dumfries-1920/04-048

Transcription

HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.

Tundergarth; Sibblebie and Applegarth at Applegarth; Hoddom, Ecclefechan, and
Luce at Hoddom "near the towne thairof"; Corrie and Hutton at Hutton - that
parish still bears the double name. ¹ The town of Annan was so "miserablie impover-
ischeit" that it could not build a kirk of any kind as yet, and therefore was granted
for that purpose "the hous callit the castell of Annand, the hall and the towre thairof
to serve for ane kirk." ² Too often the procedure on the Marches had been the reverse
of this: a house of prayer turned into a castle. And not only had churches been
neglected, but, in common with a tendency of the time, the more considerable lairds
had given up the practice of living at their country-seats, and this too was accounted
an encouragement of disorder; wherefore in 1600 they had been instructed to repair
and dwell in their residences in order to police the districts more effectually, Herries
either at Hoddom or Lockerbie, Charterhouse of Amisfield in the house of Bent,
Grierson of Lag either in Rockhall (Rochell) or Mouswald, Jardine of Applegarth in
"the hous of Speldingis," etc. ³
More direct measures followed the Union. The office of Warden disappeared,
and a Commission of Scots and English Border gentlemen took in hand to compose
the unsettled district. They had two companies of horsemen at their service as a
police, and one of these was stationed at Hollows, the old Debateable Land and
the Grahams there still retaining their character as the heart of the mischief.
The Grahams were broken up by deportations. Complementary to the new
churches was the novelty of specific gaols. By 1608 it was reported to the King,
with reference to the services of the Earl of Dunbar, that he had purged the Borders,
as Hercules did "Augeas his escuries, by the cutting off by the sword of justice
and your majesty's authority and laws, the Laird of Tynwell, Maxwell, sindry
Douglases, Johnstones, Jardines, Armstrongs, Betisons and such other." ⁴ But
this jubilation proved premature, and the Commission, modified from time to time,
continued till 1625. The methods of "justice" were very similar in kind to those
of the lawlessness against which they operated, being fire-raising, destruction of
houses, eviction, and summary execution, with the use of the feud feeling and a
partiality to friends; and the agents of the Commission found it necessary to secure
the protection of frequent indemnities.
One main factor in the change was the dissolution of the clan groups, which
came as a consequence of the changed conditions. The gap which had opened
between chief and clan fully showed itself in the Covenanting troubles, where the
people in general, sooner or later, adhered to the cause of revolt; the lairds were
royalist. Among the latter the Earl of Nithsdale was leader, and in 1640 Caer-
laverock underwent its last siege and dismantling. From persecuting days, or rather
later in time, the "tombs of the martyrs" in Nithsdale and Eskdale remain as
memorials of a new enthusiasm; among the most prominent of the Council's agents
were such familiar March names as Sir James Johnstone of Westerhall, Lieut.-Col.
Douglas, brother of Drumlanrig, and Sir Robert Grierson of Lag. Meantime the
Drumlanrig family was growing throughout this century in extent of lands and in
dignity. Its outward symbol of territorial and political success was the great pile
of Drumlanrig Castle, 1689, whose builder was the second Duke of Queensberry,
the adroit statesman of the Union of 1707. Its purely domestic character signified
that the days of fortified residences had for ever gone by.

1 Acta Parl., iv. p. 441.
2 Ibid., p. 441.
3 Reg. P.C., vi. pp. 154-5.
4 Cited, Hill Burton's History, vol. vi. p. 19.

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