REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1908 243 



Ednem in 1729," and a paten, all of pewter; a volume of 

 Kirk Session records, beautifully written, containing an account 

 of the visitation of the parish by the Presbytery in 1693, 

 when orders were given for the repair of the Manse and 

 the Church ; two volumes of Presbytery records, the oldest 

 of which dated from 1609 ; and a painting in miniature of 

 the poet Thomson, framed in a wooden case bearing the 

 following dedication — " Presented to the Ednam Club by the 

 Earl of Buchan, 22nd Sep. 1818." A copy of the " Breeches " 

 Bible, printed at Amsterdam, " according to the copy printed 

 at Edinburgh by Andrew Hart in the year 1610," the 

 property of the minister, was also examined with interest. 

 On entering the churchyard attention was directed to the 

 burying-place of the family of Edmonstoune, who for nearly 

 four centuries owned the lands of Ednam. The property 

 came into their hands through the marriage in 1392 of John 

 of that ilk to Isabel, daughter of King Eobert III., who on 

 the death of her first husband. Earl Douglas, in 1388, con- 

 firmed his original deed of gift by declaring in his charter, 

 that the lands of Ednam with all rights of patronage in the 

 church and hospital of that name were bestowed upon them 

 both. Seventeen members of this ancient house succeeded to 

 the patrimony, and only in 1761 were they dispossessed 

 through its purchase by James Dickson, who vpas connected 

 with the Navy, and is locally remembered as having intro- 

 duced horse-racing into the neighbourhood. Still later it was 

 acquired by Sir Richard Waldie Griffith, whose active interest 

 in parochial matters is evidenced by his liberal support of 

 the recent scheme of church-renovation, and handsome 

 enlargement of the churchyard. The Church has undergone 

 many alterations since its earliest record, namely 1633, when 

 a case was tried in court respecting the choir, and it was 

 ordained that the parish minister, or person in right to the 

 teinds, should carry out repairs on it, while the heritors 

 should restore the rest of the building. In 1759 the minister 

 reported that it was in a ruinous condition, and the Presbytery 

 ordained that a place of worship should be erected on the 

 old site ; but owing to disagreement with the heritors the 

 site selected was a field overlooking the Eden between 

 Cliftonhill and the village. Being of a flimsy character it 



