Topography oi- DuMFuiiiS. 209 



145'2-3) precedes the Papal Dispensation for his marriage (26tli 

 February, 1452-3). 



70 Re,,. Miuj. Siij., 1424-1513, Nos. 309, 467, 471. 



71 Transunipt in the Charter Room, Burgh of Dumfries. The 

 document is too long to quote in full. 



71a Vidt Transactions D. tO (.'. N. II. A- A. >SV-., 3rd Ser., 

 i., p. 308. The Sandbods Mill had been acquired by the town from 

 John Maxwell of Gribton on 25th October, 1630. It had been 

 purchased by William Lord Herries (10th November, 1589) from Mr 

 Thomas Maxwell, the last Vicar of Dumfries, who had sasinc of it 

 on 20th March, 1588. James Barbour imagined it to be a part of 

 the Vicarage of Dumfries, because it was in the possession of the 

 Vicar. The original disposition by the Burgh to Thom Cunning- 

 ham in 1522 entirely disposes of this supposition. On 3rd May, 

 1686, the Council recommended that the Sandbed Mill, which had 

 become ruinous, should be removed, and " with the stones in the 

 call " be reconstructed as a horse-mill, which was erected at 

 Brewery Street, "and that she be no more ano wator miln." On 

 19th July thereafter it was ordered to be taken down. 



71b In a rent roll of the Burgh circa 1548 api>ears the entry, 

 " Lord Maxwellis new howss in toneheid." For this the feu duty 

 charged is " 40d." If we may estimate the size of a property from 

 the amount of feu duty, Lord ^Maxwell's was not the most extensive 

 in the town, others being charged 6s 8d, 4s 2d, and 40d. The New 

 Wark is charged 2s, and other tenements range downwards to 4d. 

 In June, 1551, Robert Lord Maxwell added to his property by the 

 purchase of 2^ roods of the adjacent Friary land. In March, 1562, 

 Lord Maxwell was not in occupation, for in M'Brair's service " Lord 

 Maxwell's new bigging " is mentioned and another tenement " occu- 

 pied be my lord Maxwell and his tutor for the tyme." This may 

 indicate rebuilding. The house, now also " the castle," was thrown 

 down by Sussex in 1570. It was rebuilt on an extended scale, Lord 

 Maxwell probably purchasing the stonework of the Friary for this 

 purpose. He certainly acquired the " zard and kirksted " in 1569, 

 which appears to be the graveyard (remains have been found in 

 Castle Street and towards Burns Statue), and the site of the Chiu'ch. 

 Edgar's statement and description is as follows: — "The old Fran- 

 ciscan Church which stood on the place where there is now a bowling 

 green, which was formerly a part of the Garden belong[ing] to the 

 Great house or Castle built by John Earl of Nithsdale [Sth Lord 

 Maxwell] and Elizabeth Douglas, his Lady, anno 1572. [The Earl 

 petitioned] the Parliament or Privy Council of S[rotland] in the 

 minority of James the 6th to demolish the old Convent and erect 

 this great hou.se with many office houses and enclose with a stone 

 dyke as much ground (as yet appears in a Garden, which was for- 

 merly a kirkyeaid or Burying place) as a decorment of the Town and 

 to be a prison for the Border Thieves . . this Lord being Warden 

 of the Borders. In which Tenement were four large Vaults with 



