Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland .. - National Library of Scotland

——aMELROSEmELBOSEcamps between Kittyfield and Leaderfoot ; IT of Kaeside,near Abbotsford ; and at Mars Lee Wood ; and borderpeels at Bnckholm on the Gala, in the valley of theAllan, and at Darnick. The principal mansions, mostof whioh are separately noticed, are Abbotsford, AUerly,ChiefsTvood—once the residence of Lockhart, Scott's sonin-law—Drygrange,Eildon Hall, Huntly-burn Houseonce the residence of Scott's friends, the Fergussons,and the name itself of Sir "Walter's choosing—GattonsideHouse, Ladhope House, Langhaugh, Lowood,Abbey Park, The Pavilion, The Priory, Prior Woodformerly Prior Bank—once the residence of the wellknownEdinburgh publisher, Tait, the founder of Taitsoppose Blackwood'sMagazine, which was established toMagazine—Eavenswood, Sunnyside, Threepwood, Whitelee,Wester Langlee, and Wooplaw. Besides the town ofMelrose, which is noticed in the following article, theparish contains also the villages of Blainslie (NE), DakuicK(S), Gattonside (S), Newstead (SE), Nbwtowk(extreme SE), and part of the town of Galashibis—allof which are separately noticed — and the hamlet ofEildon. Except in Galashiels there are no industries,and the population of the parish are mostly engaged inagriculture. In suitable spots there are excellentorchards—legacies of the monks—some of which arevery productive, those in the Gattonside districtbeing said to produce more fruit than all the othersin the vale of Tweed. About J mile WSW ofthe town of Melrose, on Bowden Moor, is thedistrict lunatic asjdum for the counties of Pioxburgh,Selkirk, and Berwick, which with its grounds covers aspace of 25 acres. The buildings occupy three sides ofa rectangle ; the principal front to the SW being 377feet long, and the wings each 148 feet. They aremostly two stories in height, and two towers are 100feet high. The asylum was erected in 1870-72, afterdesigns by Messrs Brown & Wardrop of Edinburgh, ata, cost, inclusive of site, of £46,600, and there is accommodationfor about 150 patients. "To the N of Darnick,and about 1 mile W of the town of Melrose, is a risinggi'ound,called Skinners or Skirmish Hill, the namebeing taken from the last great battle among theborderers proper in 1526. In that year, James V.,tired of the dominion of the Douglases, sent word,privately, to Scott of Buccleuch to come to his rescue.This Scott did, but the forces of Angus, Home, and theKerrs proved too strong for him, and his men fled.Pitscottie tells the story at length. The place is nowthe site of the Waverley Hydropathic Establishment.Erected in 1871, and enlarged in 1876, this is a fineedifice, with accommodation for 150 visitors. Its diningand drawing rooms each are 84 feet long ; and thereare also a news-room, library, two billiard rooms, etc.,besides every variety of bath. The grounds, 40 acres inextent, are tastefully laid out ; and the view around isof singular beauty.In common with the whole district, the parish sufferedseverely from the ravages of the English during Hereford'sinvasions in 1544-45, and at a later date, OliverCromwell gets the credit of having pounded the ruinsof the abbey from the heights above Gattonside. Besidesthe churches in the town, which are noticed in thefollowing article, there are also Established and Freechurches in Galashiels, on the Melrose side of the Gala(Ladhope), and there is a U.P. church at Newtown.The civil parish contains the quoad sacra parish of Ladhope,which includes part of Galashiels. Ecclesiasticallythe parish is in the presbytery of Selkirk and the synodof Merse and Teviotdale, and the living is worth £482a year. In 1883 the following were the schools—allpublic but the last—under Melrose school-board, withtheir accommodation, average attendance, and Governmentgrant :—Blainslie (110, 64, £50, 17s.), Gattonside(87, 46, £37, 19s.), Glendinning Terrace (300, 342, £316,13s.), Langshaw (51, 35, £40), Melrose (300, 177, £165,Os. 6d.), and Newstead Subscription (86, 68, £46, 6s).Valuation (1864) £42,344, 8s. 2d., (1882) £43,757,16s. 8d., (1884) £39,900, 12s. 5d. Pop. (1801) 2654,(1831) 4339, (1861) 7654, (1871) 9432, (1881) 11,131, of22whom 4555 were in the ecclesiastical parish, and 6576in Ladhope quoad sacra parish. Ord. Sur., sh. 25,1865.The U.P. Church has a presbytery of Melrose, whiohholds it meetings in the town, and includes 2 churchesat Earlston, 3 at Galashiels, 3 at Hawick, 2 at Selkirk,and those at Innerleithen, Lauder, Lilliesleaf, Melrose,Newtown, and Stow.Melrose, a post town and burgh of barony, in thesouthern section of the parish just described, betweenthe Tweed and the northern base of the Eildon Hills.The station, on the Waverley section of the NorthBritish railway system, is 3| miles ESE of Galashiels,15-J N by E of Hawick, and 37i SE by S of Edinburgh.By road, the place is 7 miles NE by N of Selkirk, 11NW of Jedburgh, and 35 SE by S of Edinburgh. Thesituation and surroundings are very beautiful. Lookedat from about the town, the heights that border theTweed seem to close in at either end, so that the placenestles in the long hill girt hollow known as the Valeof Melrose. The town, which dates from very ancienttimes, was originally a small village called Fordel, andthe present name was transferred to it from Old Melroseat or shortly after the foundation of the abbey in 1136.It shared largely and constantly in the fortunes of themonks. During Hertford's invasion, in 1544-45, it wastwice plundered and destroyed; and though, after theReformation it struggled on for a time as the seat of asmall trade, it ultimately fell into poverty and decay, astate of matters that lasted well into the present century.Then the revival of the taste for Gothic architecturebrought the ruins of the abbey into prominence, andthis, and the associations of the district with Sir WalterScott, made it a tourist centre. The tourists werefollowed by people of independent means, who wereled by the beauty and amenity of the neighbourhood totake up here their occasional or permanent residence,and all these causes combined have given Melrose afresh start in prosperity. The town proper, which isthe Kennaquhair of the Ahhot and the Monastery, consistsof 3 streets, branching ofl^ from the corners of anopen triangular space, known as the market place, closeto the station. The street leading northward to Gattonside,and that passing southward by Dingleton, are bothnarrow and old, but High Street, which leads northwestwardstowards Galashiels, has been widened andimproved as new buildings have replaced old. Thesuburbs are principally lines and groups of villas, extendingabout a mile westward from the end of HighStreet, by Weirhill and High Cross. Many of the olderhouses of the town show, amid the general plainness oftheir walls, stones whose carvings prove that they havecome from the ruins of the abbey, at a time when itswalls were deemed of so little importance as to hepractically a quarry for whosoever chose. In the centreof the market place, supported by five courses of steps,stands the market cross, bearing the date of 1642, andsurmounted by the unicorn of the Scottish arms withmallet and rose. It seems to have replaced an older crossof some sanctity, which was destroyed in 1604. Apatch of land, called 'the Corse Rig,' in a field near thetown, is held by the proprietor on the condition of hiskeeping the cross in repair. Another cross, whichanciently stood on a spot about J mile to the W, borethe name of the High Cross, which it has bequeathedto the modern suburb around its site. The so-called jailhas long ceased to be used for that purpose, and the lowerpart is now a store for the victual feu-duties payable bythe Duke of Bucclengh's vassals, while the upper is occasionallyused as a public hall. It stands on the site of anolder jail, on a stone of which, that is still preserved,there is sculptured one of those anagrams that were fromtwo to thi'ee centuries ago somewhat common, :—viz.mason's 'mell' anda 'rose,'representing thenameof theplace. In an old gabled house, bearing the date of 1635,which projected into the street opposite the King's ArmsHotel, but which is now demolished. General Leslieslept on the night before the battle of Philiphaugh. Asuspension bridge (1826) for foot-passengers crosses the