[NT 98445402] St Leonard's Nunnery [LB]
(Cistercian) (site of) [TI]. (1)

The Cistercian nunnery of St Leonard was founded by David I 1124-1153. (2)

The traditional site of this nunnery was on the southern slope of Halidon Hill, in the Nunslees, on the opposite side of the road from Meadow House. (3)

Site under plough. No visible remains. (4)

The nunnery was badly damaged in 1333 by the Battle of Halidon Hill. Edward III (1327-77) ordered rebuilding and annual grant from revenues of the town but it doesn't appear to have flourished. In 1420 it is said to be 'so destroyed that scarcely any traces of buildings remain'. (5)

A series of parchmarks are visible on aerial photographs taken in 1976 on the route of the proposed A1 Berwick bypass. Three different buildings are represented, the largest of which is cruciform church. The church probably measured between 32m and 35m long and the nave 10m wide. It is oriented almost exactly east-west. Although the transepts appear of unequal size, the southern one may include another structure, such as a sacristy. The two other buildings are both rectangular; one measuring about 14m by 7m and the other of similar width but incomplete. They are likely to have been an infirmary and/or guest house. A linear feature is also visible on aerial photographs running WNW to ESE to the south-west of the buildings, but it has no direct relationship to the nunnery and may even be geological in origin.
Pieces of stonework are still brought to the surface by ploughing and can be seen in nearby field banks.
Further discoveries have been made nearby in 1954. In January of that year workmen found human remains when building on land now occupied by Nos 1 to 4 Duns Road (immediately to the east of the cropmarks). They were reported as between 500 and 600 years old. One of the skeletons was over 6 feet tall and the other had a steel tipped arrowhead near its ribs and it was speculated that these may be soldiers who died in the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333. The suspected findspot lies at NT 98478 58410 on a driveway. This could also have been the position of a monastic cemetery. Another discovery in 1954 is that of one or more stone coffins and a stone coffin lid.
It is suggested that St Leonard's nunnery may be the earliest Cistercian nunnery in Scotland, as it was established less than 30 years after the order was introduced to England from France. The nunnery was suppressed by Robert III in 1390 with its lands and revenues to be transferred to Dryburgh Abbey. The legality of this action was challenged over the next 60 years until it was given by the Pope to Andrew Lumsden, a priest from the diocese of St Andrew's in 1466. (6)

Three sites around the nunnery were examined by geophysical survey in 2003. These included the nunnery site itself (NT 98465400), the field east of the nunnery (NT 9850854036), and the field north of the nunnery where there might be field or garden extensions (NT 9839554083). Positive results were gained from the known site of the nunnery buildings. (7)

An initial two slot trenches were excavated, placed with reference to aerial photographs by Tim Gates. At a depth of 20cm a bed of rubble stones was discovered extending throughout both trenches. Trench 1 also revealed some blocks of dressed sandstone, one a keystone for an arch and the other chamfered, possibly for a window or door. An alignment of foundation cobbles was also found and may have been the base of an internal wall or pillar base inside the nave of the church. Further structural remains include a possible external wall as well as two sections of a sandstone column. Finds included pieces of medieval glass, a bronze key. A third trench, on the periphery of the nunnery site, uncovered an alignment of stones as well as a scatter of animal bones. A one metre square test pit was excavated nearby and revealed further animal bone, pottery as well as fragments of charcoal. (8)

Newspaper article on nunnery and Bondington. (9)

The site of the Cistercian nunnery of St Leonard, founded by David I circa 1124-1153, is visible as a cropmark on air photographs. It comprised a church on an east-west alignment measuring 36 metre by 22 metres. To the north of the church are two other rectangular buildings. The nunnery was Dissolved in 1539. (10)

Four trenches were excavated in 2006. Trench 4 investigated a boundary wall which showed up as a parchmark on the 1976 air photographs. The wall was insubstantial and late as it was set into a layer of soil present across most of the site which marked the decay and demolition of the nunnery. Beneath the destruction layer was a deeper feature which may have been a leat or stream course.
Trench 5 cut across an isolated structure at the western edge of the nunnery complex. Excavation revealed a very substantial west wall built of large blocks of pink sandstone immediately below the topsoil. The wall had been thickened along its eastern face at some time, and this may represent a bench. The building may have been the refectory.
Trenches 6 and 7 targeted another apparently isolated structure (BuIlding B) to the north of the church. Excavation showed it belonged to the east range of of the cloister. A north-south wall, possibly the east wall of a sacristy, connected the building to the church. Two graves were found to lie in the south-west corner of Building B and it seems likely that this was the chapter house. To the east of the sacristy wall a cobble floor survived. (11)

The buried remains of a medieval monastery identified as the remains of St Leonard's Nunnery, scheduled on 13 March 2014. (12)

A medieval Cistercian nunnery is visible as a cropmark on air photographs centred at NT 9842 5398. St Leonard's Nunnery consists of a church on an east west alignment measuring 36m by 22m. To the north lie two other rectangular buildings. The first, at NT 9841 5401, measures 12m N-S by 5m E-W while the second measures 7m E-W by 5m N-S and is linked to the church. Traces of a linear mark on a similar alignment are visible to the south of these features. (13a-b)