The Edgars of Wedderlie. By Rev. J. PL Edgar. 167 



acres of the territory of Wedderlie to the monks of Kelso, is 

 witnessed by Sir Patrick Edgar (Chartulary of Kelso.) In the 

 next generation, Sir Eichard Edgar, who is the assumed son 

 of Sir Patrick appears as the first Edgar of Wedderlie. It is 

 impossible to trace how Wedderlie passed from the Polwarths to 

 the Edgars ; but an ingenious conjecture has been put forward 

 by Major Archer, which seems not improbable. Sir Patrick 

 Edgar married Mariota, the widow of William de Home. Now 

 the Homes as well as the Polwarths owned at this time certain 

 lands in the parish of Wedderlie : and it is not improbable that 

 Mariota de Home, a Home by marriage, was a Polwarth by birth, 

 and that through her, Wedderlie passed to Sir Eichard Edgar, 

 who is stated to have possessed Wedderlie in the next generation. 



Somewhere then about 1327, when Sir Eichard Edgar was in 

 possession, Wedderlie passed into the hands of the Edgars, with 

 whom it remained without intermission for a period of at least 

 406 years; until, in 1733, it was sold by John Edgar, the then 

 Laird, to Lord Blantyre. 



Sir Eichard Edgar, the first of Wedderlie, was a notable person, 

 and held a conspicuous position about the court of King Eobert 

 the Bruce. He was one of the witnesses of that king's second 

 marriage. He himself married the elder daughter and co-heiress 

 of Eobert de Eos, Lord of Sanquhar ; and he was confirmed by 

 Bruce in the moiety of that Barony, including the castle itself of 

 Sanquhar. One of his sons, Donald, was placed by David Bruce 

 at the head of the clan McGowan in Nithsdale. 



Sir Eichard's eldest son settling in Nithsdale, Wedderlie was 

 given by Sir Eichard to a younger son, Eobert, who bequeathed 

 it in due time to his son John, and so it passed on from one 

 Edgar to another until its sale in 1733. 



In 1684 John Edgar of Wedderlie sat in Parliament for 

 Berwickshire, Edward Edgar for Edinburgh in 1640, and Alex- 

 ander Edgar for Haddington, 1696-1707. 



Nesbit describes the arms of the family of Edgar cut on a 

 stone on the house of Wedderlie as a lion rampant quartering 

 three water bougets for Eos of Sanquhar, supported by two grey- 

 hounds : and for crest a dexter hand holding a dagger point 

 downwards with the motto, "Man (maun) do it," and on a com- 

 partment below, " Salutem disponit Deus." 



The origin and meaning of the phrase "Man do it" is 

 unknown. Probably it is the Scotch equivalent to "Noblesse 



