330 Former Lines of Road about Ashiesteel. 



local in its growth, the bird-cherry takes the place of the 

 rowan as a defence against fairies and witches. It is 

 called by a Gaelic name meaning merely "black wood." In 

 a contribution to "Folk Lore," I see the name rendered 

 "wild cherry," the translator having probably never seen 

 the bird-cherry. The gean tree which, though not so hardy, 

 seems nearly as general in its growth as the rowan, I do 

 not think has any beliefs connected with it in this country. 



To return to the old roads : the tradition that Queen Marj^ 

 crossed the ford at Ettrick Bank on her way to Jedburgh 

 Assizes, from Edinburgh, improbable as it seems, most likely 

 records a fact. I never heard it till it was mentioned on 

 the Club visiting Selkirk ; but the present lines, by which 

 Melrose (where Mary slept) is only 36 miles from Edinburgh, 

 both follow Gala Water, and are entirely artificial. What 

 may be called the natural road, crossing and re-crossing the 

 stream, would be rendered impassible by a very moderate 

 fall of rain ; and the Soutra Hill line, which is believed to 

 include part of the Roman road, would not probably be 

 much shorter, and would decidedly be less agreeable than 

 that by Minchmoor. 



Mary, no doubt, halted and probably changed horses 

 somewhere between Edinburgh and Peebles, and then, most 

 likely, stopped at Traquair, where she is known to have 

 stayed for some time on another occasion ; after which the 

 old road ascends Minchmoor, without, on the slope, any 

 track at all, though there is still a good road on the level 

 top of the hill. On the slope towards the Ettrick, the high 

 street east of the Peat Law is mentioned by the act about 

 the Minchmoor Common. The distance between Edinburgh 

 and Melrose, taking this way, would be about 46 miles. 



It may be mentioned, that in the mail-coach period, which 

 was that of Sir Walter Scott's residence at Ashiesteel, the 

 road between Edinburgh and Carlisle, by Selkirk and Hawick, 

 crossed the Tweed by the bridge immediately below Yair. 

 which brought the mail-coaches within three miles of 

 Ashiesteel, and much nearer to some of the other houses 

 on the line. The coach could also be caught at a point 

 nearer to Ashiesteel, at Clovenfords, but this was reached by 

 crossing the Ashiesteel ford, which would appear to have 

 already shifted so as to form a pool instead of a shallow. 



