On Bonchester, Rule Water. By Walter Deans. 101 



surrounding bent. The road passed Braidhaugh and entered the 

 mill plantation, where it is worn out into a deep " seugh," and 

 is distinctly seen. 



WESTWOOD. 



Westwood was a small estate on the south-west slope of Bon- 

 chester hill. The site of the place is now unknown. The 

 materials have all been removed within the last century, and the 

 plough has long passed over the foundations. At the division of 

 the Mackside Common iu 1696, Westwood is mentioned as being 

 near the old Jedburgh road to the upper part of the Rule valley, 

 which at that period went by the south side of Bonchester hill, 

 and entered the Eule at a place called Black -cleugh Mouth. 

 The road was named in the old deed of Marching as the " hie 

 gait Street to Jedburgh." It was by this road that the poet 

 Burns, in 1787 travelled from Wells on Eule to Wauchope. On 

 his route, he states that he traversed " the country to the top of 

 Bochester, the scene of an old encampment." This he could 

 easily do, as it is less than five minutes ride off the road. 



Westwood was on the line of march of Prince Charlie and his 

 Highlanders towards England ; and a rising ground used once 

 to be pointed out, but is now forgotten, called the Prince's 

 Knowe, where he is said to have halted. 



In 1642, Westwood belonged to a family of the Turnbulls. At 

 that period Thomas and Harie Turnbull were lairds of Westwood, 

 who appear to have had separate properties ; Thomas's valuation 

 being 40 pounds Scots, and the valuation of Harie's only 10 

 pounds. The estates were in the parish of Abbotrule, and 

 occupied the sunny side of the hill, where the land is good and the 

 pasture sweet. In the criminal records of the period, the Turn- 

 bulls of Westwood are an exception from many of the clan, for 

 their name does not appear at any of the Justice Ay res. Their 

 descendants cannot now be traced, and the lands that they held 

 are now absorbed in the estates of Abbotrule and Wolfelee. 



