Anniversary Address. 85 



So long as the sister kingdoms were distinct, the valley of 

 the Liddel offered the readiest access from the one to the other 

 through the Middle Marches. Hence the command of the 

 passage was an important object to both parties, and led 

 to the erection of several fortresses, held sometimes by English, 

 sometimes by Scottish garrisons, as either side predominated. 

 The strongest and most valuable of these was the castle at 

 Hermitage, which was long the key to that pass. The 

 other strengths were the original castle of Liddel, situated 

 at the confluence of that river with the Esk, at a spot still 

 known as " the moat ; " a second castle of Liddel on a high 

 bank overhanging the stream, a little above its junction with 

 Hermitage water, from which the old village of Castleton 

 took its name, and the castle of Clintwood or the Clints, in the 

 fork of two streamlets, forming the Boghill-burn, which falls 

 into the Liddel at Dinlabyre. 



The earliest mention of these defences on record occurs 

 early in the 12tti century. At that time a close intercourse 

 existed between England and Scotland, and many of the 

 Norman barons held land in both realms and owed allegiance 

 to both, sovereigns * Several of these were high in the favour 

 of David L, and supported his cause at the battle of the 

 Standard in 1138. Among them was Ranulph or Ralph de 

 Sulis or Soulis, of Doddington, in Northamptonshire, to 

 whom was made a grant of the valley of the Liddel, circa 

 1140-1. To secure his hold on his new possession he erected 

 the fortress at the moat, which continued to be the residence 

 of the family, until his nephew and successor of the same 

 name was murdered by his servants in 1207. This tragic 

 event probably influenced his son Fulk de Soulis in estab- 

 lishing a new residence at a wild spot on the banks of an 

 affluent of the Liddel, called the Merching-burn, where a 

 former baron, Walter de Bolbeck, had established a recluse 

 named William of Merchingleye, in a cell dedicated to St. 

 Mary, to pray for his soul and that of his wife Sybilla.f 



* Redpath's Bolder History, 295. 



t Chart, of Kelso I., 219, 264, 5, 6. The date of the endowment is not given; 

 B.N.C. — VOL. VII. NO. I. D 



