Tranisaciions. 165 



lasted a stre;im of warlike stores llowed through the town* for 

 the army, and for tlie garrisons in Lochmaben, Dumfries, and 

 Carlaverock. 



XI. Rental utider the English (1303). 



The English occupancy of Annandale had begun. A rent rollf 



for the half-year ending at Whitsunday, 1303, shows tliat the 



officers of Edward I. received from 



Dumfries 



Lochmabeu 



Anuau ... 



The Mill at Auuan 



Hightae 



Smallholm 



Ecclefechaii 



Moffat 



The high proportion which Lochmaben bears in this rental is 

 to be explained by its being the headquarters of the English 

 force. Its lands could be l^etter guarded, and its rental was a 

 less uncertain quantity than that of other places. Besides, 

 Annan as we have seen had been burnt five years before, and it is 

 easy to understand that there was something more than empty 

 rhetoric in the old Greyfriar's statement a few years later that 

 Annan had " lost the honour of a burgh." Annan in the first half of 

 the 14th ceutui-y was but a wreck of its former self. The flames 

 of Cliftbrd's raid had robbed it botii of honour and opulence, its 

 progress was blasted by the prevailing atmosphere of danger, and its 

 fall from at least the hope of greatness was due, not indeed to 

 the curse of St. Malachi, but to one still greater — the ambition of 

 Edward I. 



XII. 7'he Borders after Bannockburn (1317). 



No record exists of Annan's share in the stirring events which 

 followed the year 1306 when Robert the Bruce stabbed Comyu,aud 

 finally stood out as the champion of independence. But one cannot 

 doubt that from the heart of his own territory of Annandale he 

 had sturdy help, and that Annan had its part in Bannockburn. 

 After that battle, the sufferings of the Border on both. sides were 

 terrible. Although, thanks to the activity of the Scottish soldier- 



*Ibid., 127. 



iBain's Gal, ii., 1608 (p. 426.) 



