Notes on Yarrow. By James Hardy. 40 1 



husband calling in a Doctor, who on coming into the room asked what she 

 complained of, to which she replied ' it is only a weed.' ' A weed !' said 

 he, ' did she di-iuk it ?' ' No, no, it is an onfa.' This puzzled him still 

 more, and he thought her delirious till her brother, Mungo Park, explained 

 to him the meaning, — a one day's fever. Miss Bell Park, the youngest of 

 the three, kept house for her brother Archie at Hartwoodmyres, till he 

 married Margaret Lang (my aunt), after which they removed to Lewinshope. 

 In consequence of heavy losses by his brother Alexander, Archie became 

 bankrupt, but through the interest of Sir Walter Scott he got an appoint- 

 ment in Mull. There his wife died, and he did not long survive her. Bell 

 Park married 1st — Mr John Anderson, uncle of the present Dr. Anderson. 

 After his death she married Mr Buchanan, a lawyer in Glasgow, and 3rd — 

 she married Mr Dalgleish, a leading man in Glasgow. Mrs Laidlaw, Peel, 

 was Margaret Sibbald, sister to Mrs Lang (my grandmother), the mother 

 of Margaret Lang, who married Archie Park. Mungo Park of Tobermory 

 was their son." 



6. Deuchar Bridge. 



I have again recourse to Mr Currie's guidance. " At Deuchar, 

 according to the tradition of the district, there was once a castle, 

 the site of which cannot now be identified, and on the same 

 authority, the highway to Edinburgh went up Deuchar burn — 

 over Deuchar hill and Minchmoor to Traquair. The old bridge 

 here of two Gothic arches is now a ruin. In my recollection 

 about 50 years ago it was entire, and at that time was the only 

 bridge for church-goers and the public from Ettrick and the 

 south of Yarrow parish by the road over Kershope-swire. This 

 bridge I consider to belong to the 13th or 1 4th century, and it 

 was similar in many respects to others of the same type built at 

 the subjugation of the country by Edward I. Its roadway was 

 only 12 feet wide, and rose and fell at the apex of the arch. I 

 have examined several bridges of this period — those of Stirling, 

 Ayr, and Twizel— the last is the finest by far with a narrow 

 roadway of 13 feet. All of them have been very carefully and 

 strongly constructed and founded, with hot lime poured in as the 

 structures were built up, and when finished forming like con- 

 crete a solid mass ; hence their great endurance through the tear 

 and wear of centuries to the present day." 



What bridge across the Yarrow referred to in the following 

 entry in the town books of Peebles was then constructing, I can- 

 not say ; perhaps by way of Mont Benger and Eldinshope : 

 ** June 27th 1663. Upon the humble desire of Patrick Scott of 

 Thirlstane, to have ane brig across the Yarrow, the magistrates 

 of Peebles ordain all in the town who have horses, shall send the 



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