Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/373

Rh ROXBURGH. 361 ROXBURGHSHIRE. given by Alexander I. to iis brother David, Earl of Northumberland, became a royal seat on the accession of that prince to the Scottish throne. In 1207, and again in 1216, it was taken and burnt by the English, but was subsequently restored ; and in 1239 Alexander II. kept his marriage festivities here, and had his first son, afterwards Alexander III., who married the daughter of Henry III. of England. For many generations it continued to be a royal residence, and the centre of in- trigue, pomp, and battle, being at once the political glory and social bane of Teviotdale. In the Scottish wars of succession it was held by Edward I. of England, who kept his court of King's Bench here in 1292, and shut up Bruce's sister Mary in the castle till 1310. It was subsequently captured by Douglas in 1313, and having been demolished by Bruce, was rebuilt by Edward III., who several times visited it. In 1342 it was taken by the Scottish forces under Sir A. Ramsey, and remained in their possession for four years, when it was recovered by the English, who held it till 1460, when it surrendered after a long siege by the Scots, in which their king, James II., was killed by the bursting of a cannon, but the castle at length being taken, was dis- mantled. In this state it remained for nearly a century, till the English army, in 1547, under the Protector Somer- set, encamped on the plain between the ruins of the castle and the confluence of the Tweed and Teviot. Observing the strength and convenience of its situation, the Protector resolved to repair the works, and garri- soned it with a considerable force under Sir Ralph Bulmer. Three years afterwards, however, it was finally demolished, and all that now remains of this once imposing border fortress are a few fragments of the outer walls, crowning the tabular summit of a rock, which rises above 40 feet perpendicular from the level of the plain. The noble family of Ker, of Cessford, takes the title of Duke of Roxburghe from the site of the ruined town and castle, which was granted to their ancestor in 1499 by James IV., and lies nearly opposite to their seat of Fleurs Castle; John, the third Duke of Rox- burghe, lived in celibacy, and founded the Koxburghe Club. The town, which was surrounded by a wall and ditch, as well as the castle, is now entirely extinct, and has been annexed to the adjoining parish of Kelso, the modern village of Rpxburgh being situated 2 miles to the S. of the original fortress, and 3 S.W. of Kelso. The surface of the surrounding country is varied with hill and dale, the highest ground being at Dunse- law fort, near the western extremity of the parish, where it rises about 500 feet above the sea-level. The land is fertile and well cultivated, even the moorish districts of the S. and W. having been recently drained and brought under tillage. The soil is in general a gravelly or tandy alluvium, alternating with a fertile loam, and in some parts a mossy mould. The substratum is chiefly ! stone and trap, the hitter rock frequently cropping up to the surface, and at one point in the bed of the Tweed forming an immense natural dam, called the Trow-Craigs, where the water flows in four separate channels or slits, scooped out of the rock by the wear of ages. The streams which traverse the parish, and fall into the Tweed and Teviot, are replete with purple trout, and there are two petrifying springs near the Tweed. Above half the parish is the property of the l)uko of Roxburghe, and the rest is divided between four principal proprietors. The parish is traversed by Ilin Kelso and Jedburgh branches of the North British lerso and Teviotdale. The minister has a stipend ' I 263 0. Id. The parish church was erected in 1752, repaired in 1828. There was once a chapel-of- on the estate of Fairnington, and traces of a Fran- .111 house still exist at Old Roxburgh, close to the Two parochial schools are situated respectively Roxburgh and Heitoun. Near the bank of the Ttviut are remains of a fortalice, known as Sunlaw's, or Wallace's tower, connected with which are many le- gends. Vestiges of a Roman camp, and efforts, trenches, and earthworks, are scattered through the parish. ROXBURGHSHIRE, or TEVIOTDALE, an inland co. in the S. of Scotland. It is situated near the English border, and is bounded on the N. by Berwick- shire, on the E. and S.E. by Northumberland and the Cheviots, on the S. and S.W. by Cumberland and Dum- fries shires, on the W. by Selkirk, and on the N.W. by Edinburghshire and the southerly projection of Mid- Lothian. It lies between 55 6' and 56 42' N. lat., and between 2 12' and 3 8' W. long. Its form is very irregular, being broad and ragged at the N. and taper- ing towards the S. Its greatest length from N.E. to S.S.W. is about 40 miles, but its medium does not ex- ceed 30, with an extreme breadth at right angles to the length of 29 miles. Its superficial extent is 720 square miles, or about 460,938 acres, of which nearly three-fifths are cultivated. In the earliest times of which we have any record it was the seat of the Oadeni and Ottadiiii, and after the subjugation of the country by the Romans it formed part of the province of T'alentia. The Saxons added it to their kingdom of Northumbria, of which it formed part till 1026, and in common with Lothian was distinguished by the name of Saxonia. It was invaded and wasted by Kenneth, the conqueror of the Picts, but continued to be occupied by the Scoto-Saxon race, as proved by the vast majority of terms in the present topographical nomenclature of tho country. It was made shire ground by Alexander I., who gave it to his brother David, Earl of Northumberland, as sovereign lord, and when David ascended tho Scottish throne as David I. he governed this country rather as a portion of his kingdom than as a separate lordship. He is re- corded to have made profuse grants of lands to his Eng- lish followers, the Percys, Berkeleys, Comyns, Cor- betts, Morvilles, Riddells, and Vesseys, who established powerful families here ; and the remainder of the lands not so bestowed he gave as the endowments of Melrose, Kelso, and Jedburgh abbeys, all founded in his reign. The subsequent events which took place are more par- ticularly connected with the history of Roxburgh Castle, as indicated in the preceding article (which see). Tho surface, which is greatly diversified by hills and exten- sive valleys, bearing the general names of Teviotdale, Eskdale, Liddesdale, and Tweeddale, from the rivers which traverse them, rises gradually towards the eastern boundary, where the Cheviot hills separate this county from Northumberland and Dumfries shires. Some of the highest peaks of this range are Cheviot top, 2,988 feet above sea-level, Carter Fell, about 2,000 feet, Peel Fell, under which the Teviot and Liddel take their rise, and the Lauriston Crags. From the head of Jed Water this range of hills turns westward, and runs through the county into Dumfriesshire, separating the basin of the Tweed from Liddesdale and Eskdale. From each side of the range innumerable spurs are thrown off, forming groups of hills, covering a wild, pastoral dis- trict, which extending in a south- westerly direction joins another Alpine range, which separates Teviotdale from Liddesdale. In the northern part of the county are the Eildon hills, which attain an elevation of 1,364 feet near Melrose. The other summits are Ruberslaw and Dunian, near Jedburgh, which are 1,419 and 1,120 feet respectively, and the heights of Minto only 720 feet. In general the uplands of the county are smooth, and rounded near the summits, supplying excellent paitur- age and sheepwalks. Very few of the heights are cheer- less, and not even those which rise in Alpine peaks are rugged or tremendous, but command good prospects, and are frequently clothed with herbage to the summit. The rivers of Roxburghshire are both large and nume- rous, and far more celebrated in song than those of any other county of Scotland. The Tweed, which excels the other streams both in the volume of its waters and the scenery on its banks, enters the county from Sel- kirkshire, and flowing sometimes northward and some- times eastward, traces part of the boundary between Berwickshire, and leaves the county at the point of its beginning to divide Scotland from England. Its tribu- taries in this county are the Ettrick, Allan, Gala, Eden, which has a fall of 40 feet, Leader, which gives name
 * ay. This par. is in the presb. of Kelso and synod