354 Mr. Jeffrey 07i JedhurgTi. 



bolls of wheat ; 23 ch alders of barley ; 36 chalders, 13 bolls, 

 1 firlot, and 1 peck of meal. The Kers of Ferneherst were 

 bailies of the canons of the abbey, and in 1587 the king 

 granted to Sir Andrew Ker the bailary of the lands and 

 baronies of the monastery. In 1622 James VI. converted the 

 estates of the abbey into a lordship for Sir Andrew Ker un- 

 der the title of Lord Jedburgh. The Marquis of Lothian 

 now possesses the lands. 



Owing it is supposed to the devastations of "^ our old ene- 

 mies the Englishj'^ there are no books or papers of any 

 kind relating to the monastery, at least none have as yet been 

 discovered. The history of the house has to be gleaned from 

 the records of other houses, and the charters of the kings and 

 other benefactors of the canons. The abbot must also have 

 been the custodier of the titles of the nobility, as occasionally 

 receipts are met with on depositing of writs in his hands for 

 safe custody. The names of the abbots so far as known 

 were :— Osbert 1150—1174, Richard 1174—1192, Ralph 

 1192—1205, Hugh 1205, Henry 1239, Philip 1239—1249, 

 Robert de Gyeslaw 1249—1249, Nicholas 1249—1275, 

 John Morel 1275, William 1314, Robert 1322, John 1338, 

 Robert "1358, Walter 1444, Robert 1473, John Hall 1478, 

 Thomas 1493, Henry 1507—1511, John Home 1513. 



In walking up the Jed the club will arrive at the Capon 

 tree, a large oak on the banks of the river, and su^iposed to 

 be the last remnant of the giants of Jed forest. The land 

 on which the tree stands formerly belonged to the abbey, and 

 was called Priorshaugh. It is thought that the name is de- 

 rived from its remarkable resemblance to the hood worn by 

 the monks, and was called a capon. The tree measures 21 

 feet above the roots ; about 10 feet up it divides itself into 

 two branches, which measure respectively 11^ feet and 14 

 feet. It is about 80 feet high and covers fully an area of the 

 diameter of 92 feet. It is impossible to fix the age of this 

 beautiful tree, but if I were to hazard an opinion it would be, 

 that the tree is upwards of 600 years old. The king of the 

 wood — another large oak — stands on the top of the bank to 

 the south of the Capon tree, and rears its spiral top to the 

 height of 80 feet. Its girth is 18 feet at the root, and at 15 

 feet high, llf. Both trees belong to the Marquis of Lothian, 

 who is adopting means to preserve the existence of the Capon 

 tree. The trees are figured in Gilpin's forest scenery. 



A short distance from the Capon tree is Lyntalee, the 

 place selected by the good Sir James Douglas as his strong- 



