Mr. A. Jeffrey on Ancrum. 129 



John of Jerusalem. The poet of Teviotdale (Leyden) re- 

 ferring to these ruins, sings : — 



" Where Alna bursting from her moorish springs, 

 O'er many a cliflT, her smoking torrent flings ; 

 And broad from bank to bank the shadows fall 

 From every Gothic turret's mouldering wall ; 

 Each ivied spire and sculpture fretted court, 

 Where plumy templars held their gay resort. 

 Spread their cross banners in the sun to shine, 

 And called green Teviot's youth to Palestine." 



But the truth is the Hospitallers had no property in this 

 locality. What was taken for the ruins of the building of 

 the Knights of Malta was the palace of the Bishops of Glas- 

 gow. The ruins of the building were to be seen within these 

 few years. A number of the houses of Ancrum have been in 

 part built out of these remains. The foundations of the 

 building may still be traced in a field on the east of Ancrum, 

 and to the north of the public road from the bridge over the 

 Alne to the village. 



William de Bondington, one of the Chancellors of Scotland 

 who succeeded to the Bishopric of Glasgow in 1233, and is 

 said to have been a native of the Borders, lived much at 

 Ancrum, where he died in 1258, and was interred in the 

 Abbey of Melros, near the high altar. Item venerabilis 

 pater noster Willelmus episcopus Glasguensis migravit ex 

 hoc seculo m vigilia Sancti Martini (Nov. 10) et in die 

 Sancti Bricii (Nov. 13) apud Melros juxta magnum altar e 

 sepelitur* At that time Ancrum was celebrated for its 

 beautiful gardens, and it has not yet lost the character it 

 bore in the beginning of the thirteenth century. The House 

 of Ancrum or Palace had a grant of Peatery, in perpetuum, 

 from Burnard of Faringdune, out of his two mosses at that 

 place. On the granting of the deed, Burnard swore on the 

 evangils and the relics of the Bishop's Chapel at Ancrum, 

 that he would not challenge the grant or throw any impedi- 

 ment in the way of the servants of the Bishop taking peats 

 in terms of the gift. This deed was subscribed at Ancrum 

 House in presence of the Parson of Ancrum, who was at 

 the time. Dean of Teviotdale ; Adam and Eobert, chaplains 

 to the Bishop ; Pauline, chaplain of Faringdune ; William 

 of Avest, seneschal to the Bishop ; Warino, the butler ; Peter, 

 the dispensator ; Robert of Hertford, clerk ; Walter, the 

 treasurer ; Yvone of the chapel. Many of the charters of the 

 bishops of Glasgow are dated at Ancrum. The Chapel of the 

 Bishops adjoined the palace. The burying-ground of the chapel 



* Chron. Mail., p. 184, 



