AND STIELINGSHIRE HUNT 



a couple of miles of its site ^ lie the farms of Lethem 

 and the Craigs, which seem to have belonged to 

 the Houstoun family until 1774.^ In that year, 

 however, Sir William purchased them from Mr 

 Shairp, and upon the former, on the west side 

 of the road leading from Uphall to Midcalder, 

 built the kennels before referred to.^ This build- 

 ing still stands, and although now occupied only 

 as a dwelling-house and offices, it is to this day 

 known as " the Doghouses," and in it a room is 

 pointed out as being that in which the huntsman 



^ The house appears to have been pulled down by the fourth Earl of 

 Kosebery soon after he purchased the principal part of the barony. — 

 Vide 'Statistical Account of Scotland,' 1845, vol, ii., Linlithgowshire, 

 p. 117. 



^ The farms of Lethem and the Craigs are now the property of Lord 



Torphichen, but it is evident that Sir William Cunynghame was in 



possession of the former in 1780, for in that year he issued the 



following notice in regard to the preservation of the game upon it : — 



" Game. — Sir William Augustus Cunynghame, being desirous to 



preserve the game upon the estates of Livingstone, Breich, 



and Whitburn, lying in the county of Linlithgow, and upon 



the estates of Gogar and Lethem, lying in the county of 



Edinburgh, hereby gives notice that persons are appointed to 



interrupt and inform against all poachers who shall be found 



shooting upon these grounds ; and he begs that any gentleman 



who inclines to shoot upon them will take the trouble to apply 



for a written order, that he may meet with no disturbance from 



the keepers." — Vide 'Edinburgh Advertiser,' Friday, August 



18, 1780. 



3 Letter from the late Major Norman Leckie to the late Mr Fred 



Usher, M.F.H., dated Tuesday (November or December 1897), in the 



possession of the author. In this lettter Major Leckie, who was a 



relative of the Houstoun family, states : " I know that Sir William 



Cunynghame, Bart, of Livingstone, was Master. . . . The Cunynghames 



purchased the farms of Lethem and the Craigs, between Houstoun 



& the Almond, from the Shairps in 1774, & Sir W. built kennels 



on the Midcalder road. They still bear the name of the " doghouses." 



29 



