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Article ROXBURGHSHIRE. ← Page 3 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Roxburghshire.
Every pack of merchandise , every basket of country produce , Avas carried to its destination on horseback , OA'er moors , bogs , and mosses . There was not one bridge over the rivers Liddel and Hermitage in a run of twenty-six miles , in 1792 , and the traveller had to ford them over and over
again as' they wound into his route . There are UOAV tAVO railways traversing the valley ; ancl this district of freebooters , where the eagle Avas seen carrying off a lamb not many years ago , and a crane Avas shot only last summer , is fast being converted into a soft pastoral landscape .
The interest of the regality of Melrose is of a different order to that of Liddisdale . But this , in its monastic connection Avith Melrose Abbey , and its literary and romantic association with Sir Walter Scott and Abbotsford , has been so
frequently treated , that we turn to a district of which less is known , as a sample of Mr . Jeffrey ' s materials . The barony of Galashiels has a special claim upon our notice , because it is situate in the forest of Ettrick , the tract of country with Avhich James IV . endowed his English bride , Princess
Margaret . Gwala is the ancient British name of the river , ancl shiels is the Saxon Avord by Avhich shepherds' huts and farm buildings are still called in the north . The ancient town consisted of two streets , Avith a tolbooth , market cross , aucl pele tower . The church appears to have been builfc on
the opposite side of the Tweed , and to have been rebuilt on the north side , as a kirk , about 1622 , Avhen a report of the commission for the plantation of kirks gave 400 as the number of the inhabitants . About this time the Avoollen trade was
represented by three waullc-mills , each paying a rent of £ . 5 per annum . As these Avere exposed to the elements they were useless in frosty Aveather ; therefore the whole of the male population of the place were compulsorily idle at such seasons . As a relief to the discomfort of this state of things ,
the laird and parish minister repaired to the market cross , aucl summoned the frozen-out Avorkers , by bell , to accompany them to the haugh , to play at shinty . All the men of the names of Hab , Jock , Tarn , Andrew . Adam , and Dan , formed one party , and played against the men Avhose names Avere not
included in this category ; and at the endof the game both sides repaired to the manse , ancl were regaled with the Scottish dish nolt ' s head and brose . At that date the AVOOI was distributed to 240 women , living in the neighbouring villages and hamlets , for them to card and spin in their own houses . On
Saturdays they brought their Avork into the town , and Avere paid for their industry at the rate of sixpence per slip . In 1780 the first movement towards the adoption of machinery was made , when a willy was put up in a garret , and its owner vnllied for the Avhole town . The next step Avas the introduction of the carding- machine from
Leeds . Then folloAved the covering-in of the Wilderhaugh mill , ancl the erection of a small wheel to drive the neAV scribbler ; and the rapid
adoption of one hnpiweinent after another , the building of neAV mills ancl application of steampoAver . There are now sixteen mills at Galashiels , or sixty setts of machines , and the trade carried on is estimated to be of the annual extent of
£ 420 , 000 . The armorial bearings of this thriving burgh consist of a plum-tree , with a fox sitting on either side of the trunk of it , looking up into the branches . The motto is " Sour plums . " This device is interpreted as a memorial of a successful fray Avith some Englishmen Avho had
Avandered from the main body of David II ., in search of the plums which grew in the woods around and on the banks of the river . The Galashiels men turned out to punish their temerity , and slew them ail to a man , throwing their bodies into a ditch , known to this day . as the
Englishmen's Skye . The sour plums are the Avrathful proprietors of the sweet plums , of Avhich the thirsty stragglers were in search . Their exploit was handed down in an olcl song , and the tune "Sour plums in Galashiels" is in great favour among Scottish pipers .
Mr . Jeffrey has touched upon a subject that has caused as much Avonderment among the antiquaries of the north , as the incised sculpturing ^ . This is the occurrence of a number of terraces , one above another , on certain hill slopes , both on the English and Scottish side of the border . . They form wide , smooth , level , regular platforms , and are noticed , most frequently toAvards the summits
of the hills on AA'hich they occur . There are as many as a dozen tiers of them on some hills . Thelocal name for them is baulks . The first question that arises is , are they natural or artificial ? are they bank-like deposits left by the subsiding of mighty Avaters , or are they the AA'ork of man ? They
occur on a ridge of hills forming the east side of the glen of Edgerstone , on the Cayle and Capehope waters , near HoAvnam , afc Belford , on the Beaumont , on the Eeed Avater , at Heathpool , on the Colledge , and at several other places in Northumberlandand on the Cheviots . Gordon
, , in Ms " Itinerary , " gave an opinion that they Avere Eoman itinerary encampments . Pennant and Wallis ( the historian of Northumberland ) , concur in deeming them places for the militia , to arrange themselves upon in time of war , so as to make the most imposing show . Those antiquaries AVIIO
cherish strong Eoman predilections , belieA'e that they are Eoman corn fields . Mr . Jeffrey ' s OAvn view is -different from all these . Pointing out the fact that the Britons had a considerable knowledge of agriculture before the Eoman invasion , and , indeed , taught their conquerors the use of marie and of the flail , and that in the fourth century there was enough corn grown in Britain to save the inhabitants of the towns and
villages on the Ehine from the horrors of famine ,, he thinks these terraces are either the Avorks of the ancient Britons or of the Saxons . The early abbots of Melrose and Kelso Avere great farmers ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Roxburghshire.
Every pack of merchandise , every basket of country produce , Avas carried to its destination on horseback , OA'er moors , bogs , and mosses . There was not one bridge over the rivers Liddel and Hermitage in a run of twenty-six miles , in 1792 , and the traveller had to ford them over and over
again as' they wound into his route . There are UOAV tAVO railways traversing the valley ; ancl this district of freebooters , where the eagle Avas seen carrying off a lamb not many years ago , and a crane Avas shot only last summer , is fast being converted into a soft pastoral landscape .
The interest of the regality of Melrose is of a different order to that of Liddisdale . But this , in its monastic connection Avith Melrose Abbey , and its literary and romantic association with Sir Walter Scott and Abbotsford , has been so
frequently treated , that we turn to a district of which less is known , as a sample of Mr . Jeffrey ' s materials . The barony of Galashiels has a special claim upon our notice , because it is situate in the forest of Ettrick , the tract of country with Avhich James IV . endowed his English bride , Princess
Margaret . Gwala is the ancient British name of the river , ancl shiels is the Saxon Avord by Avhich shepherds' huts and farm buildings are still called in the north . The ancient town consisted of two streets , Avith a tolbooth , market cross , aucl pele tower . The church appears to have been builfc on
the opposite side of the Tweed , and to have been rebuilt on the north side , as a kirk , about 1622 , Avhen a report of the commission for the plantation of kirks gave 400 as the number of the inhabitants . About this time the Avoollen trade was
represented by three waullc-mills , each paying a rent of £ . 5 per annum . As these Avere exposed to the elements they were useless in frosty Aveather ; therefore the whole of the male population of the place were compulsorily idle at such seasons . As a relief to the discomfort of this state of things ,
the laird and parish minister repaired to the market cross , aucl summoned the frozen-out Avorkers , by bell , to accompany them to the haugh , to play at shinty . All the men of the names of Hab , Jock , Tarn , Andrew . Adam , and Dan , formed one party , and played against the men Avhose names Avere not
included in this category ; and at the endof the game both sides repaired to the manse , ancl were regaled with the Scottish dish nolt ' s head and brose . At that date the AVOOI was distributed to 240 women , living in the neighbouring villages and hamlets , for them to card and spin in their own houses . On
Saturdays they brought their Avork into the town , and Avere paid for their industry at the rate of sixpence per slip . In 1780 the first movement towards the adoption of machinery was made , when a willy was put up in a garret , and its owner vnllied for the Avhole town . The next step Avas the introduction of the carding- machine from
Leeds . Then folloAved the covering-in of the Wilderhaugh mill , ancl the erection of a small wheel to drive the neAV scribbler ; and the rapid
adoption of one hnpiweinent after another , the building of neAV mills ancl application of steampoAver . There are now sixteen mills at Galashiels , or sixty setts of machines , and the trade carried on is estimated to be of the annual extent of
£ 420 , 000 . The armorial bearings of this thriving burgh consist of a plum-tree , with a fox sitting on either side of the trunk of it , looking up into the branches . The motto is " Sour plums . " This device is interpreted as a memorial of a successful fray Avith some Englishmen Avho had
Avandered from the main body of David II ., in search of the plums which grew in the woods around and on the banks of the river . The Galashiels men turned out to punish their temerity , and slew them ail to a man , throwing their bodies into a ditch , known to this day . as the
Englishmen's Skye . The sour plums are the Avrathful proprietors of the sweet plums , of Avhich the thirsty stragglers were in search . Their exploit was handed down in an olcl song , and the tune "Sour plums in Galashiels" is in great favour among Scottish pipers .
Mr . Jeffrey has touched upon a subject that has caused as much Avonderment among the antiquaries of the north , as the incised sculpturing ^ . This is the occurrence of a number of terraces , one above another , on certain hill slopes , both on the English and Scottish side of the border . . They form wide , smooth , level , regular platforms , and are noticed , most frequently toAvards the summits
of the hills on AA'hich they occur . There are as many as a dozen tiers of them on some hills . Thelocal name for them is baulks . The first question that arises is , are they natural or artificial ? are they bank-like deposits left by the subsiding of mighty Avaters , or are they the AA'ork of man ? They
occur on a ridge of hills forming the east side of the glen of Edgerstone , on the Cayle and Capehope waters , near HoAvnam , afc Belford , on the Beaumont , on the Eeed Avater , at Heathpool , on the Colledge , and at several other places in Northumberlandand on the Cheviots . Gordon
, , in Ms " Itinerary , " gave an opinion that they Avere Eoman itinerary encampments . Pennant and Wallis ( the historian of Northumberland ) , concur in deeming them places for the militia , to arrange themselves upon in time of war , so as to make the most imposing show . Those antiquaries AVIIO
cherish strong Eoman predilections , belieA'e that they are Eoman corn fields . Mr . Jeffrey ' s OAvn view is -different from all these . Pointing out the fact that the Britons had a considerable knowledge of agriculture before the Eoman invasion , and , indeed , taught their conquerors the use of marie and of the flail , and that in the fourth century there was enough corn grown in Britain to save the inhabitants of the towns and
villages on the Ehine from the horrors of famine ,, he thinks these terraces are either the Avorks of the ancient Britons or of the Saxons . The early abbots of Melrose and Kelso Avere great farmers ,