REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1902 261 



from the street, is the Church, built by the Duke of Lauderdale 

 in 1673, to replace the old Lauder Kirk, of historic fame. 

 Near it is the East U. F. Manse, built in the Tower gardens, 

 once the site of the seat of the Lauders, known as the Tower. 

 A striking feature of the Market Place is the Town Hall 

 or Tolbooth. This faces the Market Place, and forms the 

 western end of the " Midrow " — a row of houses which occupies 

 the centre of the High Street. The Tolbooth was the scene 

 of many weird events in past times. It has associations with 

 crime and witchcraft and slaughter. Here, in 1606, the Earl 

 of Home and his men burned the Tolbooth of Lauder, and 

 killed the bailie, William Lauder, or "Willie at the West 

 Port." A road called the Kirk Wynd crosses the Midrow 

 a little below the Tolbooth. This road is so named because 

 it led to the old Kirk which stood near the Castle, and crossed 

 the Leader there by what is called in the Kirk Session Records 

 " Egrypt Bridge." A little below the Midrow, on the right 

 hand side, is Red House, built on the site of the old Manse. 

 When the old Manse was being taken down, for the purpose 

 of building the new house, a stone was found bearing the 

 date 1618. and with the inscription— PATRIB. ET POSTERIS 

 IN RELIGIONE. M. J. B., K. D., 1618. 



The initials on the stone, M. J. B., are those of Mr James 

 Burnett, who was minister of Lauder at that time. He pro- 

 tested against the action of King James VI. when he sought 

 to force the Articles of the Assembly of Perth upon the Church. 

 His son was Bishop of Aberdeen, then Archbishop of Glasgow, 

 and succeeded Archbishop Sharp in the See of St. Andrews. 



Immediately below this is the East Port, where the two 

 back roads join the High Street, and the road leads out to 

 the country. 



The history of the Burgh of Lauder is most interesting, 

 inasmuch as the Burgh still retains full possession of all the 

 rights and privileges conferred on it by its original charter, 

 and is a unique specimen of a community system now almost 

 extinct in Britain. The burgesses possess their burgess acres 

 under the superiority of the Crown alone. The Burgh has 

 a common of about 1700 acres, on which the burgesses have 

 a right of grazing under regulations made by the Town Council. 

 There are special arrangements made by the Council for the 



