176 Transactions. 



which he was strong in recommending, was "that he should make 

 a rode yn to overthrow and caste downe a certen churche and 

 staple called the Steple of Annande." 



Nevertheless the first of these exploits taken in hand was that 

 which he discountenanced. A raid was, early in 1547, made on 

 Dumfries by Sir Thomas Oarleton. Owing to the disunion 

 amongst the lands of Dumfriesshire, mainly due to the corrupt 

 and violent influences brought to bear by Henry VIII., Carleton 

 accomplished his task with no less success than dexterity and 

 carried oS" a heavy plunder, if we may fully trust his swaggering 

 I'eport of his own performances given by the " miniature C?esar," 

 as M'Dowall,* the Dumfries historian, dubs him. 



XX. Wharton's Inroad (1547). 



Although the townf itself was harried, and " with the corne in 

 the same towne burnt" in 1544 by his son, it was not until 1547 

 that Wharton's plan for the overthrow of Annan Steeple was 

 seriously undertaken. Whilst the Protector Somerset was 

 marching northward, with Pinkie ahead, Wharton was leading 

 an expedition across the border, directed chiefly against the 

 Steeple which had so long been an eyesore to himself, and a thorn 

 in the sides of his countrymen. When Scotland was constrained 

 to concenfrate all her force to meet Somerset on the east March, 

 when many of the men of Annandale had yielded to the pressure 

 of the time and become "assured Scots" liegemen of England, now 

 it was that Wharton's darling scheme was entrusted to himself 

 to execute. 



With 5000 foot and 500 horse he crossed the frontier on 9th 

 September. On Saturday the 10th, that rueful date in the 

 Scottish calendar, when Somerset was fighting Pinkie battle, 

 Wharton's force reached Castlemilk. The renegade Scot, the 

 Earl of Lennox, was the ally and comrade of the English leader. 

 Castlemilk made only a feint of resistance. Its commandant 

 only waited to have the glove of Lennox sent him, and then 

 surrendered the castle keys. 



Next day Wharton proceeded to Annan, where a sterner 

 reception awaited him. He found Annan Steeple with pennon 

 flying, manned to resist. 



*M'Dowall's History of Dumfries, pp. 195-199. 

 fBrucc Annstrowfs Liddesdale, appx. Iv. 



