224 Field Meetings. 



A second vault placed ag-ainst the church is that of the 

 Irvings of Woodhouse ; and another branch of the Irving- family 

 — that of Cove — which once dominated the valley of the Kirtle, 

 is commemorated by a table stone and mural tablets. The 

 Irvings have been planted in this district since early in the 

 eleventh century. Mr Bruce Armstrong, in his " History of 

 Liddesdale and the Debateable Land," says : " In Lower Eskdale, 

 on the borders of the Debateable Land, a place called Stake- 

 heugh on the Irving bum was occupied by a branch of the 

 Irvings. The head of this clan resided at Bonshaw, on the 

 Kirtle Water in Anuandale, where the clan was powerful, 

 and at one time numbered upwards of 500 men." The arms 

 of the Irvings, bestowed upon them by Robert the Bruce, are 

 three leaves of " the pricking bay," or holly, and the crest is 

 a hand holding a branch with seven holly leaves. That branch is 

 believed to be a representation of Kirtle Water, and the disposi- 

 tion of the leaves indicates the position of seven towers once 

 belonging to the clan — Kirkconuel (now Springkell), Woodhouse, 

 Cove, and Kirkpatrick on the left bank ; on the right, Bonshaw 

 and Robgill ; and Stapleton detached, at a distance from the 

 stream. The Woodhouse Irvings were a junior branch of the 

 Bonshaw family, and from them originated the Aberdeenshire 

 family of Irvine (as they now spell it) of Drum. It is told that 

 Robert tlie Bruce, during his early struggles for the crown, was 

 sheltered at Bonshaw, and took into his service as his secretary a 

 younger son of the house. Sir William of Woodhouse, on whom 

 he afterwards conferred the Forest of Drum. The Woodhouse 

 branch was raised to the baronetage in 1809, the first baronet 

 being Lieutenant-General Sir Paulus Aemilius Irving, who was 

 Commander-in-Chief in the West Indies, where he did some suc- 

 cessful fighting-. The same Christian names were borne by several 

 of his successors, who are commemorated at Kirkpatrick. The 

 title became extinct in 1859. The clan took a prominent and 

 valiant part in the turbulent scenes of border ioray. They were 

 for the most part fast allies of the Johnstones in their feuds with 

 the Maxwells. After Johnstone of Annandale had made a raid 

 on the Maxwell country (in 1585), burning Cummertrees, Duncow, 

 and Cowhill, he found refuge in Bonshaw Tower ; and here he 

 was found by Earl Morton and a force of the Maxwell's friends, 

 after they had burned the tower of Loch wood, " to give Dame 



