The Irvings op Hoddom. 199 



West Indian planter died and left all his fortune to the stone 

 dyker, somewhere about £80,000. The man married and after- 

 wards bought Kuockhill, for which he paid about £30,000. He 

 had a family, who after his death sold it to General Matthew 

 Sharpe about 25 years after, for about half that price. The 

 daughters married, but the sons emigrated to Australia, where 

 they died." 



I am informed that General Sharpe bought Knockhill in 

 1841, ^and that the price was £15,000. 



During the time that Mr Scott owned Knockhill it was the 

 scene of a tragedy. A young man named Bell from the neigh- 

 bourhood, who had been to see his sweetheart, was heard by the 

 butler, who shot him wheu escaping through a basement window. 

 The butler Avas tried and acquitted. It is needless to say that 

 Knockhill was haunted by a ghost for some time after. The 

 ghost made so much noise that they could not get the servants to 

 stay. At last the owner got the Reverend W. Wallace Duncan, 

 then helper to Mr Yorstoun, the Parish Minister, to g'o and sleep 

 in the house. Whether it was the good man's saintly presence or 

 his bodily powers that were disagreeable to the ghost no one 

 knew, but the ghost saw fit to change its quarters and was no 

 more heard of at Knockhill. A Colonel Little, a native of the 

 neighbourhood of Langholm, who had been in the East India 

 Company's service, was an occupant for a few years. He 

 removed to York and died there. He was succeeded by Sir 

 Patrick Heron Maxwell, Baronet, of Springkell, who was killed 

 by a fall from his horse on 27th August, 1844. A few years 

 I after the death of Sir Patrick, Mr William Sharpe occupied it 

 luntil his death on December 18th, 1875, in his 83rd year. After 

 [r William Sharpe's death it was sold to Edward Brook, Esq. 



If anyone could write a history of the late William Sharpe 

 md the doings at Knockhill in his day, it would make a most 

 interesting volume. He was the most genial and hospitable of 

 [lairds, and Knockhill was perhaps the most unique and popular 

 [establishment in the south of Scotland. There all sorts and con- 

 Iditious of men were welcome if they were of the right sort, and 

 [many were the convivial evenings spent within its walls. Amonw 

 [the objects of interest at Knockhill were the string of racehorses, 

 Ithe greyhounds (among them " Hughie Graham," winner of the 

 f Waterloo Cup); then thei-e were pets of all sorts — dogs, cats, 



