76 Report of the Meetings for 1892. 



On the forfeiture of the last Earl of Dunbar and March his titles and 

 estates were annexed to the Crown. Duns seems to have been granted to 

 7. — George Home of Ayton, second son of Alexander, first Lord Home; 

 and, as we have seen, he received from James IV., in 1489 or 1490, a 

 charter erecting the town and lands into a burgh of barony. The history 

 of the family is somewhat confused, but the line of descent after George 

 Home seems to have been as follows : — 



8. — John Home of Ayton. There is a charter in his favour in 1513. 

 His son {?) 



9. — George Home. His second son, 

 10.— William Home. 1585. His son, 

 11.— Patrick Home. 1605. His son, 



12. — Sir John Home of Duns died before 1620. His son, 

 13.— William Home of Ayton, 1627-1641 (?), an ardent Covenanter. 

 His son, 



14. — Alexander Home 1641-70. 



" The last Home of Ayton died leaving an heiress, and Charles, 6ih 

 Earl of Home, was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle, 1678, for his accession 

 to her clandestine marriage to Home of Kimmerghame. He, or at least 

 one of the Homes of Ayton, sold Duns to Sir James Cockburu of 

 Cockbnrn, Ryslaw (and Langton) who obtained from Charles II., in 1670, 

 a charter to erect it into a burgh of barony. He married Jean, daughter 

 of Alexander Swintou of that Ilk." — G.H.D. Sir James is said to have 

 rebuilt the Tolbooth of Duns about 1685. It stood partly on the site of the 

 present Town Hall, and had a curious tower, which was taken down about 

 1820. A drawing of the tower, in the possession of the late Mr Charles 

 Watson, has been reproduced on a small scale by Mr G. Fortune for the 

 Rev. J. Wood Brown of Gordon's work on the Covenanters of the Merse, 

 in which will be found some interesting^ particulars relating to it, and the 

 use it was applied to in the persecuting times There is a tradition, 

 apparently well founded, that the notorious Simon, Lord Lovat, was con- 

 fined for a night in the Tolbooth of Duns, when being conveyed to London 

 for trial in 1746. 



The affairs of Sir James Cockburn became so hopelessly embarrassed, 

 and his estates so burdened with debt, that it was found impossible 

 to retrieve them. We learn from the Retours that Sir George McKenzie 

 of Rosehaugh had a bond of annual rent for 25,000 merks over the lands 

 and barony of Duns, with the burgh of barony, and the lands and barony 

 of Crumstane ;* and that Ker of Morestoun had a similar bond for 33,200 

 merks over the lands and tenandry of Crumbstane (or Crnikstane) 

 comprehending therein the lands of Roulimaynes, Sansonwalls, Crumb- 

 stane (or Crnikstane) with the mill, and the lands and acres in and around 

 the territory of Dunce.f Another creditor was Thomas Kincaid of 

 Auchinreoch, who had an annual rent of £472, corresponding to the 

 principal sum of 11,800 merks, from the lands and barony of Duns, the 



* Retours (Berwickshire) No. 439, 22 October 1691. 

 t Ibid., No. 445, 30 August 1692. 



