92 REPORT OP MiJETmOS I^OR 1901 



thieves who had been caught sheep-lifting in Tweeddale. On 

 20th July 1522, the English Warden made a raid into Teviot- 

 dale with 2000 men, and burnt Linton Tower down to the 

 *' bare sfcane walls." Notwithstanding, all the men that were 

 within, which were 16, were saved by lying close behind the 

 stone gable and the battlements till the roof fell in, when 

 their enemies left them — all except one, Robin Carr, " which 

 came down on a rope when the house was first fired." We 

 find other references to the family history till about the end 

 of the 17th century, when the barony came by purchase into 

 the hands of the old Border family of Pringle, They it was, 

 apparently, who repaired the present church, and gifted the 

 communion cups and the church bell — one of the finest toned 

 in the neighbourhood. It bears the date 1687. From the 

 Pringles the barony descended, as heir of entail, to the father 

 of the present proprietor, Mr E,. H. Elliot. No stone of the 

 old castle now remains above ground, but the general line 

 of the fortifications is clearly traceable, and a deep hollow 

 marking where the dungeon lay. As regards the churchyard, 

 the mound of pure sand of which it is composed, legend says, 

 was riddled by two sisters as a penance to save the life of 

 their brother, who had slain a priest. Not being a geologist, 

 I would not venture to give any decided opinion as to its 

 origin and structure, only a similar kaim of sand exists at 

 Haughhead Kipp, and its formation is generally ascribed 

 to some form of wind and water action, the whole basin of 

 this valley having been, as is well known, once covered with 

 an extensive loch, the last portion of which was only drained 

 quite recently. The gravestones are none of them of sur- 

 passing interest, the friable character of the stone generally 

 used in this neighbourhood making the inscriptions unfortunately 

 very short-lived. Still, we know that not a few illustrious 

 men lie buried here, t)esides several Baron Somervilles and 

 a long line of Kers of Linton and Kers of Graden — an ancient 

 Jacobite family who were attainted, and forfeited their estate 

 for the share Colonel Henry Ker took in the rising of 1745, 

 when he acted as Quarter-Master-General to the Prince's army. 

 One interesting tomb is that of the Pringles of Blakelaw, 

 who emigrated to the Cape in 1820. Here is buried the 

 mother of Thomas Pringle, the African poet, author of " Afar 



