Elwyndale and its Three Towers. By J. Freer. 193 



opposite the rubbish heap on the old disused Mill-lade of 

 Westhouses Mill. This Bridge is mentioned also by Pennant in 

 his Tour in Scotland, made in 1772. Gfordon writes his descrip- 

 tion from a personal visit to, and inspection of, the Bridge, while 

 apparently when Pennant visited the place, the last of the piers 

 of the Bridge had gone, and his description, as he mentions, was 

 communicated to him by a gentleman who remembered the pier, 

 then demolished. Gordon's description may in the circumstances 

 be assumed to be the more correct of the two, though the 

 differences are not essential. He says " about a mile and a 

 half from Metros in the shire of Teviotdale, I saw the remains of 

 a curious Bridge over the river Tweed, consisting of three 

 octangular pillars or rather towers, standing within the water 

 without any arches to join them. The middle one, which is the 

 most entire, has a door towards the north, and I suppose another 

 opposite one towards the south, which I could not see without 

 crossing the water. In the middle of this Tower is a projection 

 or cornice surrounding it, the whole is hollow from the door 

 upwards, and now open at the top, near which is a small window. 

 I was informed that not long ago a countryman and his family 

 lived in this Tower, and got his livelihood by laying out planks 

 from pillar to pillar, and conveying passengers over the river." 



The village of Bridgend, which no doubt took its name from 

 this Bridge, as now existing, lies a few hundred yards further 

 up the river, and it is here that the Bridge is generally supposed 

 to have been. Jeffrey in his History of the County, puts it 

 here, and it is so marked on the Ordnance Survey map. In the 

 olden days the village of Bridgend may have extended much 

 further down the side of the river. 



The public road up the vale of the Elwyn leaves the road from 

 Melrose to Galashiels about half-a-mile west from the mouth of 

 Elwyn, and passing through the farm steading of Easter Langlee, 

 runs in a N. direction for a distance of three miles, till it reaches 

 Langshaw Mill. In its course it passes on the left the farm 

 steading of Glendearg — a name that has taken the place of the 

 old name Calt'hill. An inscription in Latin on the west gable of 

 the farmhouse tells that this change was made out of respect to 

 Sir Walter Scott. 



In the immediate neighbourhood of Langshaw Mill are three 

 ancient buildings — Hillslap, or as it is now generally called 

 Glendearg, Colmslie and Langshaw. There is no doubt the 



