Isolated

 
My intention was for a short walk to take some photos of the river but I continued on through the woods with their carpets of snowdrops and the sound of the wind in the trees interspersed at times with the calls of buzzards and small songbirds.  On and on along muddy tracks seldom used, I walked until I noticed a fallen part of the extensive high wall round Dalkeith Park estate.  At last I could explore the site of an old ruined church which had seemed to be inaccessible due to the nearby busy Edinburgh bypass.  Scrambling up a bank and crossing a fence into a ploughed field I walked to the ruined Old Newton Church with the first daffodils swaying among some old tombstones which must be old as the church was last used in 1742. The original church was granted to Dunfermline Abbey and confirmed by Malcolm IV around 1160 and its replacement lies about 3 kilometres away. I already had a ‘pretty’ blip but decided that as the ruined church was not easily reached it would have to be that instead.

This is all that remains of the old parish church dedicated to St Mary. The new parish was formed from the old Parishes of Newton and Woolmet. The church used to house three "isles", or aisles, around the main body, dedicated to Newton, Sheriffhall and Edmonstoun, local estates. The church was the venue for the illegal marriage of Lord Linton and Lady Seton (circa 1630) and later the union of Lady Margaret Leslie of Sheriffhall and the Earl of Weymss on 13th January 1653. There used to be a small manse but this is now gone, although a few tombstones still remain in what was once the kirkyard. Pre-1700, the colliers who worked the nearby mines were buried in unconsecrated ground and not able to attend the church, but a petition in 1725 allowed them to worship in a purpose built loft from 1732 onwards. The church was deemed as geographically unsuitable for "parish" worship and a more central site was chosen. It closed in 1742, when the new church opened. Since then, the main part of the church has been lost, but the tower was preserved as an eyecatcher for the landscape and pleasure grounds of Dalkeith Palace