294 An Account of Simprin, Berwickshire, by Jas. Hardy. 



the circumstance that, in 1246, the body of Henry de Balliol, 

 Lord of Eeidcastle, and Lord Chamberlain of Scotland, was re- 

 moved from St. James', " and honourably buried in the chapter- 

 house of Melrose." (Chronicle of Melrose, by Stevenson, pp. 124, 

 203). In 1426, the church of St. James was brought into so 

 ruinous a condition by the war, that divine service could be no 

 longer performed there. (Morton's Teviotdale, p. 112) ]. 



An Account of Simprin, Berwickshire. By James Hardy. 



The most probable conjecture of the origin of the name of 

 Simprin, is that of Chalmers, Caled. ii., p. 360. ; viz., that it is a 

 patronymic from Simpring or Sempring, the name of the person 

 whose settlement it was. This agrees with Kemble,* that the 

 nomenclature of Sempringham, in Lincolnshire, indicates the 

 mark of the family of the Sempringas. This marie is explained 

 as being "the plot of land on which a greater or less body of 

 free men had settled for purposes of cultivation, and for the sake 

 of mutual profit and protection ; and it comprised a portion both 

 of arable land and pasture, in proportion to the numbers that en- 

 joyed its produce."! 



In the reign of Malcolm IV., Hye de Symprinc, who, however, 

 must have been cotemporary with David I., was lord of the 

 manor, and possessed of the adv'owson of its church. He then, 

 in presence, and with consent of his son Peter, gave the church 

 of Symprinc to the monks of Kelso, with toft and croft, and 

 eighteen acres of land, reserving the right of Thor, archdeacon 

 of Lothian, to enjoy the revenues of the church during his life- 

 time. Malcolm's confirmatory charter is dated at Roxburgh in 

 1159, six years after he came to the throne 4 Peter confirmed 

 his father's liberalities, which were also approved by William the 

 Lion ; and the entire grants were confirmed by Eoger, who was 

 bishop of St. Andrews from 1188 to 1202. About 1248, a Sir P. 

 de Symprym witnessed a charter of Patrick Dunbar, son of 



* The Saxons in England, ii., p. 472. t Ibid, i., pp. 36-37. 



% Morton's Mon. Ann. Teviotdale, pp. 156, 160. 



