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Mellerstain and the Haitlies thereof. By Surgeon 

 Major-General S. a. Lithgow, C.B., D.S.O., F.S.A. 

 Scot. 



The aim of tlie following paper is to supply some information 

 regarding the ancient history and possessors of a charming 

 spot in the Merse, the objective of a very pleasant excursion 

 of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club in the summer of 1894, 

 for facilities for viewing which the members and their friends 

 were indebted to the courtesy of the Earl of Haddington. 



Mellerstain, Melokstan, Melostane, or Mollestains, in the 

 barony of the same lordship of Huntly and Grordon, parish 

 of Earlston, and county of Berwick, was associated with the 

 neighbouring property of Eans or Faunes from a very early 

 period. 



Eichard de Faunes, circa 1150-90, who doubtless derived 

 his name from that property, gave to his brother David, son 

 of David of Graham, two tofts in Melostane, reserving his 

 mother Amabel's liferent thereof, to be held of the said 

 Eichard and his heirs. Circa 1200, Patrick, Earl of Dunbar, 

 the overlord, grants a charter confirming the gift. About 

 the same time David of Graham gives to the Abbey of Kelso 

 the two tofts referred to. Circa 1 230, Adam de Faunes, son 

 of the deceased Eichard de Faunes, gives to the Abbey of 

 Kelso a charter of the two tofts in Melostane, which David 

 of Graham, his uncle, held of his father. Circa 1260, Philip 

 Haliburton, son of iSir William Haliburton and Christian de 

 Faunes, daughter of Eichard abovenamed, his wife, con6rm 

 the grant by David Graham and the deceased Adam of 

 Faunes, his mother's brotlier, of the same two tofts to the 

 Abbey of Kelso. 



The charters above quoted affect only a portion of the 

 barony. The first recorded designate "of Meloustan " is 

 William de Hattely, son of Sir Eobert de Hattely and Matilda, 

 his wife, who, with consent of Emma, his wife, grants to 

 the Abbot and Convent of Kelso right of passage through 

 his lands ("terram meam de Meloustan") and permission to 

 build a bridge over the Blackburn, above his house ("super 

 tenementum meam de Meloustan.") The probable date of 

 that transaction is about the year 1230. If we assume that 



