Notes on Maxton, by the Rev. M. H. Graham. 217 



Howick, are seen very near to the Whin Sill ; and with the 

 exception of one, that of Brunton, all run in a direction 

 transverse to that of the range of the Sill ; those in the 

 northern part of the country run from W. by S. to E. by N., 

 and those further southward have a direction either from 

 west to east, or from north west to south east ; and this is 

 in accordance with the theoretical deduction of Hopkins, 

 who has shewn that minor fissures are formed transverse to 

 the chief line of fracture. The great strain from N.N.E. to 

 S.S.W. which resulted in the eruption of the Whin Sill, 

 would, therefore, form the transverse fissures which were 

 subsequently filled with basalt. The section at the Harkar 

 rocks near Bamburgh shows that one basaltic dyke at least is 

 more recent than the Sill — which has been broken through, 

 and slopes away on both sides from the axis of the dis- 

 turbance. 



Notes on Maxton (read at the Manse of Maxton). By the 

 Rev. M. H. Graham. 



The Maxtonians are, in some respects, a peculiar people. 

 Possessing almost none of those luxuries of modern civiliza- 

 tion, which are commonly accounted positively vital, they are 

 yet a healthy, and a contented, and a prosperous race. We 

 have no baker and no butcher — no tailor and no shoemaker 

 — no policeman and no doctor — no druggist's shop and no 

 dissenting chapel; — but, it is only fair to add, that we possess 

 one public house, a turnpike gate, and a perfectly sober 

 beadle. 



The name of the parish, as every body knows, owes its 

 origin to a gentleman named Maccus, an early Saxon settler, 

 who, in the days of David I., possessed the lands around us as 

 his manor or ton. Hence Maccus-ton, Macciston, and then 

 Maxton, without the final e. 



This Maccus seems to have been a somewhat notable 

 person, for his name appears as witnessing many important 

 documents, such as the Inquisitio Davidis of 1116,- the founda- 

 tion charter of Selkirk ; the Melrose charter of David I., and 

 some others. From Maccus are descended the numerous and 

 not undistinguished branches of the family of Maxwell. The 



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