306 Re'port of Meetings for 1891. By Dr J. Hardy. 



of Upsetlington. The walls of the church have a good many 

 bullet marks — blunderbuss and cannon balls are found especially 

 opposite Norham Castle, Mons Meg was there in 1497, and a 

 stone ball of a girth of 57 inches fired from it was now at 

 Norham Castle. Directly opposite Norham Castle, on the 

 Scotch side of the Tweed, was Holywell Haugh, where on the 

 2nd June 1291, eight of the competitors for the Scottish crown 

 assembled to settle with Edward I. as arbiter, the dispute 

 relative to the succession. The first judicial decision recorded in 

 Scottish law, had reference to an ecclesiastical dispute in that 

 parish as far back as the eleventh century. 



When the company had assembled outside the church, Mr 

 Dobie was cordially thanked, on the motion of the President, for 

 his interesting paper ; and after he had briefly replied, carriages 

 were in waiting, and the visitors were conveyed to Horndean, 

 where tliey viewed the last remnant of the village common, now 

 very small. The company then moved on to the site of the old 

 parish church and burying ground. This parish, it appears, 

 seemed to have existed from a very early date ; but after the 

 Eeformation it was joined to Upsetlington, and the two now 

 form the parish of Ladykirk. It is said that this old place of 

 worship was called the "Rood Kirk." 



[The village of Horndean has been much cramped in its 

 building sites, and for want of space several of the houses are 

 thrust out endways into the extremely limited triangular green, 

 which is all that remains of the village common. Owing to 

 this, one of the outlets has a very irregular appearance, with its 

 small squares and awkward nooks The older dwellings have 

 their foundations compacted of boulder stones ; and several are 

 tiled or thatched. 



The lands of St. Leonard's Hospital lay north of the village, 

 and had been let out in separate allotments, which were 

 cultivated in " Run-rig." These are no longer in separate 

 occupancy. They could be sold, and a Mr Bell, who was factor 

 on the estate, purchased three of them before they were finally 

 disposed of. His tombstone is in the churchyard. He was said 

 to be the ancestor of Sheriff-Clerk Bell, well known in the 

 county. The rural villages very much require to be taken in 

 hand by the local topographer or antiquary before their 

 memorials are obliterated. The church j^ard wall has become 

 dilapidated, and the whole enclosure presents a scene of neglect. 



