Dr. John Stuart on the History of Dunbar. 429 



the latter naturally grew up under the shelter of the former, 

 and that for several centuries the town was not a burgh of 

 the King, but of the Earls of Dunbar and March. In the 

 year 1369, King David II. granted to the Earl of March the 

 right of having a free burgh at Dunbar, and free burgesses 

 dwelling in the same, who should have the right of buying 

 and selling skins, wool, hides, and other merchandise, to- 

 gether with a tree port at Belhaven, and all the liberties and 

 advantages which belonged to a free burgh and harbour. 

 The burgesses of Dunbar were also appointed collectors of 

 the King's Customs within the bounds of the burgh and 

 harbour, and the boundary of the burgh was declared to be 

 co-extensive with the Earldom of March. It does not 

 appear when Dunbar was first erected into a Royal burgh, 

 but a Commissioner from Dunbar first appears in the rolls of 

 Parliament in the year 1469. 



In the year 1618, King James VI. granted to the burgh a 

 charter of confirmation, in which it is declared that its 

 boundaries are the Earldom of March and Lordship of Dun- 

 bar, and the Baronies of Coldingham, Mordingtoun, Buncle, 

 Langtoun, Inner wick, and Stenton. This boundary of 

 course referred to the district within which the burgh had 

 the exclusive privilege of trading. 



