Moffat and Upper Annandali£. 197 



during" the tack, and to leave the said mill and houses in a 

 good and suflicient habitable condition at the expiry thereof. 

 The tenants on the Thirl were to furnish thatch for the mill, 

 and all other services, use and wont, the miller on his part 

 being obliged to give due, punctual, and faithful service to 

 the Thirl. The same regulations applied also to the letting of 

 Archbank Mill. But two years afterwards both mills had 

 become so ruinous that the factor reported " that the ordinary 

 repairs which the tenants were bound to make by the tacks 

 were no longer sufficient to preserve them;" and the mills 

 were rebuilt in a substantial manner with slate roofs. 



Dr Hunter succeeded a Mr William Murray in the tenancy 

 of Archbank and Clairfoot. The latter was one of the Murrays 

 belonging to the Granton family, and in the churchyard there 

 are three stones, lying flat on the ground, commemorating 

 the family. His one reads : — " William Murray, formerly of 

 Clairfoot, and Catherine, his spouse, both died anno dom 

 1759; she, Nov. 6; he, Dec. 4. 



" Here lies the man. The woman here 

 Their mutual lo\e so passing dear. 

 When down she in the grave did lie 

 Here he reclines of sympathy." 



When the town of Moffat had been originally laid out 

 about one-third was feued to a few individuals, the ground 

 allotted to each being a considerable quantity. In the plan of 

 the town prepared by Messrs Tait in 1758 these feus are shown 

 and described as : — Bernard Dickson's (2 feus), Wamphrays, 

 Kate Boyd's, Rob o' Corheads, Bells (3 feus), Craiglands, 

 Moffats (3 feus). Provosts Merkland, Frenches, Aitchison, 

 Blacklocks, Martins, Townfoot feu and Townhead feu. All 

 the ground not comprised in these feus was in the hands of 

 the Marquis. The lands feued had a certain number of houses 

 belonging to them, and the principal feuars " subsett some of 

 the land and most or all of the houses (they having better of 

 their own) to the meaner or poorer people, and it was found 

 they drew sometimes as much rent for the houses alone as they 

 paid for both house and lands, and yet they were at no expense 

 in repair, which they burdened the possessors with." 



