The Country Gcntkmaiis MagarAne 



232 



discontent. The minister of Hownam, -writ- 

 ing in Sir John Sinclair's " Statistical Account 

 of Scotland," says :— " The great decrease of 

 inhabitants, within the last forty years, is evi- 

 dently occasioned by the too general practice 

 of letting the lands in great farms ; but may 

 be, in some measure, owing to the mode of 

 agriculture almost universally adopted in the 

 parish (especially since sheep and wool 

 brought so high a price), of converting the 

 arable into pasture land. The lands, fifty or 

 a hundred years ago, were parcelled out into 

 at least four times the present number of 

 farms. As late as the year 1750, five tenants, 

 with large families, occupied a farm now 

 rented by one tenant. There were, also, 

 about these times, several small but proud 

 lairds in the parish. Their lands are now lost 

 in the large farms, their names extinguished, 

 and their mansions totally destroyed." The 

 inhabitants of the parish had been reduced in 

 forty years from 632 to 365, and about half 

 of the remnant were shepherds. There was 

 a breed of sheep peculiar to the district, of 

 moderate size, but good feeders, and pro- 

 ducing excellent wool as well as good mut- 

 ton. The same district is still noted for its 

 iine sheep, and some of the best Cheviots in the 

 south of Scotland are raised at Hyndhope, at 

 the western extremity of the Roxburghe 

 estate, among the Border hills. 



Much more important, however, has been 

 the transformation in the parishes of Bowden, 

 Eckford, Roxburgh, Kelso, and Sprouston, 

 where are situated the most fertile portions 

 of the Roxburghe estates. The parish of 

 Bowden, near Melrose, contains about 6700 

 English acres, of which more than half be- 

 longs to the Duke of Roxburghe. The 

 family had possessions here at a very early 

 date, and the old castle of Holydean or 

 HaUdean was once the family residence. It 

 has been a place of great extent and con- 

 siderable strength, but is now quite a ruin. 

 On a stone preserved from the rums, and 

 now placed as a lintel to the door of Holy- 

 dean farm-house, is a unicorn's head, and 

 tlie words " Feer God, Flee from sin, mak 

 to the lyfe Everlasting to the end. Dem Isbel 

 Ker, 1530." There are also the remains of a 



chapel and cemetery, and also the ruins of a 

 stone wall without lime, which has been six 

 or seven feet high, and which enclosed 

 five hundred acres of land, called in an old 

 tack "the great deer park of Haliedean." In 

 a vault below the church of Bowden rest the 

 members of the Roxburghe family for over 

 two centuries and a half. From the " Statisti- 

 cal Account" we can give, in brief compass, an 

 accurate picture of the parish as it existed 

 toward the close of last century. The whole 

 extent was 6700 acres. The farms varied 

 greatly in size, the rents ranging from ;^4oo, 

 ;^2oo, ^100, to ^70, ^60, and even £,\o 

 or ;^8 of sterling money, besides some ser- 

 vices contiruied from the time when the 

 monks of Kelso owned the district ; and one- 

 half of the schoolmaster's salary, which, 

 however, was only ^8, 6s. 8d. in all, besides 

 a house and garden worth ^2, and ^3 for 

 collecting poor-rates. The highest rents were 

 paid by the villagers of Bowden aixl Middle- 

 ham, Avhich amounted to ;£i, los. per acre, 

 but farmers paid 15s. to 5s., and for a tract 

 of outfield land the rent was not over half-a- 

 crown an acre. There were about fifty small 

 feuars in Bowden and Middleham who paid, 

 of teind and feu-duty, to the Duke of Rox- 

 burghe one-eighth of the yearly value of their 

 subjects. 



In the parish there were twenty-six ploughs, 

 each drawn by two oxen, and three or, at least, 

 two horses ] and ten or twelve drawn by two 

 horses only. Previous to 1795 oxen had 

 been discarded, and there were forty-four 

 ploughs, each drawn by two horses, and both 

 driven and held by one man. The English 

 plough, with broad or plate sock, had come 

 into general use, though some preferred the 

 old Scotch plough, especially in stony or stiff 

 land. Shell marl was obtained at 6d. per 

 cartload, if drawn by one horse, or gd. if 

 drawn by two ; and forty-five single cartloads 

 or thirty drawn by two horses, Avere laid on 

 each acre. Lime was also brought from 

 Mid-Lothian, at the rate of 12s. a cartload of 

 three bolls, and it was used at the rate of 

 six carts of lime to twenty-five of marl. Lime 

 was considered best for grain, but marl was 

 more suitable for grass. The kinds of grain 



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