104 Transactions. 



exceedingly ancient, and containing far more history in them 

 than one might expect. 



One more exti-act, also of a topographical nature, may here be 

 added. The deed from which it is taken is a lease or feu-charter, 

 and is entitled " Agreement between us and Henry Wytwele 

 regarding certain lands in the town of Dumfries," and it runs as 

 follows : — 



"On the first Tuesday after the Feast of the Beheading of St. John 

 the Baptist, this agreement was made between the religious men, the Lord 

 Abbot of Kelso and the Convent at the same place, on the one side, and 

 Henry Wytwele, burgess of Dumfries, on the other, viz., that the said 

 Lord Abbot and the Convent at the same place conceded and demised to 

 the said Henry and his assignees the whole of those lands which Malcolm, 

 the son of Utred of Travereglis,* held from the decease of the formerly 

 named inheritance of William, the son of Bale, with tofts and crofts in the 

 territory and town of Dumfries ... as they lie, viz., Between the 

 land of St. John, which lies beside the cemetery of the mother church of 

 Dumfries on the north side, and so by the road which leads from the town 

 of Dumfries towards the Castle as far as the road which leads towards the 

 Chapel of St. Laurence of Keldwoodt on the south side, and so towards 

 the east beside the Crown land as far as the Dumfries Burn which falls 

 into the mill pond of Dumfries — these lauds to be had and held by the 

 said Henry and his assignees till the close of the life of the said Henry, of 

 the aforesaid Abbot and Convent and their successors. "J 



Then follow the terms on which Wytwele was to occupy this 

 land, the most important of which were his payment of twelve 

 shillings yearly at Pentecost and at the Feast of St. Martin 

 ("Whitsunday and Martinmas), and the promise on the part of the 

 Abbey to defend his land against man and beast, and in the event 

 of its being devastated by war, to allow him a reduction of rent. 



I do not know the ancient topography of Dumfries sufficiently 

 well to be able to explain all the references in this document. 

 The northern boundary of the ground described is fixed by the 

 position of St. Michael's Churchyard; the road to the Chapel of 

 St. Laurence of Kellwood may probably find its representative in 

 the present road to Glencaple. In that case, the Castle referred 

 to would not be the ancient Castle of Dumfries, which occupied 

 the site now covered by Greyfriars' Church, but the . so-called 

 " Comyn's Castle," from which Castledykes takes its name. The 

 " Mill pond of Dumfries " might well have been connected with 

 the old Town Mill which stood on the site of the Mill Street of 

 our own day, and in that case, the " Dumfries Burn " (rivulus de 

 Dunfres) would be the " Loreburn," which, after running parallel 



* Terregles. t Kellwood. t Reg. Cart, de Kelso, 332. 



