Ehoyndale and its Three Towers. By J. Freer . 203 



Mosshouses to the north on the same road, is a famous cairn, 

 called the Bluecairn, from the colour of the stones, where there 

 is a large space of ground enclosed and fortified by nature, which 

 will contain a vast number of people." This description of 

 Bluecairn hardly squares with the ordinary conception of a cairn, 

 as a vast heap of stones raised by human agency, generally over 

 the remains of some great chief and warrior who had fallen in 

 battle. That it should be capable of containing a vast number 

 of people, would lead one to believe that it was no cairn at all, 

 but a hillfort built of stones. 



The Parishes of Lauder and Melrose met very near the present 

 steading of Bluecairn, and the part of Lauder Parish at Blue- 

 cairn, in older times, belonged to the monks of Dryburgh 

 Abbey. A Charter of the lands running up to the immediate 

 neighbourhood of Bluecairn, describes these lands as extending 

 up to Dunedin. It is curious to find this name applied to 

 something at the limits of the two Parishes of Melrose and 

 Lauder. Milne's description of Bluecairn, leaving out the words 

 hy nature, would apply most exactly and appropriately to a Dun 

 or hillfort, and as there are no traces of any other collection or 

 heap of stones, far or near, on the boundaries of the two 

 Parishes, which might have been the Dtmedin of the old Charter, 

 it does not seem to be a great stretch of imagination to arrive at 

 the conclusion that the Bluecairn and Dunedin were one and the 

 same. The present steading of Bluecairn, including the farm- 

 house, was erected on the site it occupies, partly fur convenience 

 and partly to use up the material of the Cairn ; but a few of the 

 cairnstones not used, are lying about the steading, and are of 

 immense size. In the immediate vicinity of the steading of 

 Bluecairn, is the Covenanter's Well at the foot of a precipice, on 

 the top of which, the cairn stood. This well is protected and 

 surrounded by huge stones, each of which would require the 

 strength of several men to lift. 



The sketches illustrating this article are by the late Mr 

 William Heatlie, Melrose. 



For kind aid in the getting up of this paper, the author 

 desires to acknowledge his many obligations to Mr James Tait, 

 Gattonside. 



