244 REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1902 



in position above one of the windows of an apartment termed 

 the " Sheriff's Room " ; through this ran a rope and noose, for 

 executing judgments upon culprits. The castle belonged in 

 the 17th century to the Lords Tester, earls of Tweeddale, 

 but in 1686 the Neidpath estate and castle were sold to the 

 Duke of Queensberry, and in 1795 the property came into 

 possession of the Earl of Wemyss. The old spelling of the 

 name, which probably indicates its pronunciation at that 

 date, is "Needpetth," as given in Font's map of Tvedia 

 contained in Blaeu's atlas of 1654. 



Then we follow the winding Tweed on its north bank 

 till we come to the confluence where the Manor Water joins 

 it on its southern shore, and a pretty road-bridge crosses the 

 water. The Manor Valley, opening a view into the Silurian 

 uplands to the southward, affords a gently ascending road 

 to the St. Mary's Loch, invisible to us, which lies among 

 the higher hills beyond. At the north-west angle of the 

 opening made by the Manor Water, high up on the south 

 bank of the Tweed, is Dr Caverhill's sanatorium, consisting 

 of farm buildings converted to healing purposes. Lower down 

 stands an old substantial farm house, belonging to the Earl 

 of Wemyss; French in character of building, with its high 

 pitched roof, British in its environment of stately trees, 

 dispersed in park-like fashion, and Tweed flowing round it 

 on the northern side. Then, as we drive, comes a bend in 

 the river with a little rocky islet and big Scotch firs upon 

 it; while on the north bank of Tweed, between road and 

 river, extends a flat haugh, crossed at its further end by 

 a railway bridge across the Lyne, where this river's valley 

 opens out wider at its junction with the Tweed. Passing 

 an old toll-house, the second this day, we cross the Meldon 

 Burn, which descends on our right from a reservoir two 

 miles away, and see river terraces, thirty or forty feet high, 

 above the present valley, on each side of the Lyne water ; 

 the terrace on the south side being, in fact, the edge of 

 Sheriff Muir. Then Lyne itself comes in view, nestling at 

 the foot of a grass-clad hill, its church crowning a knoll 

 upon our right. In the churchyard we note a tombstone 

 bearing the inscription, " Here lies Robert Wales, surgeon 

 of the 68th Regiment of Foot, son of the late Mr Lancelot 



