Meetings of Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, by J. Hardy. 419 



towards Clovenfords, Ashiesteel, and Yair, the proposed places of 

 visit for the day. A large greywacke quarry cuts an extensive 

 gap into the side of Buckholm Hill, and there are more excava- 

 tions of the kind on the opposite side, beyond Torwoodlee. 

 These have supplied the stone materials for most of the build- 

 ings in the town ; the yellowish-white sandstone for public 

 edifices and villas is brought by rail from Hexham ; the red 

 sandstone, which is also largely employed, comes from Belses, in 

 Eoxburghshire. The steep hill slopes here, where the soil is 

 sufficiently deep, are carefully cultivated, and being fresh and 

 growthy yield excellent crops of grain and turnips. Great in- 

 dustry is manifested in collecting the loose stones, which are ex- 

 tremely numerous, into heaps, which dot the high fields like 

 battle-cairns. Advantage has also been taken of their prevalence 

 to erect strong and durable stone walls to subdivide the intakes. 

 The surface of these fields is very undulating and uneven. 



Buckholm farm-house, a modified peel-tower, now occupied by 

 a farm-servant, was pointed out, with its memories of a" perse- 

 cuting" laird, and his ghastly dungeon. Sir Walter Scott 

 affirms that the hilly pastures of Buckholm were famed for pro- 

 ducing the best ewe milk cheese in the South of Scotland ; and 

 Jeanie Deans offered the Duke of Argyle his choice of one of 

 these, or one of her own particular make, " which some folk 

 think as gude as the real Dunlop." (Heart of Mid Lothian.) 

 Buchelm was of old a dairy for Melrose Abbey ; by a concession 

 from Richard de Moreville, constable of Scotland, in the time of 

 William the Lion. The cow-house held sixty cows, and this 

 establishment was constructed within the enclosures that had 

 existed there previous to the grant. (Liber de Melros, No. 107). 

 Torwoodlee, a bulky square mansion, in the convenient style of 

 the end of last century, looks out from an elevation — a natural 

 terrace — surrounded by ancestral woods. A glimpse of the old 

 peel-tower of that name, and the family burying-place was 

 caught through openings among the trees, above the road. We 

 had previously passed on the high ground, on our left, the almost 

 effaced site of the fortified house of Blindlee. " Blindlee Birks " 

 are still spoken of, or simply now " The Birks." The lairds of 

 Buckholm and Blindlee were thorns in the sides of their kins- 

 men, the Pringles of Torwoodlee, who were zealous Covenanters, 

 while their selfish neighbours, with an eye to the increase of 



