Chapter 5
17TH and 18TH CENTURIES
A Burgh of Barony – Earl of Haddington – People and Places in the Parish 1627 – The Old Mills –
Witches in Coldstream – Saffron Quarter – Covenanters and Royalists – Coldstream Guards – The
Plague – Tumult at Coldstream Fair – Schools – Dissension/Oath of Abjuration 1685 – Glorious
Revolution – Hanoverians and Jacobites – Window Tax – Floods – Coldstream Bridge and Demise
of the Ferries – Conditions in the Burgh in the late 1700s - Famous People - Post-Haste; Tolls and
Turnpikes – ‘Curious Effect at Coldstream’ – Burgher Meeting House – Cemeteries – Pringle Hall
– Folklore and Verse of the Period, including gypsies – References.
A Burgh of Barony
The town of Coldstream was elevated by Act of Parliament in 1621 to ‘a free Burgh of Barony of
AULD COLDSTREAM’. By the same Act, Sir John Hamilton of Trabroun, the former Prior of
Coldstream, was designated superior. He was the third son of Thomas Hamilton, 1st Earl of Melrose
(Earl of Haddington by 1626). A burgh of barony was a type of Scottish town which was awarded
to the tenant-in-chief, with narrower powers than a Royal Burgh or Burgh of Regality. Royal
Burghs obtained their powers through Royal Charter while a Burgh of Regality granted wideranging powers to a nobleman or ‘lord of regality’. Burghs of Barony were created between 1450
and 1846, and conferred upon the landowner various trading rights. The raising of Coldstream to a
Burgh was a step change and gave the town certain privileges; the right to hold weekly markets and
a yearly fair. It is not known if trade guilds were formed, but there would have been craft
fraternities. In the old churchyard at Lennel, there are many old gravestones with craft fraternity
symbols, symbolising craft or trade tools. Even in its pre-burgh status, there were numerous trades
in Coldstream: maltsters, masons, millers, baxters, coopers, fleshers, weavers, dyers, tanners, etc.
These trades and crafts were strictly controlled by the Burgh officials.
Most of the Border Burghs were based on the granting of baronies to local dignitaries. In old the
County of Berwick, the Royal Burgh of Lauder was granted to Sir James Douglas, Duns was
granted to George Home of Ayton and Eyemouth was granted to Sir George Home of Wedderburn.
The heraldic shield of the County of Berwick displayed a bear chained to a wych-elm, and this was
a punning reference to the name Berwick (Bear wyck). Legends tell us that in olden times,
Berwickshire was covered by forest and that many bears inhabited it. The coat of arms symbolised
how the bears were brought under subjection after the building of the Castle of Berwick. Back in
the old Coldstream Burgh of Barony days, the market cross signified the town’s new status, placed
as it was in the centre of the Market Place (Square)1. The Market Cross still existed in 1818, and is
on a town plan of that date. The fountain, installed by the second Sir John Marjoribanks, was in the
same area as the market cross, and may have replaced it. Sir John Hamilton is said to have run
down everything. He died c1635, predeceasing his father Thomas Hamilton, 1st Earl of Haddington,
who took over as superior of Coldstream.
Earl of Haddington
Coldstream’s link with the Earl of Haddington, a title in the Peerage of Scotland, is long gone but
here is the story. The title was created in 1627 for the noted Scottish lawyer and judge, Thomas
Hamilton, 1st Earl of Melrose. He was Lord President of the Court of Session from 1616 to 1625.
Hamilton had already been created Lord Binning in 1613 and Lord Binning and Byres in the
County of Haddington as well as Earl of Melrose in the County of Roxburgh, in 1619. These titles
were also in the Peerage of Scotland. The title of the earldom derived from the fact that he was in
possession of much of the lands of the former Melrose Abbey. However, Hamilton was unhappy
1
Over the years this part of the town seems to have alternated between ‘Place’ and ‘Square’
with this title and wished to replace it with ‘Haddington’, a title which was then held by John
Ramsay, 1st Earl of Holderness and 1st Viscount of Haddington, but on whose death in 1626 both
peerages became extinct.
In 1627, Hamilton relinquished the Earldom of Melrose and was instead created Earl of
Haddington, with the precedence of 1619, and with limitation to his male heirs bearing the surname
of Hamilton. This derived from the fact that he considered it a greater honour to take his title from a
county rather than from an abbey.
Lord Haddington was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Baron. He was a staunch Covenanter.
Haddington served as Governor of the Castle of Dunglass (East Berwickshire), and was killed by a
massive explosion there in 1640
The eldest son of the sixth Earl, Charles Hamilton, Lord Binning, married Rachel (d.1773),
daughter of George Baillie, of Mellerstain House and Jerviswood. Through this marriage,
Mellerstain House and the Jerviswood estate came into the Hamilton family.
The 12th Earl sat in the House of Lords as a Scottish Representative Peer from 1922 to 1963 (when
all Scottish peers were granted the right to sit in the House of Lords) and served as Lord-Lieutenant
of Berwickshire from 1952 to 1969.
Since the very early days of 1627 there have been thirteen Earls of Haddington and today the family
seat is Mellerstain House in Berwickshire. The Earl of Haddington has nothing to do with
Coldstream except that a few remnants remain. For example old sketch maps of Coldstream, with
the Earl of Haddington prominently mentioned, and ‘Binning’ Cottage and ‘Binning House’ which
are located at the top end of Duns Road. There is also a burial aisle in Lennel Cemetery where
Baillie-Hamiltons are buried.
People and Places in the Parish 1627
The Lennel Parish Accounts of 1627 (‘Parish of Cauldstreame or Lendell 1627’) give an indication
of life in this period. Names mentioned as being involved in the parish administration are James
Home of Castella, Abraham Hume of the Hirsel, John Pringill, Baillie of the Baronry, William
Stevensone of Mirriecrooks, John Gardiner, Crooks, George Bannatyne of Darnchester and Frances
Hepburne, Minister of the Kirk of Lendell. There was a Lord Bining who lived in the parish and his
connection with the Earl of Haddington was established above. As time has passed, surnames have
clearly evolved eg Stevensone now Stevenson. Others mentioned are Alexander Home of
Manderstone and Huttonhall; the Earl of Melros (title soon to be replaced by the Earl of
Haddington) who seemed to have owned/rented land in the parish, including Skaithmuir; Sir
George Ramsay, the proprietor of Wylliecleugh Mains and Lord Home who owned ‘aikeris’ at
‘Breadhauch’ and the ‘Lies’. Alexander Pringle owned land at the ‘Lies’ too. ‘Lies’ is more than
likely the Lees. The accounts indicate that the parish contained eight hundred persons over the age
of sixteen years and the parish was three miles in length and two miles in breadth. There was no
school, though there was ‘great necessity for one’ and no hospital either. There are some interesting
place names in the account and here are some examples, with the modern-day names in brackets,
where known or not immediately obvious:
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‘Lendellhill’ (more than likely Lennel Hill)
‘Snuick’ (by Milne Graden)
‘Wylliecleugh’ (cottage located behind Darnchester West Mains)
‘Hatchetneis’ (Hatchednize)
‘Granton Kirkyaird’ (Hirsel)
‘Skaytmoore’ (Skaithmuir)
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‘Newtowne of Cauldstreame’
‘Maines of Coldstream’ (Coldstream Mains)
‘Todhillrig’
The ‘Toune of Dernchester’ contains ‘Leitbrae’ (thought to be the area between Darnchester
and the main road at Hatchednize) and ‘Halkesla’ (Hawkslaw)
‘Castle Maynes’ (Castlelaw)
‘Wylliecleugh Maynes’ (near Darnchester)
‘Eastmaynes’ (Darnchester East Mains)
‘Hirsell Maynes’ (Hirsel)
‘Spyla Maynes’ (Spylaw at the Hirsel)
‘Todrig’ alias ‘Helliburnerig’ (Todrig)
‘Howbriges’
‘Leathtillome’ (probably Leitholm)
‘Nether Mirriecrooks’ (thought to be part of the Hirsel; Crooks still exists and Mirrie meant
‘mirey’ ground)
‘Fyreburne Milne’ (Fireburnmill)
‘Tueid Milne’ (Tweed Mill)
‘Byrhill’ and ‘Sanick’ (another variation of Snuick above)
Blaeu’s Atlas Novus of the 17th Century was published in 1649. In it is a beautifully engraved,
coloured map by Timothy Pont, of the The Merce or Shirrefdome of Berwick and many of the
place-names of the 1627 parish report are mentioned: Hirsell; Spylaw; Mirrycreuck; Hatchettnisse;
East Mains; New Calstreme; Old Caldstreame; Laindenn Kirk; Laindennhill; Sneuk; Gradenn;
Skemore; Darnchester and Wyliecleuch. Two mills are shown, one on the river Tweed upstream
from Sneuk, which was obviously Tweed Mill, the other is on the Simprim burn between Sneuk
and Graden. In 1631 Alexander Seton, feuar of Kilcreuch, succeeded his brother William in the
bonds over Graden and the Lands of Darnchester called Hawkslaw.
The Old Mills
In the Parish the mills were mostly water powered grain mills, although there was a windmill at
Coldstream Newtown (Armstrong’s map 1770). Its memory lives on, in a field named, Windmill
Hill; the windmill may have been used for pumping water, or more likely, was used for grinding
wheat grain into flour. Coldstream Mill, not to be confused with the Lees Mill on the Leet, which
was much later, was destroyed during the Earl of Hertford’s invasions in the mid 1500s, and
presumably rebuilt. Its location was given in a testimony by a former employee at the Hirsel (John
Watson) during a land dispute in 1566: The Myln of Cauldstreame is a litill beneth the place of
Hirsell on the eist syd of the watter, and the intak of the laid, is tane in thair, and hes sene the myln
sted oftymes changit, bot the samin wes ay callit the Myln of Cauldstreme’. The cauld (weir) for this
mill can still be seen over the Leet Water, just below the Hirsel House; the intake of the lade is
downstream from the cauld near the junction of the woodland paths and much of the lade can still
be seen. On Armstrong’s map of 1770, a mill is shown upstream from Leet Bridge on the haugh, on
the east side of Leet adjacent to Home Park.
The other mill which was frequently mentioned in the Latin charters was ‘lie molindo de
Fierborne’, the mill of Fierborne’. The Kers had a charter of the mill which was described ‘waistit
and destroyit’ by the English, with permission to rebuild. On Roy’s map of Berwickshire (c1750)
there are two mills shown: the west mill of Fairburn and the east mill of Fairburn. The site of the
west mill, also called Mole’s mill, is 400m upstream from Fireburnmill, on the north bank of the
Tweed. There are two adjacent fields called Wee Mole’s Mill and Big Mole’s Mill.
The name of Little Milne appears in the Register of the Council (Charles II, 1685) for Coldstream
Parish; a list was drawn up of the people of Coldstream Parish who had taken the Oath of
Abjuration (more on this later). Those at Little Milne were: John Greens, Issobell Armstrang,
George Greens, Jeane Greenes, David Alisone, Alisone Purvis and Janet Murdogh. This Mill may
have been an earlier name of Tweed Mill, a mill is marked on both the John Speed (1610) and
Timothy Pont (1634) maps.
Mr Alexander Gray of Orchard Cottage, Duns Road, wrote an excellent paper (1934) on the history
of Tweed Mill. In it he recorded that the family of Gillespie had owned the mill for many
generations (from the c16th century, the first tenant was George Gillespie). Mr Murdoch McLeod,
an Australian miller who had a connection with the Gillespie Brothers’ interests in Sydney, was
visiting the mill in 1931 and saw the foundation stone. On a further visit some three years later, he
contacted Mrs Campbell of Lennel. The inscription on the replacement stone informs us of the
outcome: This stone replaces the one bearing the date 1747, presented by Mrs Campbell of Lennel,
a grand-daughter of the Marchioness of Tweedsdale, in 1934, to the firm of Gillespie Bro, Ltd. of
Sydney, N.S.W , the earliest tenants of this mill. The original stone ornaments the wall of their mill
in Australia’. On the foundation stone was the inscription E.T.H. 1747, and Mr. Gray informs us
that the initials stood for Elizabeth, wife of Thomas, Earl of Haddington.
Witches in Coldstream
Between 1590 and 1722, there were 3,837 witches said to be put on trial in Scotland. In bonny
Coldstream, one author indicates that there were eleven trials involving 7 women and 4 men; all
probably executed. The process of prosecuting witches was not straightforward. There would be an
accusation by named, or unnamed, persons (witches were said to be ‘delated’), and this accusation
might be recorded verbatim by the Session Clerk of the local Church. Usually, but perhaps not
invariably, the accused would then be hauled in front of the Kirk Session. They might plead guilty,
or not guilty, to a minor offence. One man in Sprouston pled that he had not ‘charmed’ the cattle
but that his wife did; he got off but she didn’t. A minor rebuke might be given and the accused
admonished and made to do penance by the Session. For more sinister allegations, the accused
might be held for a while, deprived of sleep (by being made to walk round and round for two days)
and other comforts to see if they would ‘confess’ and indict others. There appear to be no records of
Kirk Sessions being engaged in more active forms of torture (though ‘pricking’ was done by
specialists brought in, and paid for, on occasion). A record of these proceedings would usually, but
perhaps not always, be made by the Session Clerk of the Church.
It is thought that the Kirk Session did not have the power of life and death over those unfortunate
enough to come before them on witchcraft charges. The accused might be sent for a civil ‘trial’,
presumably to Duns or Greenlaw. Some of the records of these proceedings survive too. Those
convicted (and the conviction rate was probably high), would then be sentenced to death by
burning, usually back at their normal place of residence. The Statistical Accounts for various
Border parishes (eg Stitchill and Mordington) record traditions of the burnings taking place at
nearby ‘Witch’s Cairns’. Sprouston too had a ‘Witch’s Cairn’ and a tradition of witch burnings
there. Often people named in the surviving records at one stage in these proceedings do not appear
in the records at other stages, so estimating the total numbers of those being exonerated, or
proceeded with to the point of execution, is difficult. Eleven witches have been tracked as having
connections with Coldstream. These are Alisoun Pringle (1629); William Stevinsoun (1629); Janet
Brotherstanes (1629); Janet Bowmaker (1629); Johnne Neill (1630); Elie Nesbitt (1630); three
unknown females and two unknown males from 1650. It is not not known how they died. There
may have been others. All this evidence can either be found in the Register of Privy Council or
Bulstrode Whitelock, Memorialls of the English Affairs, London, 1682.
Alisoun Pringle lived in the Hirsell with her husband William Stevinsoun and their son Richard
Stevinsoun, and both Alisoun and William were accused of witchcraft in 16292. Both were held in
the Duns Tolbooth before being judged upon by Robert Cockburn, John Home, John Home and
2
Could this be the same William Stevensone of Mirriecrooks mentioned previously?
Alexander Smith, who was the investigator. Their trials commenced on the 10 December 1629 and
ended on 18 December 1629. Robert Cockburn was not a Coldstream man and, in fact, is recorded
as a Sheriff of Berwick living at ‘Blacksmyline’. John Home was Sir John Home of Blackadder,
who was a Sheriff Depute. The second John Home was Sir John Home of Rentoun, Lord Justice
Clerk, while Alexander Smith was the Moderator of the Presbytery of Duns. He resided in
Chirnside and investigated the cases. Alisoun’s husband, William Stevinsoun, was 50 years old and
went through the same ordeal as his wife. Janet Brotherstanes and Janet Bowmaker were tried by
Commissioners John Cranstoun and George Ramsay (likely to be the Sir George Ramsay
mentioned earlier). John Cranstoun was a Sheriff Depute of Thornydykes. This gives an insight into
the division of duties in witchcraft cases. Ministers of the Church, Kirk Elders and the Kirk Session
would do the investigating and generally officials like Sheriffs would do the judging.
In this day and age, the thought of committing locals to their death because they were seen with the
devil, charming a neighbour’s cattle into death, or treating illnesses with herbal remedies, seems a
bit odd and surreal. The background to the ‘Border Burnings’ was that the more godly a Parish, the
more witches would try to make it ungodly. Therefore, the numbers of witches committed to death
was inevitably going to rise. Witches were in the possession of the devil and some female witches
were said to have made love to the anti-christ; allegedly the devil had a cold penis. Witches were
said to have been seen, first-hand, in the presence of the devil, perhaps in a wood and, if a
neighbour reported a person as being a witch, the accused was ‘delated’ and half way to being
convicted. Professional ‘prickers’ were used and these were people, possibly not from the local
district, who were brought in to test accused persons’ blood. They would prod a needle into the
accused, often using an instrument two inches long, and if there was blood, the person wasn’t a
witch. However, there were incentives to identifying witches, for the good of the Church, and in the
region of the neck and shoulders, there were little pockets where blood was difficult to identify.
These pockets were invariably found and therefore the victim was a witch.
Perhaps the most famous person in Berwickshire to be accused of being a witch was Helen Arnot,
Lady Manderstoune, who was ‘delated’ by a ‘vagabond, and self-confessed witch’ by the name of
Alexander Hammiltoun. The latter said that the good lady had asked him to stir up trouble with her
husband, Sir George Manderstoun, which the lady flatly denied. It was a long, drawn out affair and
Lady Manderstoun had friends in high places and she never reached trial. This was a scandal of the
area, quite unknown previously and a few years later Lady Manderstoun divorced her husband,
adding to the suspicion. She nevertheless survived the suspicion.
Saffron Quarter
By the mid 17th century, land which had previously belonged to the Priory was being fued, to the
future benefit of the town. A sasine (legal granting of feudal property) of 1653, by the Earl of
Haddington in favour of Robert Sandersone in Ald Caldstrem is of particular interest. It shows
changes to the original land called the ‘Croft’. In the document it is called Saffround Croft and in a
later deed it is called Saffron Quarter, a name that still survives in Coldstream (the newish house
where the Tweedbridge Garage used to be) . As the name suggests, the land may have been utilised
for the cultivation of Meadow Saffron, also called Autumn Crocus, a plant which is poisonous. An
apothecary3 owned the land at the turn of the century and the apothecaries used the Autumn Crocus
for the treatment of gout. Alternatively, the Dyers may have had their vats on this ground, as they
used the Saffron Crocus as one of their dyes. Alixander Watsone in Calstream is recorded as a dyir
in the mid 1600s. In the 17th century, the use of Saffron as a dye diminished because of its
increasing cost. Whatever the origins, one can only speculate but the name survives in ‘Saffron
House’ and ‘Saffron Quarter’.
3
is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians,
surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist (or a chemist or dispensing chemist), and some
caregivers.
Covenanters and Royalists
The Covenanters formed an important movement in the religion and politics of Scotland in the 17th
century. In religion, the movement was most associated with the promotion and development of
Presbyterianism as a form of church government favoured by the people, as opposed to Episcopacy,
favoured by the Crown (a form of church governance which is hierarchical in structure with
the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop). In politics, the
movement saw important developments in the character and operation of the Scottish Parliament,
which began a steady shift away from its medieval origins. The movement as a whole was
essentially conservative in tone, but it began a revolution that engulfed Scotland, England and
Ireland and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
The signing of the National Covenant in Greyfriars Kirk (Edinburgh) in February 1638 precipitated
the Bishops’ wars of 1639 and 1640. Charles I’s Royalist army, and General Alexander Leslie’s
Covenanters’ army, moved toward each other on the Border. The forward elements of the Royalist
army, under Lord Holland with his Horse (cavalry), were based at Wark. Lord Home’s Horse was
just over the Tweed at the Hirsel, the main bulk of Leslie’s army, including the Merse Foot, were
guarding the east coast against a Royalist invasion.
One of Lord Holland’s cavalry officers had ventured over the river, which in turn triggered a sharp
response from forty of Home’s Horse and one man was killed. Later Lords Home and Holland
exchanged letters of apology. The Royalists and the Covenanter armies converged on the Borders
and took up their stalemate positions. Charles I’s camp was at the Birks, opposite Paxton House;
some of his forward entrenchments were in the grounds of Paxton House, and can still be seen.
General Alexander Leslie’s Scottish Covenanters assembled on Duns Law. The confrontation
ended with the Treaty of Birks, also called the Pacification of Berwick. During the Second Bishop’s
War, and the Covenanting wars that followed, many of the locals would have joined their local
militias as part of the Army of the Solemn League and Covenant. This was again commanded by
General Alexander Leslie (Earl of Leven), and allied with the English Parliamentarians, against the
Royalists. The Earl of Haddington commanded his own Brigade, which was raised from the men of
the Merse and Lothian and their task was to engage the Royalist Troops at Berwick. Royalist
support was also strong in the area and the element of religious fervour on both sides produced a
volatile cocktail.
On the 18 August 1640, General David Leslie, with a large army of Covenanters, encamped on
Hirsel Law. The invasion commenced two days later. The army crossed the River Tweed at
Coldstream ford, his officers had previously drawn lots, and it fell to Colonel James Graham, Earl
of Montrose (later Marquis) to lead the way. Montrose personally waded into the swollen river in
full equipment, to show that it could be done. He then led his two Regiments across. Leslie’s Army
then advanced on Newcastle, ‘having lost but one soldier’ in the crossing. The Earl of Home’s Foot
from the Merse formed part of Leslie’s army. Not always was the fighting against the enemy,
sometimes it broke out in its own ranks, usually about conditions and being unpaid for long periods.
It is unclear if this was the case of a faction of Lord Ker’s Foot, who were mainly from Teviot, and
became involved in a mutiny at Durham in August 1641. Prior to the army being disbanded on their
return to Scotland, General Leslie had one of the mutineers shot on Hirsel Law. In 1648, an Act of
Parliament was passed to put the nation on a war footing; the Earls and Lairds were to be Colonels
of Horse and Foot. For the Sherrifdom of Berwick there were the Earls of Home and Haddington
and the Lairds of Langton and Prenderguest. Among the Commissioners of War for Berwickshire
were Robert Dickson of Bughtrig, James Hoppringle of Torsonce, Lancelot Pringle of Lees and
Edward Trotter of Darnchester.
Dissension/Oath of Abjuration 1685
A bitter struggle went on in Scotland after the Reformation to preserve the truth of Scripture and the
biblical way of worshipping God. The Stuart kings were determined to impose prelacy on the realm
but the Presbyterians were determined to resist it. With only a brief respite during the days of
Oliver Cromwell, the struggle went on from the time of James I to the deposition of James II in
1688. In December 1684, the government produced an ‘Abjuration Oath’, which all Scots were
required to swear on pain of death. As a result, many Scots were killed, especially in the southwest. Prior to this, the Lennel parish minister William Johnstone is recorded on the Nonconformist
Roll of 1663 and he was later ‘deprived’. This area was affected by the Oath and on 3 February
1685, residents in Lennel Parish had to take the Oath of Abjuration which was in effect an Oath of
Allegiance to Charles II. The King died on 6 February 1685 and on his deathbed had secretly sworn
allegiance to Catholicism. The following locals are mentioned in the records of that time:Coldstreame towne: Robert Bowie, Elspethe Swintoune, Heline Pringle, Agnas Merser, Bessie
Bairbairne, Bessie Thomsone, James Faire, Issabell Oswald, Janet Falconer, Heline Downie, David
Tailyor, Agnas Midlmist
Newtowne of Coldstream: Agnas Dodds, Heline Aitkine, Beatrix Leathead, John Wightman,
Issabell Jaffray, John Park, Isssobell Murrays, Margaret Watherit.
Darnchester: John French, George Wilsone elder, George Wilsone junior
Wyliecleughmains: James Aitken, Beatrix Cummine, James Mader, Isabell Walker.
Wylieclewghmillne: Mark Bell, Bessie Kerse.
Wyliecleugh: Robert Dicksone, Janet Marjoribanks, Agnas Dicksone, Andrew Mader, Janet Hope
Lennell Hill: Marion Lyell, Robert Steavensone.
Graden Barronie: Robert Purvis, Issobell Aire, Alisine Smith, Janet Purvis, Elspeth Purves,
Andrew Gardner, Margaret Kinghorne, Thomas Forrester, Robert Watsone, Sussana Charters
Skaithmoore: Andrew Marchell, Agnas Kennadie, George Kinghorne, Issobell Wightman, William
Kers
Castellaw:- John Watsonne, Elspeth French, Gerge Watsonne
Litle Todrige:- Jeane Lundie, George Achesone, Robert Auld
Halkslaw:- Elspeth Hopper, Robert French, Alexander Bell, George Ridpath
(The above of course, again shows how forenames and surnames have evolved over the years).
John Blackie of Kittle-Naked (Coldstream Mains) probably refused to take the oath as he was on
the Fugitive Roll of 5 May 1684. In Brown’s ‘Covenanters of the Merse’, he tells us of the time
when Presbyterian men and women of the area were forced to carry on their religious beliefs in
secret in Conventicles, the favoured location being on Duns Law, or Choicelee. Coldstream Moor
to the north of the town may well have been used for this purpose. The Episcopalians also suffered
persecution when the Covenanters gained power.
Coldstream Guards
Some initial and important points
General Monk’s H.Q. was in the old Market Place of Coldstream, and it is said he stabled his horses
in the old Priory church. The original building he used for his H.Q. is no longer there, but a new
building was built in 1865, which is now Coldstream Museum. As well as depicting the town’s
history, it has an excellent, permanent exhibition devoted to the Coldstream Guards. The cap badge
of the Coldstream Guards is the Star of the foremost British Order of Chivalry: The Most Noble
Order of the Garter; its motto is ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’ (‘Shame be to he who thinks evil of it’).
Captain William Home, Lord Dunglass, served and fought with his Regiment, the Coldstream
Guards, against the Americans, at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on 15 March 1781. He was
badly wounded and died the following December. The Earl of Home built an imposing memorial to
his son in the form of an obelisk, mentioned in more detail later. In the Statistical Account,
Reverend Goldie informs us that in the town ‘those who are fond of a military life have a
predilection to the Coldstream Regiment of Guards’. In January 2010, the Guards replicated the
journey taken by General Monck’s troops in 1660, marching from Coldstream to London.
Brief History
The origin of the Coldstream Guards lies in the English Civil War, when Oliver Cromwell gave
Colonel George Monck permission to form his own regiment as part of the New Model Army.
Monck took men from the regiments of George Fenwick and Sir Arthur Haselrig, five companies
each, and on 23 August 1650 formed Monck's Regiment of Foot. It took part in the Battle of
Dunbar, where the Roundheads defeated the forces of Charles Stuart After which Monck's regiment
remained in Scotland. After Cromwell's death, Monck turned to support the monarchy and, on 1
January 1660, crossed the River Tweed into England at Coldstream and began a five-week march to
London. He arrived in London on 2 February and helped in the Restoration of the monarchy. For
his help, Monck was given the Order of the Garter and his regiment was assigned to keep order in
London. However, the new parliament soon ordered his regiment to be disbanded with the other
regiments of the New Model Army. Before that could happen, Parliament was forced to rely on the
help of the regiment against an army mutiny on 6 January 1661 with the regiment successfully
defeating the rebels.
On 14 February the men of the regiment symbolically laid down their arms as part of the New
Model Army and were immediately ordered to take them up again as a royal regiment of The Lord
General's Regiment of Foot Guards, a part of the Household Troops. The regiment was placed as
the second senior regiment of Household Troops, but they answered to that by adopting the motto
Nulli Secundus, Second to None, due to the fact that the regiment was older than its senior regiment.
The regiment always stands on the left of the line when on parade with rest of the Foot Guards, thus
standing "second to none". When Monck died in 1670, the Earl of Craven took command of the
regiment and it adopted a new name, the Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards. The regiment saw
active service in Flanders and in the Monmouth Rebellion, including the decisive Battle of
Sedgemoor in 1685. After 1688 they fought in the Battle of Walcourt in 1689, the Battle of Landen
and the Siege of Namur. In 1760, the 2nd Battalion was sent to Germany to campaign under Prince
Ferdinand of Brunswick and fought in the Battle of Wilhelmstal and at the Castle of Arnoneberg.
Three Guards companies of 307 men under Coldstream commander Colonel Matthew fought in the
American War of Independence.
The Coldstream Regiment saw extensive service in the wars against the French Revolution and in
the Napoleonic Wars. Under the command of Sir Ralph Abercrombie they defeated French troops
in Egypt. In 1807 they took part in the investment of Copenhagen. In January 1809 they sailed to
Portugal to join the forces under the Duke of Wellington. The 2nd Battalion joined the Walcheren
Expedition. Later it served as part of the 2nd Guards Brigade in the Chateau of Hougoumont on the
outskirts of the Battle of Waterloo. This defence is considered one of the greatest achievements of
the regiment, and an annual ceremony of "Hanging the Brick" is performed each year in the
Sergeants' Mess to commemorate the efforts of Cpl James Graham and Lt-Col James Macdonnell,
who shut the North Gate after a French attack. Wellington himself declared after the battle that "the
success of the battle turned upon closing the gates at Hougoumont".
The regiment was later part of the British occupation forces of Paris until 1816. During the Crimean
War, the Coldstream Guards fought in the battles of Alma, Inkerman and Sevastopol. On their
return, four of the guardsmen were awarded the newly-instituted Victoria Cross. The regiment
received its current name, The Coldstream Guards, in 1855. In 1882 they were sent to Egypt against
the rebels of Ahmed 'Urabi and in 1885 in the Suakin Campaign. In 1897, the Coldstreamers were
reinforced with the addition of the 3rd battalion. The 1st and 2nd battalions were dispatched to
South Africa at the outbreak of the Second Boer War.
At the outbreak of the First World War, Coldstreamers were among the first British regiments to
arrive in France after Britain declared war on Germany. In the following battles, they suffered
heavy losses, in two cases losing all their officers. At the first Battle of Ypres the 1st battalion was
virtually annihilated, by 1 November down to 150 men and the Lt Quartermaster. They fought at
Mons, Loos, the Somme, Ginchy and in the 3rd Battle of Ypres. They also formed the 4th (Pioneer)
Battalion, which was disbanded after the war, in 1919. The 5th Reserve battalion never left Britain
before it was disbanded.
When the Second World War began, the 1st and 3rd battalions of the Coldstream Guards were part
of the British Expeditionary Force in France. They also formed additional 4th and 5th battalions for
the duration of the war. They fought extensively in North Africa and Europe as dismounted infantry
and the 1st battalion in the Guards Armoured Division. The 4th battalion first became a motorised
battalion in 1940 and then an armoured battalion in 1943. The 4th and 5th served as part of the
Guards Armoured Division. A 6th battalion was also formed in 1941 but was disbanded in 1943
without seeing any action. Coldstreamers gave up their tanks at the end of the war, the new
battalions were disbanded and the troops distributed to the 1st and 2nd Guard Training Battalions.
After the war, the 1st and 3rd battalions served in Palestine. The 2nd battalion served in the
Malayan Emergency. The 3rd battalion was placed in suspended animation in 1959. The remaining
battalions served during the Mau Mau rebellion, in Aden, Mauritius in 1965, in the Cyprus
Emergency in 1974 and several times in Northern Ireland after 1969.
The Regimental Band of the Coldstream Guards was the first act on stage at the Wembley leg of the
1985 Live Aid charity concert. They played for the Prince and Princess of Wales. More recently,
the band's Fanfare team opened Live 8 in Hyde Park in the summer of 2005. After the Cold War,
the 1st battalion was dispatched to the first Gulf War where it was involved in prisoner of war
handling and other roles. In 1993, due to defence cutbacks, the 2nd battalion was placed in
suspended animation and its colours are maintained by No 7 Company, which is permanently
stationed in London on ceremonial duties. For much of the 1990s, the 1st Battalion was stationed in
Munster, Germany in the Armoured Infantry Role with Warrior APC's as part of 4th Armoured
Brigade. In 1993-1994 the battalion served as an armoured infantry battalion in peacekeeping duties
in Bosnia as part of UNPROFOR with the Battalion Headquarters in Vitez with additional outposts
in Gornji Vakuf and Sarajevo. The battalion was posted to Derry, Northern Ireland on a 2-year
deployment in 2001. It deployed to Iraq in April 2005 for a 6 month tour with the rest of 12th
Mechanised Brigade, based in the south of the country. The battalion lost two of its soldiers - on 2
May, near Al Amarah and on 18 October at Basra. Des Browne, then Secretary of State for
Defence, announced on 19 July 2007 that the battalion was to be sent, as part of 52 Infantry
Brigade, to Afghanistan in October 2007. In March 2008 while on patrol with the ANA, members
of the Regiment discovered a Taliban torture chamber. The Battalion was again sent to Helmand
province during October 2009 for another six month tour.
Traditions and Role
The grouping of buttons on the tunic is a common way to distinguish between the regiments of Foot
Guards. Coldstream buttons are arranged in pairs, and a star of the garter is marked on their
brassware. The regiment is ranked second in the order of precedence, behind the Grenadier Guards.
This is because the Grenadier Guards have served the Crown for a longer period of time. However,
the Coldstream Guards is an older regiment, and because of this, has the motto Nulli Secundus
(Second to None). The regiment's formal title is Her Majesty's Coldstream Regiment of Foot
Guards. Their nickname is 'Lilywhites'. An ordinary soldier of the regiment is called a Guardsman,
a designation granted by King George V after the First World War. The regiment is always referred
to as the Coldstream, never as the Coldstreams, likewise a member of the regiment is referred to as
a Coldstreamer.
Currently the most prominent role of the 1st Battalion and No. 7 Company is the performance of
ceremonial duties in London and Windsor as part of the Household Division. No. 7 Company
serves as an incremental Company in London and amongst other duties provides a Guard for the
Queen's Birthday Parade. Duties include the State Opening of Parliament, Trooping the Colour and
the Remembrance Sunday parade. No. 7 company is involved in the Changing of the Guard. In the
1954 film, Carrington V.C. the President of the Court-martial comments on the ‘foot stamping’ of
the Sergeant orderly by referring to the Coldstream Guards: ‘A vile habit, introduced quite recently
by Her Majesty's foot guards’. The foot stamping referring to stamping the boot to punctuate the
end of each movement of foot drill. Companies that make up the regiment are traditionally
numbered - the 1st Battalion contains HQ Coy, plus No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 (Support) Coys.
The Coldstream Guards Band and the staff of RHQ constitute No. 15 Coy. No. 7 Coy is the
incremental company that is used for public duties and maintains the traditions of the 2nd Battalion.
New officers destined for the regiment who are at Sandhurst or at ATR Pirbright form No. 13 Coy,
while Guardsmen under training at ITC Catterick make up No. 14 Coy. Operationally, the
Coldstream Guards currently perform the role of light infantry.
The 1st Battalion is based in Aldershot as an operational light infantry battalion. Under the reforms
announced in 2004, the Coldstream Guards will be given this as a fixed role, alternating the public
duties task with the Irish Guards. The Corps of Drums, in addition to their ceremonial role, has the
role of machine gun platoon. All Guardsmen for public duties wear the 'Home Service' dress tunic
in summer or greatcoat in winter and bearskin with a red plume. The Coldstream Guards regimental
band plays at Changing of The Guard, state visits and many other events. All of the regiments'
musicians were trained as medical orderlies, however they now undertake a role in nuclear,
biological and chemical decontamination. Unlike the other four regiments of foot guards, which
recruit from each of the four home nations, the Coldstream Guards has a specific recruiting area,
which encompasses the counties that Monck's Regiment passed through on its march from
Coldstream to London.
Before closing on ‘traditions and roles’, an interesting snippet relates to General Monck’s move to
Coldstream, where he set up his H.Q. This is described in detail by one of his chaplains, Thomas
Gumble, in his Life of General Monck, Duke of Albemarle (1671) p161:
‘…..and then the General is on horse-back by two of the clock in the morning, to visit the Fords
down the River of Twede ; and being very dark and the way all Ice, and up-hill and down-hill, we
might well say we were set in slippery places for it was God’s infinite mercy that we had not our
Necksbroke…’.
Monk’s chaplains went out in search of food, after a while they arrived at the Hirsel, the seat of the
Earl of Home, where they given hospitality and food, leaving the General virtually starving in his
H.Q. According to Dr Gumble, the General’s Headquarters in Coldstream, ‘was a little smoky
Cottage with two great Dunghills at the Door; not an Hall or Entry as dark and narrow as a man
could turn in it; the Rooms were Worse than I can describe…….’
On 21 December being a Sunday, a church Parade was held at New Coldstream for a Day of
Humiliation.
The Plague
Throughout the 17th century there were frequent outbreaks of the Plague, ‘the pestilence’ as it was
known. One such outbreak in May 1635 had broken out at Crammond but had not entered southern
Scotland. In the Border towns of Coldstream, Duns, Kelso, Jedburgh, Melrose, Hawick and Selkirk,
the markets and fairs were prohibited. A proclamation was issued at the ‘mercat croce of
Coldstream’ that all trade was to be stopped from across the border until further notice. The
following year, the annual fair was forbidden and the weekly ‘mercat keeped at Caldstreame,
ordaining no mercat to be keeped there before 25th August.’ The plague was by no means
eradicated quickly, and proclamations were still being issued by the Privy Council the following
year. These stated that persons who were suspected of being infected were to be kept apart from the
populace, and ‘commanding thame in his Majesteis name to stay in an appointed place and stay
there until after a lawful trial that they are free from that contagion…..under pain of death’. There
had been a breakout in what the Council called the English Middle shires and North
Northumberland, at Etal, Kimmerston, Wark and Cornhill.
The Privy Council issued instructions to the ‘Earl of Home, Sir John Home of Blackadder, William
Home of Ayton, William Hume of Linthil, Lancelot Pringle of Lees, Baillie of Caldstreame, Robert
Ker of Graden and others…Commanding that thai will answerable upon thair dewtie, to have a
speciall care and regard that none be sufferd to resort nor retaire to the bounds upon the English
side infected with the said contagion …’. The plague had not abated, as an entry of the Register of
the Privy Council (3 June 1637) testifies, with the heading: ‘Anent the plague on the Borders’;
saying that the contagion was in the Borders where people were ‘dieing with the said contagion not
onlie natives but also Englishmen ….where the said contagion rages….’. The Lords of the Borders
were to instruct the magistrates of their towns, including Kelso, Dunce and Caldstreame, to exercise
the utmost vigilance, that no person coming from the infected districts be harboured within their
bounds, or that they be sequestrated for observation and trial. Every landowner had to erect a
‘lodge’ for the reception of the infected, and watchers were to keep constant guard on the ‘lodge’
and the town.
Tumult at Coldstream Fair
On 19 June 1675, a riot broke out at the yearly fair when Alexander Brown, collector of customs,
and his assistants, were attacked in exercising their duty. They had seized a number of horses,
where duty had not been paid. Whereupon, they reported that Alexander Milne of Coldstream,
Gilbert Bell, Coldstream Sheriff officer and John Fine of Redden, ‘had covocated threescore
persons all in armes, with swords pistolles, fork, battons and other weapons invasive, did pursue
and invade the said complainers and in great rage and fury did beat them……..seized upon their
horses and carried them away and by ane uproar and tumult occassioned did dissolve the said
fair…’. A great many goods and horses were taken without paying; the offenders were to appear
before the court; but the outcome is unrecorded. This is likely to be in relation to the non-paying of
horse tax.
Schools
There is very little information about education in Coldstream in this period and there was no
school in Coldstream in 1627. James Oswald, a notary, is mentioned in his wife’s will as
schoolmaster in 1659; George Watson was the schoolmaster in 1669, and had been for some years.
In 1691, two elders were appointed to tell George Fortune: ‘that he put away that man that keeps
school in his house being that he is a stranger not attested and a most profane wretch.’ The matter
was resolved when William Willis, the notary was to set up a school and to ‘keep it in the Abbey of
Coldstream’. At the end of the century, Adam Milne is recorded as schoolmaster. In 1799 the
annual salary for the schoolmaster was £16.
Glorious Revolution
When in 1689, William Prince of Orange became King, every one was required to take the Test or
oath of allegiance. The revolution was much more violent in Scotland than in England and many
borderers rallied behind regiments that were raised locally. The 25th of Foot (KOSB), Leven’s
Regiment, was raised (1689) in Edinburgh, for its defence against the Jacobites. There was,
however, strong support for King James especially in the Highlands. The Government Army was
defeated at the Battle of Killiecrankie although the Government forces are usually, but incorrectly,
depicted as an English Army. They were, in fact, an Army consisting mainly of Lowland Scots.
Not everyone took the Test in the Coldstream Parish and there were many who refused for reasons
of conscience or religious conviction. One such was the Reverend Thomas Blair, the Coldstream
Parish minister. He was deprived of his benefice in 1689, ‘for his disloyalty and disobediance in not
reading the Estates proclamation and praying for their Majesties King William and Queen
Mary….’ It seems that he continued to minister in the district, as there was a complaint made
against him in 1697. By 1715 he is recorded as minister of St. Helen’s, Cornhill-on-Tweed, where
he was minister for nearly ten years. Thomas Blair died on 23d August 1736 and his name lives on
in the humorous verse on his gravestone:
Here lies the Reverend Thomas Blair,
A man of worth and wit,
Who preached for 50 years and mair,
According to the spirit,
He preached off book to shun offence,
And what is still more rare,
He never spoke a word of sense,
So preached Tommy Blair.
Hanoverians and Jacobites
Jacobitism was (and, to a limited extent, remains) the political movement dedicated to the
restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The movement took
its name from the Latin form Jacobus of the name James. Jacobitism was a response to the
deposition of James II and VII in 1688 when he was replaced by his daughter Mary II jointly with
her husband and first cousin William of Orange. The Stuarts lived on the European mainland after
that, occasionally attempting to regain the throne with the aid of France or Spain. The primary seats
of Jacobitism were Ireland and Scotland, particularly the Scottish Highlands. In England,
Jacobitism was strongest in the north, and some support also existed in Wales. Many embraced
Jacobitism because they believed parliamentary interference with monarchical succession to be
illegitimate, and many Catholics hoped the Stuarts would end discriminatory laws. Still other
people of various allegiances became involved in the military campaigns for all sorts of motives. In
Scotland the Jacobite cause became entangled in the last throes of the warrior Clan system, and
became a lasting romantic memory.
The emblem of the Jacobites is the White Rose of York. White Rose Day is celebrated on 10 June,
the anniversary of the birth of the Old Pretender in 1688. During the Jacobite Rising of 1715 there
was minor activity in the Borders area when in October, a group of rebel horse dragoons, passing
through on their way to reinforce the Jacobites at Warkworth, assembled at Coldstream and
proclaimed James, King, at the market cross before proceeding to Wooler. During the 1745
Rebellion, some thirty years later, the Hanoverian Colonel Gardiner, and his 13th Dragoons were
quartered at Coldstream; his Dragoons formed part of General Cope’s Government force at
Prestonpans. Colonel Gardiner was killed during the battle. The defeat of the Hanovarian Army, by
the Highland Army (Jacobite) at Prestonpans was a humiliating defeat for their commander
General, Sir John Cope. After the Highland Army’s onslaught, the 8th Earl of Home (William
Home, became Lieutenant-General in 1759), was in command of a Regiment of Foot (probably 3rd
Foot Guards) and tried to rally the Government troops, but to no avail.
After the battle, Cope led the remnants of his defeated Army over the Lammermuirs, his destination
was Berwick-upon-Tweed. He halted briefly at Lauder ‘for refreshments’. His exhausted Dragoons
arrived at Coldstream on the evening of 24 September 1745; here he rested his men overnight, some
of his Dragoons were quartered over the Tweed at Cornhill. The Jacobite song ‘Sir Johnnie Cope’
is still played on the bagpipes at Reveille in Scottish Regiments. The song was composed in 1745
by Archibald Skirving, and later Robert Burns penned his own version; this being the chorus:-
O Hey! Johnnie Cope, are ye waukin’ yet?
Or are your drums a-beating yet ?
If you were waukin’ I wad wait
Tae gang tae the coals in the morning.
Prior to his advance on Carlisle, Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite Army camped at Kelso,
with the Prince staying at Sunlaws House. An easterly feint through Wooler, towards Newcastle,
was planned to put General Wade off the scent. Whether the small party of Jacobites at Coldstream
was part of this deception is unclear. At any rate they made the news in a Letter from Berwick 6
November 1745, in the Penny London Post which reported that five Berwick Volunteers had been
alerted to the news that three Jacobites had been seen at Coldstream, and as they approached the inn
where the Highlanders were: ‘one of the Volunteers immediately ran to the room door where he
was met by one of the Highlanders, who snapped his pistol at him, and clapped to the door; the
Volunteer then fired his pistol through the door, but did no execution. The Highlanders then got out
of the house a back way, but as they were getting over a dyke two of them were taken, who
delivered up their broadswords and pistols; but the third made his escape, however they got all
their horses.’ Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Army had taken Carlisle and its Castle by the 16 th
November.
Window Taxes
Evidence of the window tax can be seen today in Coldstream. For example, the house at 37 High
Street has a blocked off window, as has the Lees Lodge. The window tax was a tax on having glass,
which was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in the kingdoms of England,
Scotland and then Great Britain during the 17th and 18th centuries. Some houses from the period
can be seen to have bricked-up window-spaces (ready to be glazed at a later date), as a result of the
tax. The tax was introduced under the Act of Making Good the Deficiency of the Clipped Money in
1696, under King William III, and was designed to impose tax relative to the prosperity of the
taxpayer, but without the controversy that then surrounded the idea of income tax.
Window tax was relatively unintrusive and easy to assess. The bigger the house, the more windows
it was likely to have and the more tax the occupants would pay. Nevertheless, the tax was
unpopular because it was seen by some as a tax on "light and air" and many believe the term
‘daylight robbery’ emanated from the tax. In Scotland, the window tax was imposed by William
Pitt the Younger in the 1780s in the financial district in Edinburgh and to this day "Pitt's Pictures"
(blacked out windows with white painted cross-frames) can be seen in Charlotte Square. The tax
was not repealed until 1851, when it was replaced by House Duty.
Floods
Flooding is not new to Coldstream and in October 1665 an appeal was made by the Kirk Session
and the inhabitants of the town for contributions toward the rebuilding of Leet Bridge, which had
been destroyed during a flood: ‘by a deludge the bridge of Leit was caryed quite away to the great
predjudice of the paroch’. The session complained that the parish was separated from going to the
church in summer or winter. In 1797, another large flood, called the Roller Flood which took its
name (according to David Milne Home of Wedderburn), ‘from the circumstance that a large
wooden roller for farm purposes, lying on Leeshaugh near Coldstream, was lifted by the flood,
carried down to the mouth of the river, and stranded on Spittal beach. Having been recovered, it
was sent back to Lees’. James Bell DD, in the Statistical Account of Scotland 1791-1799, observed:
‘The only part of the parish subject to inundations is the Lees Haugh…..the greatest land-flood
remembered by the oldest people then alive, happened in May 1783.’ The Reverend Bell also
recorded ‘there is no town in the south of Scotland so well situated as Coldstream’. He must have
been referring the Coldstream’s beauty nit its flood prevention.
Coldstream Bridge and Demise of the Ferries
Prior to the bridge being built, people travelling to and from Coldstream across the Tweed would go
either by ford, by Wark ferry, or by a ferry that operated from the Cornhill side, opposite Jacob’s
Well. According to Roy’s map (1750), the track from the ferry on the Coldstream side joined the
Lennel road near the old saw-mill. The present road to the bridge did not exist at the time and was
cut much later. The historical notes on Underhill’s Town Plan of Coldstream (1862) refer to this:
The approach to the town from the bridge was originally up the steep hill on the north side, in a
westerly direction, and it entered the Coldstream and Lennel road immediately eastward to the
farmstead of Gallows Knowe. This road however, being found to be steep and circuitous, the
present more convenient and direct one was made in 1830, at the same time that the bridge was
repaired….
Kelso Bridge was built in 1755 and, once built, public interest in building a bridge at Coldstream
increased. The initiative came from the Scottish side and in 1759 an Act of Parliament was passed
authorizing the building of a toll-bridge as part of the Berwickshire turnpike road system. A group
of Gentlemen of Scotland, led by the Earl of Lauderdale, approached Parliament in 1762 for money
for a free bridge, on the grounds that that it could be used for the movement of soldiers and their
heavy weapons and equipment in and out of Scotland. In the February of that year, Robert Reid,
Architect, went to London with a plan for the bridge, to lobby support. He was very successful and
£4,000 was allocated by Parliament to the project. The construction of the bridge was organisd and
overseen by the Turnpike Commissioners of Berwickshire who were twenty noblemen and
gentlemen from the County, headed by the Earls of Home, Lauderdale and Marchmont. At their
first meeting, at Greenlaw on 12 May 1762, they appointed a bridge committee of men from both
sides of the Border: George Baillie of Jerviswood, James Ker of Loriston, David Gavin of
Langtoun, Henry Collingwood of Cornhill, Francis Blake of Twizel, James Pringle of the Lees and
Sir John Paterson of Eccles.
The first committee meeting took place at Cornhill five days later, when Robert Reid was appointed
overseer of the works, with power to employ men and to make trial borings for the bridge’s
foundations. Reid, who came to Coldstream from Haddington, was a stonemason who had worked
on military roads and bridges with General Wade in Scotland. His plan for a new bridge of five
arches, with the distinctive roundels or eyes in the spandrels, was adopted. Reid began the work of
opening a quarry on the boundary between Lord Home’s and Mr. Pringle’s estates, that is between
the Hirsel and the Lees. This is likely to have been the quarry behind Woodlands Park housing
estate. He engaged six masons to cut the stone. However, there was a problem in recruiting
labourers to work in the quarry at 8d or 10d a day, and for a time twelve soldiers were borrowed
from the Northumberland Militia, then stationed at Berwick. Subsequently many local tradesmen
and workers were employed at the bridge. Almost a year past before John Smeaton was called upon
for advice. He was sent a copy of Reid’s plan and he replied with several suggestions for minor
improvements which did not alter the basic design. He advised that building should start on the
south side of the river, and the foundation stone was laid there by the Earl of Home, with much
ceremony, on 18 May 1763.
Smeaton came to Coldstream for the first time on 26 July to give his general approval to the work
that had been undertaken on the southern abutment and the first pier, which had been founded upon
rock. He made one significant improvement to Reid’s plan - flattening the whole structure by
levelling the approach roads and reducing steep rises at each end of the bridge. He also introduced
the diagonal approach road, which now forms the highway into Coldstream. Smeaton’s role
thereafter was that of a consultant, addressing problems by letter or, occasionally, in personal visits
to the site. He was a constant source of advice, encouragement and instruction. The main difficulty
that faced him was the founding of the two middle piers of the bridge on wooden piles in the loose
gravel that overlaid the bed of the river. It was not until the end of 1765 that all the piers were
established, but by then the three southern arches had been turned. In the next year the bridge began
to take shape and people, on foot, began to venture across, depriving John Henderson, the boatman,
of his dues. On 28 October 1766 the bridge was opened to all sorts of carriages, despite some
outstanding work which was still to be completed. Because of cost creep, it was decided to make it
a toll bridge, with Mr Henderson the first toll-gatherer. This led to the building of a toll-house and a
two-storey dwelling below it for Mr. Reid’s use. While it is always called the Smeaton Bridge, the
important role of Robert Reid should not be overlooked.
Since then, the bridge has experienced some repair and change including:1784 – the weir was added to the east to reduce erosion;
Early 1800s – the southern approach road was realigned;
1828 – spandrels were removed and replaced;
1830 - according the to the Reverend A.E. Swinton the approach to Coldstream from the bridge was
originally up the steep hill onto the Lennel Road which it joined just east of the Gallowsknowe
where the Golf House was. This roundabout route was replaced in 1830 by the present road when
the bridge was being repaired;
1893 – the cauld below the bridge was strengthened with over 60 tons of concrete used; also large
blocks of granite were used, quarried in Aberdeenshire and Cumberland, and the contractor for the
cauld job was Oliver from Edinburgh;
1922 – the foundations were reinforced with concrete;
1960-1961 – concrete relieving arches were used to strengthen the bridge; the bridge was widened
and cantilevered footpaths were installed.
Arches, such as those in the Coldstream Bridge, appeared as early as the Second Millennium BC in
Mesopotamian brick architecture, but their systematic use began with the Ancient Romans who
were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures. Therefore, a bit of Rome is in
Coldstream bridge! The bridge is a Grade II listed structure. John Smeaton was perhaps more
famous for his building of the Eddystone Lighthouse. He was born in Austhorpe, Leeds, England
and after studying at Leeds Grammar School, joined his father's law firm. He then left to become a
mathematical instrument maker (working with Henry Hindley), developing, among other
instruments, a pyrometer to study material expansion and a whirling speculum or horizontal top (a
maritime navigation aid). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1753 and in 1759 won
the Copley Medal for his research into the mechanics of waterwheels and windmills. His 1759
paper "An Experimental Enquiry Concerning the Natural Powers of Water and Wind to Turn Mills
and Other Machines Depending on Circular Motion" addressed the relationship between pressure
and velocity for objects moving in air, and his concepts were subsequently developed to devise the
'Smeaton Coefficient'.
Over the period 1759-1782, he performed a series of further experiments and measurements on
waterwheels that led him to support and champion the vis-à-vis theory of German Gottfried
Leibniz, an early formulation of the conservation of energy. This led him into conflict with
members of the academic establishment who rejected Leibniz's theory, believing it inconsistent
with Sir Isaac Newton's conservation of momentum. The debate was sadly marred by unfortunate
nationalistic sentiments on the establishment's part. He was also responsible for ‘Smeaton's
Harbour’ in Rye, East Sussex. This was designed to keep Rye as a sea-going port after the river
Rother had silted up. Robert Reid (1774-1856) was the King's architect and surveyor for Scotland
from 1827 to 1839 and was responsible for a number of public works, particularly the façade of
Parliament Square in Edinburgh, which houses the Court of Session. Following fellow architect
Robert Adam's death, Reid contributed to the layout of Charlotte Square in the city, constructing a
home for himself there (No. 44) and completing the design for West Register House (formerly St
George's Church). In 1802 he went on to contribute to the planning of the northern part of
Edinburgh's New Town and in 1834 further revisited Adam's works in extending Register House.
The cost of the Coldstream bridge was £6,000, with government grants funding most of the project
and the shortfall covered by a mixture of local subscriptions and loans from Edinburgh's banks,
which were to be paid back by the tolling system. The tolling system lasted until 1826 when it was
ceased, despite protestations from the famous engineer Thomas Telford that by 1820, the debt on
the bridge had been cleared. There was controversy when the project's engineer, Robert Reid, used
some of the funds to build accommodation for himself, but the trustees were assuaged when
Smeaton argued that the house would actually help support the bridge. It seems that Smeaton was
sympathetic to Reid, believing him to be underpaid for his work. The Marriage House, and
accommodation below, was constructed at a cost of £27. From the road, the Marriage House
appears to be a single storey building but on viewing the rear, it is actually a very impressive, threestorey building. The part of the house nearest the bridge was refurbished in 1957. The bridge has
seen some famous and popular events which have included a visit by the National Bard, Robert
Burns, on 7 May 1787, the return of the Stone of Destiny in 1996, Coldstream Burns Club annual
Commemoration and the crossing of the bridge each August by the Coldstreamer and his cavalcade
on his way to Flodden.
All these events are expanded on elsewhere in the book. It took around one hundred and fifty years
for the authorities to install a plaque on the bridge, indicating when it had been built. This
installation took place in September 1924 when a tablet was placed on the east side. The bridge and
its travellers have had some lucky escapes, none more so than in 1953 when a Wallsend lorry
driver, at the height of a blizzard, skidded his furniture removal van on soft snow and smashed into
the bridge wall beside the Marriage House. A few yards further back and the lorry would have slid
fifty feet into the Tweed. Locals will remember a few years back when a milk lorry slid into the
same wall, spilling hundreds of gallons of milk into the river, requiring treatment to the water as
milk apparently kills fish. Other close shaves have been witnessed too. Coldstream Bridge has
stood strongly against many floods, particularly those of 1782, 1798, 1948 and 1963. Up until 1983,
when the Berwick by-pass was opened, Coldstream Bridge carried all the exceptionally heavy loads
that were conveyed by road to and from eastern Scotland. Coldstream Bridge is the greatest of John
Smeaton’s works to survive unspoiled. He and Reid built a monument of great strength and beauty.
It is often overlooked and ignored as vehicles hurry across it, but is much-loved by Coldstream
people.
Conditions in the Burgh in the late 1700s
It’s always interesting to read about environmental and living conditions in days gone by and here
are some basic facts about the district in the late 1700s. First of all, the town was situated in the
Presbytery of Chirnside and the Synod of the Merse and Teviotdale. The air was generally dry and
healthy and the records showed much more rain at Dinse (Duns) and Woller (Wooler). While
nowadays we worry about swine ‘flu and MRSA, in the 1700s agues (malaria, which was rife in
certain parts of Southern Scotland) prevailed in some seasons but not regularly. Headaches,
toothaches and nervous complaints in general were more frequent and children from poorer families
were more prone to Scrophula4.
4
Scrophula, or Evil, is a swelling of the conglobate glands, particularly about the neck and ears; though
sometimes extending to the arm-pit and the groin.
The River Tweed had always produced fish and it was the same in the 1700s with ‘bull trouts,
whittings, grilses and salmon’ a regular feature. Meetings were held by the gentlemen of the Merse
and Teviotdale ‘to deliberate the practicability and expediency of rendering the Tweed navigable,
or of cutting a canal through two counties to the sea’. Imagine that, a canal in the Borders? Whether
there was coal in the parish remained doubtful; some trials had been conducted without success.
The price of coal was said to be moderate, but should the canal project have transpired, the price of
coal would have become cheaper. Examples of employment in the town included labourers, carters
(several of whom farmed 3 or 4 acres of land), bakers, butchers, smiths, gardeners, saddlers, tailors,
merchants, innkeepers and ale sellers, a physician and a surgeon.
There were no natural woods, forests, waste or common grounds and the good quality of the barley
facilitated a distillery or brewery, neither of which existed in Coldstream at that time. The ale, beer
and porter came from Ednam. The hinds roll (the principal class of servants belonging to the great
farmers) gave hinds an annual income as follows – eight bolls of oats, two and a half bolls of peas
and barley, coals led, a cow’s grass, a pig and poultry to be fed at the discretion of the Master. Prior
to 1735 the poor were supported by the Sunday collections and charitable contributions. In 1741,
the Session requested the Justices of the Peace to call for the poor’s list, and appoint overseers. The
weekly cost of the poor was ten shillings and in 1765 the number on the poor list was twenty two
yet in 1785 the number on the poor list was forty six. Two ‘evils’ had arisen from the rapid increase
of the poor’s rate. One was in fact relying on the rates, the common people not endeavoring to
provide anything for a time of sickness, scarcity or the approach of old age. Lastly the number of
ale-houses were said to have the worst effect upon the people, encouraging almost every vice!
Famous People
Bishop Richard Pococke, the great traveller and antiquary visited Coldstream in the 1760s, on his
third tour of Scotland. After crossing the Tweed on the Cornhill/Coldstream Ferry, he later wrote:
‘stopped at that poor town’… Commenting on the Abbey; he observed there were no remains of the
old Cistercian Nunnery, except part of the Gateway. He mentioned Abbey Leys which he thought
was the dairy of the Abbey, ‘where Mr.Pringle has built a handsome house and made a beautiful
plantation’ (Lees House).
Robert Burns (1759-1796), the Scottish National Bard visited Coldstream in May 1787. Before
leaving Edinburgh, Burns bought himself a horse which he named ‘Jenny Geddes’, in respect for a
lady who threw a stool at the Bishop of Edinburgh when he tried to force the Scottish Church to
accept the ‘Book of Common Payer’. On the Saturday 5 May 1787), Burns and his companion
Ainslie left Edinburgh and the first destination of the two friends was Duns and the route they
followed was through Haddington, Gifford and Longformacus. During his tour Burns used a
notebook and was apt to insert notes at appropriate intervals. For example, ‘The Lammermuir Hills
were miserably dreary’ but as he approached Duns he had a ‘glorious view of the Merse’ before
reaching Berrywell, the home of the Ainslie’s, the family of Robert Ainslie. For those interested in
Burns, Duns Burns club has erected a cairn on the Hardens Hill to commemorate Burns passing by.
Burns spent his first night with the Ainslie family and some of their friends, and he noted in his
diary that he accompanied the Ainslies to the morning service in the local parish church. The
Reverend Robert Bowmaker had chosen as the text for his sermon a severe denunciation of
obstinate sinners. The poet, observing that Rachel Ainslie was having difficulty finding the text in
the Bible, wrote and passed her the following note:‘Fair Maid, you need not take the hint. Nor idle text pursue, ‘Twas guilty sinners that he meant. Not
angels such as you’
The Bard’s companion, Robert Ainslie, was born at Berrywell, and later became a Writer to the
Signet in 1789. Burns introduced Ainslie to many of the leading Edinburgh gentry and became a
firm friend of Burns. Sometime before he died in 1838, he presented Sir Walter Scott with a
manuscript copy of ‘Tam O’ Shanter’ which he had received from Burns. Robert Burns is named on
the tombstone of the Ainslie family in the churchyard at Duns. It was Coldstream’s turn to receive
Burns on Monday 7 May 1787 when the Bard wrote in his diary:‘Coldstream, went over to England – Cornhill – glorious Tweed – clear and majestic – fine bridge
– dine at Coldstream with Mr. Ainslie and Mr Foreman – beat Mr.F in a dispute about Voltaire.
Tea at Lennel House with MrBrydone. Mr.Brydone a most excellent heart, kind, joyous and
benevolent; but a good deal of the French indiscriminate complaisance – from his situation past
and present, an admirer of everything that bears a splendid title, or that possesses a large estate.
Mrs Brydone a most elegant woman in her person and manners; the tones of her voice remarkably
sweet – my reception extremely flattering – sleep at Coldstream’.
The bridge referred to by Burns is of course the Coldstream Bridge which was built by Smeaton.
Robert Ainslie told the story of how when he and Burns crossed the Smeaton Bridge, setting foot
on English soil for the first time, the Bard doffed his blue bonnet and, kneeling on the turf by the
roadside, prayed and invoked a blessing on Scotland, using the last two stanzas of his classic poem
‘The Cotter’s Saturday Night’:‘O Scotia My Dear, my native soil, For whom my warmest wish to heaven is sent. Long may thy
hardy sons of rustic toil, be blest with health, and peace and sweet content. And o may heaven their
simple lives prevent. Form luxury’s contagion, weak and vile. The howe’er crowns and coronets be
rent, A virtuous populace may rise the while, And stand a wall of fire round our much-loved isle.
Oh Thou! Who pour’d the patriotic tide. That streamed thro’ Wallace’s undaunted heart. Who
dared to, nobly stem tyrannic pride. Or nobly die – the second glorious part. (The patriots’s God,
peculiarly thou art His friend, inspirer, guardian and reward). O never, never, Scotia’s realm
desert. But still the patriot, and the patriot-bard. In bright sucession raise, her ornament and
guard’
The story about Burns and the dedication to Scotland at the Coldstream Bridge was sent by Ainslie
to James Hogg the Ettrick shepherd in a letter dated 20 April 1834, some 48 years after the event
was supposed to have taken place. Because of the great lapse in time taken by Robert Ainslie to
relate the story, and the fact that Burns made no note or comment about it, there are some who
believe that this event may not have taken place. Nevertheless a Border Magazine of 1906 reported
on the event and said that:
‘It is recorded that Mr Ainslie kept silent, uncertain what was next to be done, when Burns, with
extreme emotion, and an expression of countenance which his companion could never forget,
prayed for and blessed Scotland solemnly, by pronouncing aloud, in tones of deepest devotion the
two stanzas of ‘The Cotter’s Saturday Night’.
An article in the Berwickshire News of 1959 (200th anniversary of Burns’s birth) refers to a poem
written by Burns on the state of Berwickshire’s roads:I’ve now arrived, thanks to the Gods,
Thru’ pathways rough and muddy,
A certain sign that making roads
Is no the people’s study
Although I’m no’ wi’ scripture crammed
I’m sure the bible says
That heedless sinners shall be damned
Unless they mend their ways.
Maurice Lindsay, in his biography, suggests that Burns crossing the Bridge and reciting from the
‘Cotter’s Saturday Night’ is absurd and he wonders why it was not mentioned in Burns’s notebook
and questions the reliance of Ainslie. Whatever the truth of Burns and the Coldstream bridge, the
legend lives on. Mr Foreman was a farmer in the locality of Coldstream and the dispute that Burns
says he won was about the great French philosopher Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire. Burns left
Coldstream for Kelso on Tuesday 8 May 1787, never to return. His visit to the town was fleeting,
but marked, and there is no reference to where he slept in Coldstream, or what he thought of
Coldstream.
Patrick Brydone FRS, of Lennel House, was born in Dumbarton in 1741 and was educated at
Glasgow. He was a son of Robert Brydone, Parish Minister of Coldingham. Having received an
excellent university education, which qualified him for the duties of a travelling preceptor (a
specialist teacher), he was engaged in that capacity, first by a Mr Beckford of Somerly in Suffolk
and afterwards by Mr Fullarton, who commanded a large body of troops in India and became one of
the three commissioners for the government of Trinidad. His excursion with the former gentleman
took place in 1767-68; the latter in 1770. In the second tour, he visited Sicily and Malta, which
were then almost unknown to the UK. Having written an account of this journey in a series of
letters to Mr Beckford, he was induced by the uninformed state of the British public upon this
subject to publish his work in 1773 under the title ‘A Tour through Sicily and Malta’. This work
was not only a most original and amusing narrative, but it contained a great deal of scientific
knowledge, especially regarding the temperature of the air, which was the object of Mr Brydone’s
original study. The account was republished in many new editions, and was translated into French
and German. To transact his scientific observations, he travelled with an apparatus as perfect as
could then be purchased, or could be accommodated in the luggage of a traveller. Having returned
to England in 1771, he obtained a respectable appointment, and at one time he held the office of
Controller of the Stamp Office.
After the publication of his travels, his reputation and prestige heightened and he was nominated a
member of some learned societies, particularly the Royal Society of London. In the transactions of
this latter body were several papers of Patrick Brydone, chiefly on the subject of electricity, of
which he was a keen student and observer. He spent the latter part of his life in retirement, at
Lennel House, where he was visited by the many distinguished persons in literature and public life,
including of course Robert Burns. Mrs Brydone was a daughter of Doctor Robertson, a noted
historian. Within the walls of the now dilapidated Lennel Church is to be found the burial place of
Patrick Brydone, who passed away in 1818 at the age of 77 years. For the most part, Brydone is still
profusely quoted on Maltese tourist web-sites, one such quote, Lord Patrick Brydone wrote when
he visited Malta in the 1770s, ‘We found ourselves in a new world; the streets were crowded with
well dressed people, whereas at Syracuse there was scarce a creature to be seen and even those few
had the appearance of disease and wretchedness’.
After the publication of his book in the form of letters, people started visiting Palermo, Mount Etna
etc. as part of the Grand Tour. In St Juliens (Malta), there is a street named after him. Moreover,
Sir Walter Scott encouraged Brydone to publish his letters, and honours him in Marmion:
Where Lennel’s convent closed their march,
There now is left but one frail arch,
Yet mourn thou not its cells;
Our time a fair exchange has made;
Hard by, inhospitable shade,
A reverend pilgrim dwells,
Well worth the whole Bernardine brood,
That e’er wore sandal, frock or hood.
Andrew Geddes painted his portrait in oils, from which an engraving was made. In the Statistical
Account 1791-1799 it is recorded that a ‘very remarkable thunder-storm happened in this parish on
the 19th day of July; a very accurate and scientific account of which, by Captain Brydone, is to be
found in the Philosophical Transactions of London’. (See a later reference to the ‘Curious Effect at
Coldstream’).
Thomas Douglas was a young man from Coldstream who wanted to travel, and he was probably
influenced by Brydone. He kept a record of his travels to India in his diary (1793-1830) which
makes fascinating reading. After setting out from Coldstream at the age of 18 years, he sailed south
to London from Berwick aboard the ‘Wellington’, a Berwick smack. He trained for a period in the
nurseries at Syon House and Kew before being taken on by the East India Company to superintend
their gardens and nurseries in Calcutta. Before long, Douglas was off on his adventure. He
embarked on the Indiaman, ‘Dublin’, from Portsmouth on the 23 April 1794, bound for Penang. He
arrived at Madras on September 12th and according to his diary …..’Saluted the Fort with 9 guns.
In fine view of the town’. The entry for 15 April 1801 read: Was informed by Dr Roxburgh that the
Governor General wanted me to stay at his place at Barrackmore to superintend the laying out of
the Park and Gardens-canal. Dr William Roxburgh was the head of the Calcutta Botanic Garden
and referred to as the ‘Father of Indian Botany’. Barrackpore was some 15 miles from Calcutta and
it was the residence of Lord Wellesley, the Governor-General of India.
In 1806, no doubt home-sick, Thomas Douglas recorded (16 April) a dream of the previous night: ‘I
dreamed I was in Coldstream but thought so little of the reception my parents and friends gave me
that I wished myself in India again!’ In January 1809 he left India for home, aboard the Sir William
Bensley. He arrived back in Britain on 15 July 1809 and on 28th ‘Took my chests from India house
and put them into a Berwick Smack’ and was back in Coldstream on 3 August 1809. Within a
month of his return to Coldstream, he had married Alison Thomson, sister of the Burgher Secession
minister, the Reverend Adam Thomson of Free Bible Fame. His eldest daughter Esther died aged
nine, and the diary entry for 23 November 1820 records: ‘She was buried by the side of my father. I
set two men nightly for several nights to watch her grave’. In December 1816, he writes: Owing to
the lateness and badness of the harvest, and the high price of food, many poor people throughout
the country are in great wants. The Heritors and inhabitants of Coldstream have subscribed above
£200 for employing poor in making footpaths, paving the streets. In 1823, Thomas Douglas became
the British Linen Bank’s first agent in Coldstream. An exhibition was shown in Coldstream
Museum in 2001: A Life in Words, based on the Diary and Travels of Thomas Douglas.
Post-haste; Tolls and Turnpikes
The Penny Post operated in most large cities by the mid 1700s and, after the road improvements, it
was not long before the rural areas of the Borders enjoyed its benefits. Coldstream’s first Post
Office was opened in 1772. The Royal Charlotte was the name of the first Edinburgh to London
mail-coach via Coldstream and the nearest change of horses southbound was at Cornhill. It was a
four-horse Light Post Coach, and could carry four inside passengers. The service started c1785 and
the route to London was via Coldstream and Newcastle and normally took two and a half days. The
name of this coach was changed to the Duke of Wellington or the Wellington in 1815, after the
battle of Waterloo. By 1800 there was one coach a week and tickets could be purchased at
Hownam’s at the Commercial Inn. There was also a daily stage coach which started in 1785 after
the route had been turnpiked.
After the completion of the Coldstream Bridge, Parliament passed an Act decreeing that no ford
within a mile upstream and downstream of the Bridge was to be used. This of course was to prevent
people avoiding payment of the tolls on the bridge. The present Marriage House was originally the
Toll house; other Tolls in Coldstream Parish were Skaithmuir Toll, Fireburnmill Toll and Hirsel
Law Toll. Toll Houses appeared in the mid 18th Century, when many of the major routes were
turnpiked. Turnpikes were the barriers, or toll-bars, set at varying distances along the route.
Although roads had been turnpiked, it was not until 1707 that Turnpike Trusts were established.
The Coldstream to Duns road was turnpiked in 1792; the main road from Edinburgh via Greenlaw
was turnpiked much earlier (see Armstrong’s 1771 map of the area, Fireburnmill and Skaithmuir
tolls are both marked). In 1855, George Brown is registered as the Fireburnmill Turnpike Gate
Keeper. On Roy’s map of 1750, the Edinburgh road from Coldstream went through the Hirsel east
of ‘Spielaw’, and seemed to go over land that later became Hirsel Lake. It then proceeded in a
northerly direction past the Crooks.
‘Curious Effect at Coldstream’
The Border Magazine of 1785 reported the strange phenomenon that befell Coldstream on 19 July
1785, a very strange incident of thunder and lightning which caused a strange and unfortunate death
to a local. It was assumed at the time of the incident that it was possible for a man or an animal,
situated far from the place where the lightning flashed, to be exposed to great danger, or be in
danger of loss of life as a result of the explosion. An accident which happened near Coldstream is
supposed to corroborate the opinion that the earth may discharge lightning into the atmosphere at a
considerable distance from the electric cloud.
Between noon and one o’clock on the fateful day, a storm of thunder and lightning came on. This
storm as described by Mr Brydone of Lennel House was at a considerable distance from his house.
The intervals between the flash and rumble, being from 25 to 30 seconds which indicated that the
place of explosion must have been at least 5 or 6 miles away. Whilst observing the storm,
Mr.Brydone was suddenly surprised by a loud noise, neither preceded, nor followed, by a flash of
lightning. The loud noise was likened to a great number of muskets fired in such succession that the
ear could not discriminate the sound. After this, the July day rediscovered its serenity and in a little
time Mr Brydone was informed that a man with two horses had been killed in the near vicinity by
the lightning. On approaching the scene this was confirmed. The skin of the man who was killed
was burnt badly and shriveled on the right thigh, with many marks of the same kind all over the
body. His clothes had a strong smell of burning and there was a zig-zag line, about an inch wide,
extending from his chin to his right thigh, and which seemed to have followed the buttons on his
waistcoat.
The cart he was using was full of coal, and he had been sitting on the front part of it. The dead
horses’ manes were severely singed. The left shaft of the cart was broken, and splinters thrown off,
particularly where the timber of the cart was connected by nails. The ground was torn as if caused
by violent blows of a pickaxe and small stones were scattered all around. There were evident marks
of fusion on the iron rings of the wheels. About the same time, a shepherd tending his flock in the
vicinity observed a lamb drop down and it was found to be dead. At the same time the shepherd
recorded that he felt a burning sensation pass across his face though the lightning and thunder claps
were a considerable distance away. A woman, making hay near the banks of the river, fell suddenly
to the ground and called out that she had received a violent blow to the foot and could not imagine
where it had come from. The Reverend Bell, when walking in his garden, felt a tremor in the
ground several times. The conclusions drawn at the time from this unusual event were that:




The man and horses were not killed by a main lightning strike
The mischief was not caused by any lateral explosion
Persons maybe injured or killed at a considerable distance from the thunder storm
The phenomenal incident had not previously been heard of and baffled scientists of the day
The event is hard to believe but is also recorded in the ‘New Statistical Account of Scotland’ of
1834 which refers to an account published in the Philosophical Transactions of London, of a
remarkable thunder storm which occurred in Coldstream in 1785 and in which a man driving his
cart perished.
Burgher Meeting House
Burghers were persons living in a Burgh such as Coldstream and were generally middle-class in
social status. A Burgher Meeting house (Seceder) was built in 1768; on the same site, a second
church was built in 1806. It later became the West United Free Church and was rebuilt in 1907.
This is now the st.Cuthbert’s Centre.
Cemeteries
Apart from the cemetery at Lennel, the Presbytery records of 1765 reveal that in the town of
Coldstream, there were: ‘two Churchyards, one where the church stands and upon part of which is
a dovecot possessed by Lord Haddington, this is not enclosed and consists of two roods of English
measure. The other churchyard in the town, is where strangers are buried, among the ruins of the
old Priory, six perches. There is a third churchyard belonging to the Parish of Coldstream….one
mile eastward of Coldstream with a very bad stone dyke about it which consists of one acre
(Lennel)’. The dovecote mentioned was close to the Parish church, and appears to have been the
Dovecote which was formerly the property of Coldstream Priory.
Pringle’s Hall
Pringle’s Hall is a name which is now obsolete, but in the 1670s was the residence in Coldstream of
Robert Pringle, a merchant. He also had a malt kiln in the new town. By 1683 Pringle’s Hall was in
the possession of Hugh, son of Sir Hugh Campbell of Cessnock. The location of Pringle’s Hall is
unknown, but is referred to in documents in the Scottish National Archives, referring to tenements
in the Burgh of Coldstream.
Folklore and Verse of the Period, including Gypsies
That’s Castle Law graith! – strae belly rapes, tow fit- rapes,
And brak nineteen times in a yokin.
From The Lasses O’The Merse.
My heart rejoices at the kirn,
Among the maids to meet,
Wi’ bosoms heavin’, fond, and warm,
And lips so richly sweet!
The witchin’ glances o’their e’en
My very soul doth pierce,
They’re a’ sae bonny, neat and clean,
Wi’ lasses o’ the Merse.
Other Assorted Verse
A Merse mist along the Tweed,
In a harvest mornin’s gude indeed.
The west country for ministers,
The Merse for nowt and kye
Wylie Cleugh and Castle Law
Haud the devil by the paw!
Eccles Tofts and Harpertoun
Haud the devil weel down.
You would say that abak o’ the Hirsel Law.
Of a’ the Pows that e’er I saw,
The Pow o’ Lennel beats them a’
(Rev. John Pow was Parish minister 1694-1735)
Bughtrig and Belchester
Hatchetknowes and the Peel
If ye canna get a wife
In ane o’ thae places
Ye’ll ne’er dae weel
Tweed said to Till
What gars ye rin sae still?
Till said to Tweed:
Though ye rin wi speed ,
An’ I rin slaw.
Yet , whar ye droon ae man,
I droon twa.
After the gypsy King William I died in 1784 (said to have a lineal descent from the Lord of Littil
Egipt), his eldest son Wull Faa put in his claim. There was also a rival, a claimant from New
Coldstream, bearing the title The Earl of Hell and it has been suggested this appellation may have
been hereditary, as different people appear with the title at various times. A duel took place on
Yetholm Green between the two clans; others state that the fight was only between the two
claimants. However the outcome was clear enough. Wull Faa emerged the victor and was duly
crowned William Faa II, King of the Gypsies.
Many Gypsy/Romany words have naturalised into the local dialect. Much has been written about
the origins of the Romany language and most authorities believe it to have come from Hindustani
or Sanscrit sources. However George Borrow, the great traveller and respected authority and writer
on the gypsy culture, was well-versed in Romany and many other languages and he stated that there
was definitely a strong Persian influence. Borrow had actually been on a walking tour of the
Borders in 1866, when he passed through Coldstream. He wanted to meet the Gypsy Queen Esther
at Yetholm. Etty as she was fondly known, (her full name was Esther Faa Blyth Rutherford), once
lived in a house in Duke Street, Coldstream, before taking up her position as Queen in the Gypsy
Palace in Kirk Yetholm. Borrow met Esther on two different occasions, when he stayed at Town
Yetholm in the Plough Inn, which was a coaching Inn.
Some Romany words are still heard today in our area, although there are variations in meaning and
pronunciation from place to place:
Bari (great, good)
Chor (steal)
Chi (girl)
Deek (look).
Gadgie (non-gypsy man)
Manishee (woman)
Pani (water, river)
Shan (annoyed)
The strange story of the White Lady’s Grave, like many a good legend with its origins lost in the
mists of time, is a good story. The tale is told of two men, who dug a grave in Cocked Hat Covert at
Hatchetnize. Perhaps it was to frighten the girl as she made her way to the Kirn (dance), or maybe
their intention was more sinister. The girl, prior to the dance, had climbed a nearby tree:
One moonlight night as I sat by
I looked for one but two sat by.
The leaves did shake, my heart did quake,
To see the hole the rogues did make.
She recited the above verse at the Kirn and one of the young men left, never to be seen again.
References
The Border Magazine,1904.
Borrow, George Romano Lavo-Lil, 1874.
Diary of Thomas Douglas,1793-1830.
Gumble, Thomas, Life of General Monck, 1671
Register of the Privy Council of Scotland. Vols.vi,vii.
Report of the Parish of Coldstream. 1627
Duffy, Christopher, The ’45, Cassell, 2003.
Mack, James Logan, The Border Line, 1924.
First Statistical Account of Scotland, 1791-99 (Parish of Coldstream).
The Third Statistical Account, The County of Berwick, 1992.
R.M. Urquhart – ‘Scottish Burgh and County Heraldry’ 1973
Wilkipedia 2010
Archie MacArthur - ‘Robert Burns in the Borders’, 2001
Mary Craig – ‘Border Burnings’, 2008
David Welsh, Northumbria University – Papers on Witches 2009
Cauldstreame or Lendell Parish Accounts 1627
Border Magazine 1906
Coldstream Burns Club, ‘Coldstream Burns Club – in the 21st Century’