HALLDYKES AND THE HERRIES FAMILY. 115 
Halldykes and the Herries Family. 
By Davin C. HErRRIEs. 
On high ground a mile or so north-east of Lockerbie 
stands the plain little whitewashed house of Halldykes, 
flanked on either side by its stables and byre, with a weather- 
beaten avenue of beech trees stretching away in front. Now 
a mere farmhouse, it was once larger, with a wing on each 
side; on the sill of the window over the porch is cut R.H. 
mpccxxtl. M.J.—the date of its building and the initials of its 
then owners, Robert Herries and his wife, Mary Johnstone. 
A room to the right of the porch is handsomely panelled in 
oak, and over it is another, also oak panelled, the windows 
of which command a wide view southward, ranging from 
Birrenswark Hill on the left to Criffel on the right with 
Skiddaw in between in the far distance. Halldykes once 
formed part of a property called Little Hutton, the history of 
which from 1644 to 1803 it is proposed to relate here, with 
the help of an inventory of its title deeds made in 1751, the 
Edinburgh General and Dumfries Particular Registers of 
Sasines, and other evidence.! 
According to the inventory of 1751,? the Steel family of 
Brierhill obtained in 1644 from James (Murray), 2nd Earl of 
Annandale, a charter (following upon a contract of wadset) 
of the 10 pound land of Little Hutton,’ ‘‘ comprehending 
therein the 9 merk land of Halldykes and Hutton Hills and the 
6 merk land of Fulldoo-s,’’ in the parish of Dryfesdale and 
1 All unpublished family papers quoted here—such as the in- 
ventory, a rent-roll, etc., etc.—are in the possession of Mr R. S. 
Herries of St. Julians, Kent, the present writer’s brother. 
2 See, too, R.M.S., 1634-1651, No. 1564. 
3 Little Hutton belonged in 1632 to John, 7th Lord Herries, 
and probably was included in a Crown grant of the 20 pound land 
of Hutton in Annandale, on his resignation, to Sir Richard Murray 
in 1633. On Sir Richard’s death Hutton passed to certain nieces 
of his, and on their resignation in 1643 to their cousin, James, 2nd 
Earl of Annandale, from whom ‘he Steels derived their right to 
Little Hutton in 1644. (Sec #.M.S., 1620-1633, No. 2121; 
1634-1651, Nos. 441, 1450; Dumfries Retours, Nos. 163, 164.) 
