4G0 Notes on Branxholme. By VV. Eliott Lockhart. 



suppress these outrages. 1 In 1650, Buccleuch received a com- 

 ruissiou for burning of witches at Eckford, and in the Buccleuch 

 Chamberlain's accounts there is the following entry " Paid for a 

 commissioun for burneing of witches in Eekfurd £10. 3 scots." 2 

 An instrument called the " branks," which in those days of cruel 

 superstition was sometimes placed over the head to stifle the 

 cries of the victim, is preserved at Dalkeith House ; having been 

 found in the foundation stone of a former church at Glenbervie. 3 



During the troublous times of 1650, and after the battle of 

 Dunbar, the Euglish forces under Cromwell took possession of 

 the Castles of Newark and Dalkeith; Dalkeith Castle being 

 given up for the residence of the Euglish commissioners. 4 



In the autumn of 1651, the Earl of Buccleuch was residing at 

 Branxholme, as on hearing that, owing to the disturbed state of 

 the country, the farmers in the Lothians intended to delay 

 cultivating their farms, ho wrote the following letter to his 

 Bailiff at Dalkeith. 



' Robert Mitchelsone, (Bailiff of Dalkeith) " My wyffe shows nice that yce 

 haue told her of the course the tenents off Lothiane mynds to take in 

 setting- (lettingr) ther maister's lands lye. Yow sail therfor show my 

 tenents in Dalkeith if they will labor my land still they sail find als much 

 fa nor off mee as any tenents in Lothiane sail gett from theer maister, so 

 remitting this to your caire, I rest, Your assured Friend, 



Branxholme, Oct. lltk 165k 5 Buccleuche. 



Erancis, second Earl of Buccleuch, died at Dalkeith, 22nd Nov. 

 1651, and was buried there ; his many excellent qualities having 

 earned him the name of the " Good Earl Francis." 6 



There is no record of Anna, Duchess of Buccleuch and Mon- 

 mouth, having resided at Branxholme ; though in the Sederunt 

 book of the setting of the Buccleuch lands at Hawick, in April 

 1702, her name is signed as having been present at all the 

 Sederunts. 7 



The appended map, kindly taken for me by Mr Clias. A. M. 

 Buck, Surveyor to the Duke of Buccleuch, Hawick, (from Pont's 

 Map prepared for Blaeu's Atlas, published at Amsterdam in 



1 Scott* of Buccleuch, I,, pp. 310-11 ; II., pp. 283-7. 



Ibid. 



p. 311. 



Ibid. 



p. 311. 



Ibid. 



p. 301. 



Ibid. 



p. 302 (fr. original in Buccleuch Charter Room.) 



ibid. 



pp. 314-5 



Ibid. 



p. 470. 



