Submitted by Border Reivers Archaeology Unit
Swinton Kirk
Swinton, Scottish Borders, United Kingdom
Category: Monuments
The Flodden Bell at Swinton Kirk on the once war torn Anglo-Scottish border. The bell was cast in the Low Countries in 1499 and is marked with the legend 'MARIA EST NOMEN MEUM, 1499' (MARY IS MY NAME). The bell tolled for the dead after Scotland's catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Flodden in 1513 as the survivors struggled back over the border from the battlefield. Thought to be the oldest church bell still in use in Scotland the bell-chain has worn a groove in the stonework of the church.
