raised area allowing the family to sit apart from the congregation as well as the Dalyell family) but a private entrance and wood-panelled rooms exclusively for them.
The kirkyard contains the burial vault of the Dalyells and the Hopetoun family mausoleum and unusually a small museum contains an ancient cross, hogback stones and also 13th Century coffin lids.

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