OS1/11/47/28A

Continued entries/extra info

[page] 28a

"No writings, on the conveyance of this place", (Newhall) "exist prior to the year 1529; when it was
"in the possession of a family of the name of Crichtoune Said to have been the ancestors of
"the Earls of Dumfries. Its hospital or 'Spittal remained undissolved till the reformation
"from popery in 1560 or 1567. On being Secularized, alienated and becoming a lay fee it had
"got the name of the new hall house of its lands; probably in consequence of a new mansion, or
"hall house, having been reared, on the site of the decayed Convent, where the old hall in which
"the courts for the tenants had been held formerly Stood. The word hall is of Saxon origin, The
"hall-house and the hall-rig or leading ridge among the reapers are Still, the usual marks of
"distinction, retained among the Lothian Shepherds and farmers, with regard to a house of this description
"and the Objects connected with it".
"while inhabitted by the Crichtounes, the house of New Hall was in the form of an irregular
"Castle. With its appendages it covered the whole breadth of the point on which it Stands;
"and likewise extended a considerable way northward, up the brink of the of the eastern ravine
"on the edge of which besides several foundations are Still left two of its vaults under the bottom
"of a round tower they had once supported. The ground-floor in the front half of the present
"building, made a part of one of its principal towers, It occupies the entire length of the body
"of the house, It is arched above with Slits widening inwards for defence and its walls is so strong
"as in one place to have a closet cut out of its thickness".
Description of Scenery around Newhall House -- Page 407