Report of meetings for 19oi lot 



Alexander Frenche, tutour of Thornydykes, and his nephew, 

 James Wicht of Gordon Mylne, were, in 1612, tried before 

 the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh, for the slaughter 

 of John Oranston, brother of Patrick Cranston, Baron of 

 Corsbie and Boon. Both were convicted, and afterwards 

 beheaded on the Castle Hill of Edinburgh. The barony of 

 Thornydykes was confiscated to the Crown, but it seems shortly 

 after to have been given in two parts to the Brown family 

 of Coalston, who were united by ties of blood to the house 

 of Lord Tweeddale of Tester. In the 15th century Jean Hay, 

 daughter of John, third Lord Yester, married George Brown 

 of Coalston. The dowry of tliis lady was the famous Coalston 

 pear, which tradition asserts was enchanted by Hugh Gifford 

 of romantic celebrity, who flourished about the middle of 

 the 13th century. Jean Hay's dowry was declared by her 

 father to be iuvaluable, and the latter assured his son-in-law 

 that while the pear was preserved in the family it would 

 certainly continue to flourish. This palladium is still carefully 

 treasured, but there is a mark on one side made by the 

 eager teeth of a lady who before the birth of a child longed 

 for the forbidden fruit, and was permitted to take one bite 

 by her too indulgent husband, the consequence of which was 

 that some of the best farms on the Coalston estate speedily 

 came to the market. Thornydykes was afterwards in the 

 possession of the Hays of Alderston and Huntingdon in 

 East Lothian, and Mordington and Thornydykes in Berwick- 

 shire, and was sold by them to John Spottiswoode of that 

 ilk in 1787. Thornydykes House was long said to have 

 been haunted by a Green Lady, who figures in the local 

 rhyme — 



The Brownie o' Brantyburn, 



An' Rundie o' Raecleugh, 



An' Fairy o' the Flass, 



The Green Leddy o' Thornydykes, 



An' the Deil o' the Manse. 



Another haunt at midnight of the Green Lady was 

 Wellington Bridge, across the stank flawing west from 

 Spottiswoode Lake. 



