Abercorn

{{About|the village in the United Kingdom}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Use British English|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox UK place |country = Scotland |static_image_name = File:Abercorn Church West Front.jpg |static_image_caption = Abercorn Church |coordinates = {{coord|55.993|-3.473|display=inline,title}} |official_name = Abercorn |gaelic_name = Obar Chùirnidh |label_position = top |population = 458 |lieutenancy_scotland = West Lothian |unitary_scotland = West Lothian |constituency_westminster = Bathgate and Linlithgow  |constituency_scottish_parliament= Linlithgow |historic_county= |post_town = SOUTH QUEENSFERRY |postcode_district = EH30 |postcode_area = EH |dial_code = 0131 |os_grid_reference = NT082788 }}

'''Abercorn''' (Gaelic: ''Obar Chùirnidh'', Old English: ''Æbbercurnig'') is a village and civil parish in West Lothian, Scotland. Close to the south coast of the Firth of Forth, the village is around {{convert|5|km|mi|abbr=on}} west of South Queensferry. The parish had a population of 458 at the 2011 Census.<ref name= "KS101SC_1">Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usual Resident Population, published by National Records of Scotland. Website http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ retrieved Apr 2018. See “Standard Outputs”, Table KS101SC, Area type: Civil Parish 1930, Area: Abercorn</ref>

== Etymology == Etymologically, ''Abercorn'' is a Cumbric place-name. It is recorded as ''Aebbercurnig'' in c.731.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Grant|first=Alison|title=The Pocket Guide to Scottish Place-Names|date=2010|publisher=Richard Drew Ltd|isbn=978-1-899471-00-3|editor-last=Macleod|editor-first=Iseabail|location=Glasgow|pages=23|oclc=759569647}}</ref> The first element is ''aber'' 'mouth, confluence'. William J. Watson proposed that the second element meant 'horned', from a Brittonic word related to Welsh ''corniog''. The name would thus mean 'horned confluence'.<ref name=":1">Bethany Fox, 'The P-Celtic Place-Names of North-East England and South-East Scotland', The Heroic Age, 10 (2007), http://www.heroicage.org/issues/10/fox.html (appendix at http://www.heroicage.org/issues/10/fox-appendix.html).</ref><ref name=":0" /> However, because Abercorn sits by the Cornie Burn, Alan James has suggested that the name means 'mouth of the Cornie Burn'.<ref name=":1" /> The name of the stream itself is also Cumbric and seems to derive from *''kernan'' 'mound, hill' and so to be named after the hill on which Abercorn stands.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />

== History ==

The English monk and historian Bede mentions Abercorn as the site of a monastery and seat of Bishop Trumwine, who was the only bishop of the Northumbrian see of the Picts. The 7th-century monastery is now known to have existed close to the present-day church.<ref name="WestLothianGuide37">{{cite book |last= Jaques and McKean |date=1 September 1994 |title= West Lothian - An Illustrated Architectural Guide |location=Scotland |publisher=The Rutland Press |page=37 |isbn=978-1873190258}}</ref> The church itself dates partially from the 12th century, although its most interesting features are the private aisles created for the three major families of the area, the Dalyells, the Hamiltons, and later the Hopes, who had their own enclosure behind the altar built by architect William Bruce. The Hope mausoleum, designed by William Burn, is located adjacent to the kirkyard.<ref name="Canmore Entry for the Hopetoun Mausoleum">{{Historic Environment Scotland|cat=PLA |desc=Hopetoun House, Mausoleum|num=142185|num2=NT07NE 13.3|access-date=19 June 2025}}</ref> Older burial monuments include Norse "hogback" grave markers, and fragments of 7th-century Northumbrian crosses.<ref name="seton">[http://www2.thesetonfamily.com:8080/gallery/Abercorn_History.htm Abercorn History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408221340/http://www2.thesetonfamily.com:8080/gallery/Abercorn_History.htm |date=2014-04-08 }} from ''The Seton Family'' retrieved 24 May 2013</ref> Adjacent to the churchyard at Abercorn, is a small museum containing prominent examples of medieval gravestones.<ref name="Museum">{{Historic Environment Scotland|cat=PLA |num=251979 |num2=NT07NE 1.2 |desc=Abercorn Museum |access-date=19 June 2025}}</ref>

The lands of Abercorn were granted to Claud Hamilton in the 16th century. His son was later created the Earl of Abercorn. In the early 17th century, a branch of the Hamilton dynasty moved to Ulster in Ireland. The family would, henceforth, play a major part in Ulster affairs. Thus, the estate was later sold to the Hope family, who were created Earls of Hopetoun, and built Hopetoun House to the east of the village.<ref name="seton"/> On the approach to the church, the Factor's house is a prominent L-shaped building in the Scottish baronial style, built circa 1855.<ref name="WestLothianGuide37"/>

The House of the Binns, seat of the Dalyell family, is within the parish.<ref name="seton"/><ref name="WestLothianGuide37"/>

Abercorn's population was recorded as 1,044 at the time of the 1821 census, although it has since declined.<ref>[http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10197727/rate/POP_DENS_A Abercorn] from ''Vision of Britain'' retrieved 24 May 2013</ref>

==Abercorn Castle==

A castle also existed here, near Hope Burn, from the 12th century, belonging to the Avenel family. It passed through marriage to the Graham family in the mid-13th century and to the Mure family in the early 14th century. The Clan Douglas acquired the castle in about 1400.<ref name="ReferenceA">The Castles of Scotland, by Martin Coventry ISBN 1-899874-00-3</ref>

It was besieged and sacked in 1455 by James II in his attack against the "Black Douglases" and their chief James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas. It passed to the Seton family but they did not restore the castle and it was thereafter left to decay, such that it is now only marked by an earth mound. The site was excavated by archaeologists in 1963.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

== Ecclesiastical history == === Bishopric === For a very short time, Abercorn was a residential bishopric. In 681, during the reign of King Ecgfrith of Northumbria, Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed Trumwine "Bishop of the Picts", with his seat at Abercorn.<ref>Bede, Ecclesiastical History IV.12.</ref> This was part of a more general division of the Northumbrian church by Theodore, who also created the Bishopric of Hexham by separation from the Bishopric of Lindisfarne.<ref>Bertam Colgrave (tr.), ''Bede: The Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', p. 403, s.v. 192.</ref> Four years later, Trumwine may have been present at the defeat and death of Ecgfrith at the Battle of Dun Nechtain,<ref>Fraser, ''Battle of Dunnichen'', p. 47.</ref> after which he was forced to flee from his Pictish bishopric, retiring to the monastery at Whitby.<ref>Bede, Ecclesiastical History IV.26.</ref> The bishopric of Abercorn thus ceased to be a residential diocese.

=== Titular see === It is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.<ref>''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), p. 821</ref> The diocese was nominally restored as a Latin Catholic titular bishopric in 1973. It must not be confounded with the former Diocese of Abercorn in southern Africa.

It has had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank: * Richard Charles Patrick Hanifen (1974–1983) * John Aloysius Mone (1984–1988) * John Charles Dunne (1988–), Auxiliary Bishop emeritus of Rockville Centre (USA)

==Notable burials in Abercorn== *Very Rev Hugh Meiklejohn *Ian Hamilton Finlay, poet *Sir Robert Dalyell, 8th Baronet

==Gallery== <gallery> File:Confluence of the Cornie and Midhope burns, Abercorn.jpg|The Cornie Burn where it joins the Midhope Burn and thence passes into the Forth File:Cornie burn near Abercorn.jpg|The Cornie Burn File:Abercorn - geograph.org.uk - 335751.jpg|The village File:Accountancy practice - geograph.org.uk - 547591.jpg|The former school File:Beach, Abercorn - geograph.org.uk - 340493.jpg|The beach at Abercorn File:Abercorn Church seen from the East.jpg|The Church and Hopetoun Aisle seen from the east File:Abercorn Church and Manse.jpg|The Church and Hopetoun Aisle seen from the north-east File:Abercorn Church Entrance.jpg|Detailing of the West Front entrance to the nave File:Abercorn Church from the SE.jpg|Abercorn church seen from the SE File:Abercorn Church, West Lothian.JPG|Abercorn church front seen from towards the main gate </gallery>

== References == <references/>

==Sources and external links== {{Commons category}} * {{gbmapping|NT082788}} * [http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst5200.html Gazetteer of Scotland] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120212014632/http://cyberscotia.com/ Ancient Lothian] * [http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t0014.htm GigaCatholic with titular incumbent biography links]

Category:Villages in West Lothian Category:Parishes in West Lothian