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novation or imposition on thaime, nor to haif ony fiirder intromis- 

 sioun with thaim than, &c. . . . Quhair vre being movit and 

 remembering that there is divers actis and ordinances made be our 

 dearest Moder and maist noble predecessoures in favors of the 

 tenentis of Kirklandis, namelie, sic landis as lies neare oure 

 bordouris, that thai sal nocht be remouabill, hichtit, nor raisit by 

 thair auld dewtie, quhairby thai may be the mair readdie to obey 

 oure service as occasion occurred. Therefore commands and 

 charges — accordingly be thir oure Lettres given under our signet, 

 and subscrivit with our hand. At Halirudhous, the 12th day of 

 May, of oure raigne the augteine year, 1585." 



But we must now take up the subject of the history of the 

 Welshes, as inhabitants of those monklands. Of course the 

 most prominent feature of all his kindred was the " Maister 

 John Welsh of Air," surnamed " The Incomparable," and who, 

 before and after his marriage with the heroic daughter of " Maister 

 John Knox," had such a distinguished career. This John was 

 of the Collistoun kindred of Welshes, and was the second 

 son of the family ; David, his eldest brother, succeeding their 

 father, also a John Welsh, in the hereditary lands of Collistoun. 

 Collistoun and Craigenputtock lands, which are associated with 

 the history of the Welshes, lay amid the barony of Sacrinemoris, 

 otherwise the barony of Holywood. Collistoun is known under the 

 more ancient name of MakcoUistoun, evidently derived from the 

 clan of those parts known as the Maccawilfl or the M'Calls, who 

 were also identified as the ancient owners of the lands of Vod, 

 Grennau or INIessenger-lands, of Kaidgelaucht or Caitloch, of the 

 same mountain and hill country. Although in the loth century 

 the family of Welsh had been residents of the county town and 

 ancient royal burgh of Dumfries, certain indications afford some 

 ground of probability that in their own quarter and section of the 

 wide barony of Holywood they must have acted as the hereditary 

 resident deputy-bailies of the Abbots of Holywood long before as 

 well as immediately after the Protestant Reformatiou, at which 

 time they are clearly identified as holding that trust and office. 

 Not many years after the Reformation of 1560 — which on the 

 Borders of Scotland generally, in the nature of things, had at first 

 made slow progress, amid a population the ardent supporters of 

 the waning fortunes of the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots, a 

 population so long the tenants of the wide ecclesiastical lands 

 attached to the Church under the Romish Faith in Scotland, with 



