256 KEPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1908 



tained by the County Council of Berwickshire and the 

 Highway Eate of Berwick on Tweed.- As long ago as 1438 

 it was used as a first attempt at a line of demarcation, but 

 the Bounds which divide the Liberties of Berwick on Tweed 

 from Scotland, as we now have them, were finally settled 

 under King James's Charter of 1604. They extend by the 

 aforesaid road at its termination near the Tweed at 

 Gainslaw, across the Whitadder, along to a point slightly 

 South of Mordington Church, where, leaving the road and 

 diverging to the right, they pass a short distance to the 

 South of Mordington House, and then are continued, chiefly 

 as a stone dyke, in a North-Easterly direction till they cross 

 the Edinburgh post-road at Lamberton Old Toll (where the 

 Border marriages took place), and then on to the sea about 

 half a mile North of Marshall Meadows. Edrington Castle, 

 situated in the extreme South corner of the Scottish parish 

 of Mordington, was a Border Pele or Bastle (dignified by the 

 name of Castle), ol" considerable strength and local importance, 

 especially as an outpost of the garrison of Berwick, though 

 it probably owed more to its natural position than to the 

 character of its armaments. Accordingly, in the annals of 

 Border warfare, we find that it was the scene of frequent 

 contention, often changed hands, and was considered to be 

 of such strategic value, as to have been included in treaties 

 between Kings of England and Scotland. For instance in 

 1534 it was restored by Henry VIII. to James V., from 

 whom it had been taken in a former war, its possession 

 and the lands connected with it being thus confirmed to the 

 King of Scotland and his subjects, its former owners, free 

 from molestation or injury, "especially by the inhabitants of 

 the town and castle of Berwick on Tweed," and continued so 

 till the Union in 1603, when it was finally recognised as 

 being Scottish ground. Now, as we see, it is razed nearly 

 to the level of the rock, yet it is on record that up to the 

 close of the 18th century, it still displayed tower and battle- 

 ments. On the East side in a small field, there is a deep 

 hollow, which is continued on the opposite side of the road, 

 evidently marking the site of ancient defensive outworks. 

 The Whitadder, by a sudden sweep in its wayward course, 

 all but encircles it, so that perched on its pinnacle its 



