450 Notes on Branxholme. By W. Eliott Lockhart. 



left the hole force of owr footmen besyd Hawyke. Sir J. Forster went 

 with hys horsmen too burne the townes and vyllages adjoynynge ; and my 

 L. I ieut. and I, with serten bands of horsmen only went to Branksam, 

 Bakklews prynoypale howse, which we foad burnt to owr hand by 

 hymselfe, as cruelly as ourselves cowld have burnt ytt. But my L. Lieut, 

 thynkynge that not suffycyent, fyndyng one lyttell vawte yn ytt wheryn 

 was no fyer, he cawysd powder too be sett, and so blew up the one halfe 

 from the other. Yt was a very stronge howse, and well sett ; and very 

 plesant gardens and orchards abowt ytt, an 1 well kept ; but all destroyd. 

 Thvs beynor dune, my Lo. sent Sir John Forster with all hys horsmen 

 to burne and spoyle on the left hand of us ; and he aud 1 returned too the 

 men, and somarchyd too Gedworth, wher Sir John Forster mett usagayne." 1 



Sir William Cecill, writing from Hampton Court on 4th May 

 1570, to Sir Henry Noma, Ambassador with the French king, 

 enclosed "A Note of a journey into Tividale by the Earl of 

 Sussex, Her Majesty's Lieutenant in the North, begun the 

 17th of April 1570, and ending the 22nd of the same :" but the 

 particulars are merely taken from the letters alreadj' quoted. 2 



There is also a short account of this invasion, in Stowes' 

 Annales ; 3 and in a letter from Sir Eobert Constable to the Earl of 

 Shrewsbury : 4 but in neither case are any further details given. 



Sir Walter Scott took an active part, with others of Queen 

 Mary's friends, in attempting to surprise the Parliament sitting 

 at Stirling : the attempt failed, and he found himself a prisoner. 5 

 He was shortly after released, and took part with Fernieherst, in 

 an attack on Jedburgh, in revenge for the maltreatment of a 

 herald who had been sent to make a proclamation. They were 

 however defeated with considerable loss. Sir Walter was warded 

 in Doune Castie ; but in July 1572, he was released from ward 

 by the Regent till 1st August, to arrange his family affairs. 6 



On the withdrawal of the English from Scotland, he began to 

 rebuild Branxholme on 24th March 1570. The work was not 

 completed on his death, at Branxholme, on 1 7th April 1574 ; but 



1 Both the foregoing letters are given in full in Sir Cuthbert Sharp's 

 Memorials of the Rebellion, 1569, pp. 234-7 ; also in Hawick and the 

 Border 300 years ago, by Mrs Oliver, pp. 52-63 ; Cal. State Papers, Foreign 

 Series. Eliz. p. 228, Nos. 841, 844. 



2 Cabala, p. 163. The note is also given in full in Bord. Antiq., App. v. 



3 Stowe's Annales, p. 669. 



4 Lodge's Illustrations of British Hist., vol. n.. p. 42 (from Talbot 

 Papers, vol. e., p. 145.) 



5 Scotts of Buccleuch, i., pp. 156-7 (from Calderwood's Hist, in., p. 113.) 



6 Ibid. p. 157. 



