96 On Chimside Parish : the Estate of Edington. 



" Edington, or Idington, of that ilk, were chiefs of the name. 

 Arms, azure, three savage heads couped, argent. Thomas 

 Edington de eodem before 1465, was one of the jury on service 

 of Alexander Home in 1505. His grandson, John Idington, 

 married Beatrix Home, 1518, whose son, David Edington, is 

 mentioned in 1532-1575. His brother, Thomas Edington (1591), 

 sold the estate to George Ramsay of Dalhousie, in 1593. His 

 eon, John Ramsay, married Giles Kello, 1627. His son, George 

 Ramsay, married. Margaret Seaton, 1644. His son, William 

 Eamsay, sold the estate in 1690 to John Lauder, merchant in 

 Edinburgh. He married Margaret Ramsay, and had two 

 daughters, Margaret and Elizabeth, who sold the estate to John 

 Fairholme of Roberton in 1714. He sold it in 1718 to William 

 Hay of Drummelzier, who left it to his second son, William Hay, 

 who was killed at the battle of Forgan in 1718, and was suc- 

 ceeded by his brother, Alexander of Drummelzier, in whose family 

 it continues." [The termination of the Edington race is uncer- 

 tain. One of the name held Claribad. David Edingtoune was 

 a commander of troops in Sweden under the great Gustavus 

 (1632 ?)*. It is still a Berwickshire surname. In 1563 we read 

 of one John Edington, " commonly called the Liar, as he was 

 always the messenger of strange news, which was commonly false." 

 He was surprised, along with other associates in a strange con- 

 spiracy for robbing David Hume of Wedderburn, of the tiends of 

 KLelloe, and " hid himself in the aumry of a poor old woman, 

 from whence he was drawn, to the diversion of his enemies and 

 his own great terror." t] 



The barony of Edington was, by charter of date 2nd May, 

 1593-4, granted to Lord George Ramsay, of Dalhousie. It 

 was afterwards confirmed to his son, 10th December, 1613 j. 



[It is recorded of John Ramsay, that on the 4th June, 1634, 

 " the Lord Advocate, and Home of Aytoun and John Ramsay of 

 Edintoun, his informers,'' pursued " Elizabeth Bathgate, spouse 

 to Alexander Pae, a maltsman in Eyemouth, for sorcerie." 

 There were no less than seventeen charges against her, but the 

 prosecution collapsed §. George Ramsay of Idington, who lived 

 in the reign of Charles II , was a notable man, and suffered for 

 his opinions, which were not of the court fashion, but those of the 

 persecuted Covenanters. In 1661 he was appointed one of the 

 Commissioners of Excise for the shire of Berwick ||. On July 28, 

 1681, he was one of the two M P.s for Berwickshire. It was a 

 disputed election, the claimant in opposition to him boing Home 



* Grant's " Memoirs of SSir John Hepburn," p. 257. 



+ Extract from Godscroft's MS. " History of the Homes." 



% "Mag. Sigil.," 1., lvii., No. 86. 



§ " Spottiswoode Miscellany," ii.. p. 64—66. 



|| « Laws and Acts of 1st Pad. Chas II.," Edin., 1673, p. 36 



