Mr. G. Turnbull on Edin's Hall. 17 



the real purpose of the building can be shown to be different 

 from them all. 



Is a palace of Edwin. — The most probable account of the ori- 

 gin of Edin's Hall is, that it was erected as a palace for Edwin 

 king of Northumbria, who reigned between the years 617 and 

 633. The evidence in favour of this proposition shall be detailed. 



Lies within his kingdom. — It is now generally admitted by 

 historians that the south-eastern part of Scotland, that is, the 

 district between the Firth of Forth and the Tweed, was included 

 in the ancient kingdom of Northumbria*. Hence Edin's Hall 

 was situated within that kingdom. Indeed, an ancient historian 

 states that the country watered by the Whitadder, the very river 

 on whose banks the hall of Edwin stood, formed part of the 

 bishopric of Lindisfarne when it was presided over by the cele- 

 brated St. Cuthbert, and which was then situated within the 

 territory of the Saxons f. St. Cuthbert nourished only about 

 fifty years after Edwin. 



Bears his name.- — While Edin's Hall was thus situated within 

 the territory subject to Edwin, it further bears his name. In 

 the compound word Edinshall, Edin is evidently used as a 



* The authority for this statement may be shortly mentioned. Bede 

 says that the monastery of Abercurnig lay two miles distant from the Ro- 

 man wall which joined the Firths of Clyde and Forth (Beda, Eccles. Hist. 

 B. i. c. 12). And in another place the same author expressly states that 

 the monastery of Abercurnig was " seated in the country of the English, 

 but close by the arm of the sea which parts the lands of the English and 

 the Scots " — " posito in regione Anglorum, sed in vicinia freti quod An-~ 

 glorum terras Pictorumque disterminat " (Beda, B. iv. c. 26). Hence the 

 country of the English or Northumbria was bounded by the Firth of Forth. 

 The place called Abercurnig by Bede is the modern Abercorn. 



t " Hie est Lindisfarnensis terrse terminus : a fluvio Tweoda usque ad 

 Pharnamuthe, (Warrenmouth ?) et inde superius usque ad ilium locum ubi 

 haec aqua quae vocatur Pharned (Warren?) oritur juxta montem Hybbern- 

 dune, (Hebburnbell?) et ab illo monte usque ad fluvium qui vocatur Bro- 

 mic, (Bremish?) et inde usque ad fluvium qui vocatur Till, et tota terra 

 quae jacet ex utraque parte ipsius fluminis Bromic usque ad ilium locum 

 ubi oritur ; et ilia terra ultra Tweoda ab illo loco ubi oritur fluvius Edree 

 (Whitadder) ab aquilone usque ad ilium locum ubi cadit in Tweoda, et 

 tota terra quae jacet inter istum fluvium Edrae et alteram fluvium qui vo- 

 catur Leder (Leader) versus occidentem, et tota terra quae jacet ex orien- 

 tali parte istius aquae quae vocatur Leder usque ad ilium locum ubi cadit 

 in fluvium Tweoda versus austram ; et tota terra quae pertinet ad monas- 

 terium Sancti Balthere quod vocatur Tmningaham a Lombermore (Lam- 

 mermoor) usque ad Escemuthe (Eskmouth, Inveresk)." (Twysden's Scrip- 

 tores Decern — Historia de Sancto Cuthberto, col. 68.) The river called Edra 

 in this quotation can be no other than that which flows into the Tweed 

 near Paxton. Hence are derived the names of places on its banks — Edra- 

 tun (Edrington) and Edra-ham (Edrom). Hence also its principal tribu- 

 tary, which is of a dark colour, being impregnated with moss, is called 

 Black-edra (Blackadder), and hence too, in order to contradistinguish this 

 branch from the main stream, the latter is called White-edra (Whitadder). 



B.N.C. — VOL. III. N° I. C 



