370 Ladykirk Parish. By Hev. William t)obie. 



of the gable may indicate tliat the walls have been heightened 

 in 1747. To the front of the middle cottage was attached an 

 outside stair admitting, by a door still existent, to rooms in the 

 upper flat. This stair, removed less than 20 years ago, was in 

 itself very picturesque, and its removal is to some still a subject 

 of regret, as it was the last survivor in the parish of the ancient 

 mode of ascending to the upper regions. The parish school was, 

 at the end of last century, near the Black Ea'. On the 10th of 

 May 1291, the nobility and titled clergy of Scotland assembled 

 at this village in order to have a settlement made of the con- 

 troversy between Bruce and Baliol — competitors for the crown 

 and kingdom of Scotland, in succession to Alexander III. The 

 manor of U[)setiington is mentioned in charters of the eleventh 

 and twelfth centuries, and was at that period in the possession 

 of a family of the name of Byset, Bisset, or Bissert, indicative of 

 their Anglo-Norman descent. This family came into Angeland 

 about the time of William I. (1066-1087), came north and settled 

 in two branches — the one in Berwickshire, and the other in 

 Inverness-shire. 



Leaving the site of the ancient village of Upsetlington, and 

 continuing northwards, we descend into a ravine, at the bottom 

 of which still flows the waters of Saint Mary's Well. Neither 

 'well nor spring is visible, but there is a watering trough for 

 cattle erected by William Robertson, Esq., great-grandfather 

 of the present proprietrix, about the beginning of this century, 

 and bearing the inscription, " Well of St. Mary of Upsetlenton." 

 The water from this well was many years ago taken by gravita- 

 tion to supply the present mansion house ; it is not used for that 

 purpose now. The watering trough above referred to is some- 

 what dilapidated and quite dry, but the spring percolating from 

 its now unknown source, still flows on and feeds the little stream. 

 Not more than twenty yards from the so-called Saint Mary's 

 Well, stands a square modern pillar upon a platform about 

 ten feet high, with the inscription, " Ann's Well." There is 

 nothing about sainthood here. Within a few feet of the base of 

 this pillar is a sunk and ringed well of considerable depth — full 

 of pure water— covered over with a heavy, circular, carefully 

 fitted stone ; the whole stonework quite modern, but water, 

 which is not modern nor polluted, percolates through the super- 

 incumbent soil down the short declivity to the rivulet, and thus 



