REPORT OP MEETINGS FOR 1904 129 



Earl of Buecleuch. The name occurs in the neighbouring 

 counties of Peebles and Eoxburgh, and has been explained 

 in the case of the former as a corruption of Thane's Castle, 

 though no grounds for the conjecture have been given. On 

 the left of the road is situated Deuchar Mill, and near it, 

 though invisible from the road, the remains of Deuchar Tower, 

 whence the hill-road, known as Deuchar Swire, and memorable 

 for the duel fought in 1609 between Walter Scott of Thirlestane 

 and John Scott of Tushielaw, leads over the hills by Traquair 

 to the valley of the Tweed. Hard by also stands the dis- 

 membered bridge of Deuchar, the lone monument of the 

 flood of 1734 which robbed the hillmen of a valuable means 

 of communication, said by the Ettrick Shepherd to have 

 been founded by one of the Earls of Buecleuch, and to have 

 borne the arms of that noble family. 



On reaching Yarrow Kirk, a distance of nine miles from 



Selkirk, the party was joined by Rev. Eobert 



" Liberalis Borland, minister of the parish, who, had time 



Stone." permitted, was prepared to conduct them over 



the Church, built in 1640, and repaired in 1826 

 and 1876, and containing a mural tablet to the memory of 

 John Rutherford, ordained and admitted to this charge 30th 

 September 1691, who was also Sir Walter Scott's great grand- 

 father on his mother's side. Bordering on the glebe lands, 

 and about half a mile further West, stands a monumental stone 

 of great antiquity, which has for long baffled the ingenuily 

 of antiquarians. It is now known as the " Liberalis Stone," 

 and attracted the attention and fired the romantic genius of 

 Sir Walter Scott. While the ground in the neighbourhood 

 was being prepared for cultivation, it was laid bare by the 

 ploughshare, lying prone, and covering a grave in which 

 human remains were discovered. On examination it proved 

 to bear on its rough and irregular surface a rude inscription, 

 scratched rather than engraved, which for many years defied 

 all attempts at decipherment. It was at one time removed 

 by the Duke of Buecleuch, the principal proprietor in the 

 parish, to his residence at Bowhill, and round it was woven 

 a legend by Sir Walter to the effect that it commemorated a 

 combat, in which one named Annan proved the victor. In 

 1833, after Scott's death, an attempt was made by the late 



