Lauder
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Lauder is a town in the Scottish Borders council area. It was a royal burgh in the county of Berwickshire until 1975 when both were abolished. It lies on the edge of the Lammermuir Hills, on the Southern Upland Way.
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[edit] Ancient history
The ancient settlement was further up the hills on the edge of the Moor. Its name is unknown, but it was tiny. Upon the defeat of Macbeth by Malcolm Canmore Sir Robert de Lawdre [Lauder] was granted extensive lands in and around the existing town, which included the ancient Forest of Lauder. (He received at the same time The Bass Rock) This family erected a Norman keep, or Scottish tower house (not taken down until 1700) around which the present town grew.
With the introduction of the feudal system to Scotland by David I, a barony of Lauderdale was created for the King's favourite, Hugh de Morville (who founded Dryburgh Abbey), which covered an extensive amount of territory. Bain states that the de Morville's held one-third of half Lauder and Lauderdale for one knight's service. This did not affect the Lauder family's properties as they were already held 'of the King'.
References give it as being erected into a Royal Burgh by King William I of Scotland,'The Lion'. A new charter of confirmation of this was presented to the town by King James IV, the original being lost.
The town was once surrounded by walls with gates commonly referred to as 'ports'. Two major mills, which dated from at least the 13th century, also served the town. Notable buildings in the town today include the Tolbooth or Town Hall, which predates 1598 when records show it being burnt in a feud.
The last of the ancient proprietors, Robert Lauder of that Ilk (d.c1650), bequeathed the tower house and other lands to his daughter Isobel, who had married Alexander Home of St.Leonards, in Lauderdale, both dead by November 1683, the inheritance sold. The old family is today represented by Sir Piers Dick-Lauder, 13th Baronet.
[edit] New Thirlestane Castle
Below the town, on Castle Hill, stood the Crown Fort, a scene of many skirmishes over the years. The Crown abandoned this in the 16th century and it was given to Robert Lauder of that Ilk (d. bef July 1567), who gave it, in 1532, to his daughter Alison as dowry when she married. Following she and her husband's deaths in feuds in 1547 it reverted to Robert Lauder whose wife was Alison Cranstoun. A Cranstoun relation later sold it on to Chancellor John Maitland in 1587. He commenced the building of the magnificent Thirlestane Castle upon that site two years later, parts of the original walls of the ancient fort being included in the walls of the new edifice In 1670-7 Sir William Bruce (architect), known as a 'gentleman architect', supervised its transformation into a palace through remodelling for the Duke of Lauderdale.
By the 18th century the Maitlands had supplanted the ancient Lauders as the pre-eminent local family, and had managed to acquire most of the properties which had belonged to the ancient family, although Windpark/Wyndepark (which overlooked Thirlestane Castle) and its Pele Tower remained in the hands of John Lauder of Winepark and Carolside (near Earlston), until about 1750.
[edit] Church
Near to the old Crown Fort stood the ancient parish church of St.Mary (a dependency of Dryburgh Abbey), in which many of the old Lauder family were interred, including two bishops, William de Lawedre, Bishop of Glasgow and Lord Chancellor of Scotland, and Alexander Lauder, Bishop of Dunkeld. It was from this church, in 1482, that James III's favourites, including the architect Cochrane, were dragged by envious nobles and hanged from the (earlier) Lauder Bridge. With their local ascendancy, and with Thirlestane Castle becoming even grander, John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale decided he would demolish the ancient kirk, and had a new church erected by Sir William Bruce in 1673 in the centre of the Royal Burgh. Around it is a walled graveyard, with a watchhouse built after a bodysnatching raid in 1830.
There was also (now demolished) a large United Presbyterian Church at the West Port. The manse still stands, but is now a private residence.
[edit] Today
The current population of the town is around 1500 although it is rapidly expanding as 100+ new homes are being built on the southern boundary. This means that, at the beginning of the 21st century, the population is approaching what it was at the beginning of the 20th century before the period of depopulation over the last 100 years.
Lauder is today strongly influenced by its proximity to Edinburgh as it is now considered to be close enough for people to commute into the capital for work. The bus service to Edinburgh is good - but infrequent.
Current issues for debate in Lauder are the town's expansion - whether it is needed or desirable - the location of a new primary school (and how soon one will be built), and the location and extent of wind farms on the surrounding hills.
[edit] References
- Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, edited by Jospeh Bain, Edinburgh, 1881-8, vol.2, p.215-6.
- The Grange of St.Giles, by J.Stewart-Smith, Edinburgh, 1898.
- Lauder and Lauderdale, by A.Thomson, Galashiels, 1900.
- Papers on Lauder, by Robert Romanes, Galashiels, 1903.
- Borders and Berwick, by Charles A Strang, Rutland Press, 1994, p.190. ISBN 1-873190-10-7
