Earlston

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Earlston (formerly Ercildoune, of which it is a corruption) is a parish and market town in Berwickshire, Scotland. It is situated on the Leader Water in Lauderdale.

1 Early history
2 Country houses
3 Church
4 References
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Early history

Back when the place was a hamlet of rude huts it was called Arcioldun or Prospect Fort, with reference to Black Hill (1003 ft.), on the top of which can still be traced the concentric rings of the British fort for which it was named. It is also said to be possible to make out the remains of the cave-dwellings of the Otadini, the aborigines of the district.

In the 12th and 13th centuries the Lindsays and the Earls of March and Dunbar were the chief baronial families.

Also of historical interest is the ivy-clad ruin of the Rhymer's Tower, a keep said to date from as early as the 1200s. It is the traditional residence of Thomas Learmont, commonly called Thomas of Ercildoune, or Thomas the Rhymer, poet, prophet, and legendary friend of the Fairies, who was born here about 1225, more likely in a small house which preceded the later Tower-house.

[edit] Country houses

Some 3 mile south is the estate of Bemersyde, said to have been in the possession of the Haigs for nearly 1000 years, Petrus de Haga (d. c1200) on record as proprietor in the 13th century. The castle at Bemersyde must have been there at a very early date. Robert Haig completely rebuilt the tower-house in 1535 to protect the Monk's Ford which lay virtually equidistant between Dryburgh Abbey and Old Melrose Abbey. It was sacked in 1545, and rebuilt in 1581. It was added to in 1690 (with stone quarried from Dryburgh Abbey), in 1761 (West wing), and 1796 (East wing). Further alterations in 1841 and 1859 (the replacement of the West wing) were followed by alterations in 1923. Between 1959-61 what has been described as a "fashionable reduction and remodelling" took place which removed the servants wing to the north and modified that to the West, restoring more of the dominant character of the Great Tower. The stables, arch, and wall are 18th century. The prospect from Bemersyde Hill was Sir Walter Scott's favorite view, and is now commonly known as "Scott's View".

Just north of Earlston is the estate of Carolside, with a gem-like three-storey-and-basement Georgian mansion with (possibly later) single-storey bow-ended wings, on the valley floor in its former deer park setting, built for James Lauder of Carolside (d.1799). Interestingly, in an article written by J.Hardy in 1886 for the History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club 1885-1886 it is stated that "half way down the drive to Carolside, grow three small maple trees and a hawthorn on what was once a knoll (now levelled). This was said to mark an old burial place of the Lauder family. Mr.Mitchell of Stow left directions to place a stone in this place, and it has been done by [his widow] Lady Reay, with the inscription: 'This stone is placed by the directions of Alexander Mitchell, Esq., of Stow, M.P. to mark the spot which was the ancient burial place of the Lauder family'."

[edit] Church

There has been a church at Earlston since at least 1250. A stone which marks that Auld Rhymer's race lies in this place was transferred to the new kirk in 1736, and again to the most recent (1892) Victorian version in red sandstone, where it is somewhat dominated by carved memorials to the owners of the local Park Farm. There are some good early gravestones in the churchyard and an attractive set of gatepiers erected in 1819.

[edit] References

Berwick and Borders, by Charles A Strang, Rutland Press, 1994, pps:187-8. ISBN 1-873190-10-7
Family Seats - Bemersyde, in The Scottish Genealogist, Edinburgh, June 2005, vol.LII, no.2, pps:67-71. ISSN 0300-337X