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The following quotation comes from the Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, edited by John Marius Wilson and published in 1868. This reference was found in volume I, page 140:
"BASSENDEAN, an ancient parish, now comprised in the parish of Westruther,in the west of Berwickshire. It was a vicarage, and belonged to the nuns of Coldstream. The church, now in ruins, stood near the mansion-house, on the south-east; and the walls still enclose the burying-place of the Homes of Bassendean. Soon after the Reformation, Andrew Currie, vicar of Bassendean, conveyed to William Home, third son of Sir James Home of Cowdenknows, 'terras ecclesiasticas, mansionem, et glebam vicarie de Bassendeane:' whereupon he obtained from James VI. a charter for the same, on the 11th of February, 1573-4. This William, who thus built his house upon church-lands, was the progenitor of the present family here; of whom George Home, a compatriot of the Duke of Argyle, was one of the most devoted supporters of Presbyterianism against the inroads of Episcopacy in the 17th century. See WESTRUTHER."
Other places called Bassendean - which may derive their names from associations with this old Berwickshire place-name - include: