Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 5

MELROSE
Tweed to the N of the town, behind and a little below the
AVeirhill, and connects Melrose with Gattonside. Tlic
jiai-ish church, a plain and indeed somewhat ugly build-
ing, with a spire and clock, was erected in 1810, and
stands on a rising ground — the Weirhill proper, the
Weir being behind it — in the WeirhiU suburb. The
Free church, which stands on the same eminence, is a
Jiandsome building in the Early English style, mth a
Avell proportioned spire, and containing 550 sittings.
The IJ. P. and Congregational churches C£ul for no special
notice. The former, which was built at High Cross in
1S72 to replace a small barn-like structure in the town,
contains 600 sittings ; the latter contains 250 sittings.
Trinity Episcopal church, in the western part of WeirhDl,
was built in 1849 after designs by Sir George Gilbert
Scott. It is a tasteful building in the Early English style,
■with a good eastern window and a stone pulpit. It con-
tains 175 sittings. The cemetery is to the S of the
Free church. The Corn Exchange, in the market
place, was erected in 1862-63, after designs by Cousin,
at a cost of about £3000, and is a large handsome struc-
ture, serving not only for sales and similar purposes,
but also for lectures, concerts, and public meetings.
The hall has accommodation for 500 people. The public
schools have been already noticed under the parish. The
■water-works belong to a joint-stock company (1838), and
the water, which is very pure, is obtained from springs
on the Eildon Hills. The reservoir has a capacity of
about 35, 000 gallons. Gas is also supplied by a joint-stock
company (1836) ; and the drainage system, which is by no
means complete, and does not include the whole of the
town, was carried out by voluntary assessment. There are
now no industries, but the place was long famous for the
manufacture of a fabric called Melrose-land linen, for
which there was a demand in London as well as in
foreign countries. So early as 1668 the weavers were
incorporated under a seal-of-cause from John, Earl of
Haddington, the superior of the burgh, and for a con-
siderable period preceding 1766 the quantity of linen
stamped averaged annually between 23,000 and 2i,000
j'ards, valued at upwards of £2500. i'owards the end
of last century, however, the manufacture rapidly de-
clined, and long ago became quite extinct. Cotton-
weaving for the manufacturers of Glasgow which followed
had a short period of success, but soon also became
extinct. A bleachfield for linen, which still gives name
to a spot on the W slope of the Weir Hill, was also tried
but failed, and even the woollen trade, so singularl}'
prosperous in some of the other Border townsj though
tried, proved also a failure.
Melrose, under the abbey, was a burgh of regality ;
but in 1609, when the Abbey and lands were erected
into a temporal lordship, it was made a burgh of barony,
which status it still retains. There is a baron-baUie
appointed by the present superior, the Duke of
Buccleuch, but there are no burgh courts and no burgh
property, income, or expenditure. An ancient fair,
held in spring, called Kier or Scarce-Thursday fair, was
long a famous carnival season ; but afterwards became
merely a business market, and then died out altogether.
The weekly corn and general market is on Monday :
fairs for hiring are held, for hinds on the first Monday
of March, for young men and women on the first Mon-
day of May and the first Monday of November, and for
harvest hands on the first Monday of August ; for cattle
and horses on the first Wednesday of June and 22
Nov., unless that day fall on Saturday, Sunday,
or Monday, and then on the Tuesday following ; for
iambs — the largest fair in the Border counties — on
12 Aug., unless that day be a Saturday, Sunday, or
Monday, and then on the Tuesdaj' following ; and for
ewes and other stock on the Saturday after the first
Tuesday of October. These markets have now, how-
ever, almost disappeared, owing to the establishment of
weekly cattle sales at Newtown St Boswells.
The town has a head post ofiice, ■with money order,
savings' bank, insurance, and telegraph departments ;
branches of the British Linen Company and Royal
banks, agencies of 15 insurance companies, and 6 hotels.
MELROSE
A justice of peace court is held on the first Wednesday
of every month, and sheriff small debt courts on the
Saturdays after the second Monday of February and
May, after the first Monday of September, and after
the second Monday of December. Among the miscel-
laneous institutions are two boarding schools for
young ladies, a masonic hall, a public library,
bowling, curling, and cricket clubs, a company of rifle
volunteers, a horticultural and floral society, a branch
of the Bible Society, and a branch of the Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The
members of the masonic lodge (St John's — not, however,
in connection with the Grand Lodge) have, every year, on
St John's Eve, a torchlight procession round the abbey,
and on Fastern's E'en a football match between the
married and unmarried men of the to^wn is kept up
along the main street from early afternoon till evening.
Pop. of town (1841) 893, (1861) 1141, (1871) 1405,
(1881) 1550, of whom 913 were females. Houses (1881)
321 inhabited, 15 vacant, 7 building.
The Abbey of Melrose, which is the great centre of
attraction in the town, stands on low level ground to
the E, almost midway between the Eildons and the
Tweed. Coming in succession to the Columban establish-
ment already noticed, but moved to a better site, it was
founded by David I. in 1136, the monks, who were of
the Cistercian order, ha^ving been brought from Rievale
in Yorkshire. To them, and ' to their successors, for a
perpetual possession,' David granted 'the lands of
Melros, and the whole land of Eldune, and the whole
land of Dernwic ... all the fruits, ^and pasture,
and timber in my land, and in the forest of Selkirk and
Traquhair, and between Gala and Leadir Water, besides
both the fishery on the Tweed everywhere, on their side
of the river as on mine, and ... in addition, the
whole land and pasture of Galtuneside. ' The original
buildings were not finished till 1146, in which year, on
28 July, the church was, with great solemnity, con-
secrated and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Malcolm
IV. confirmed the grants of his predecessor, and added
fresh lands, as also did William the Lyon, in whose
reign the monastic possessions increased greatly by gifts
from the king, from Alan, his steward, and from the
powerful family of De Moreville ; and Laurence, Abbot
of Melrose, was one of those who, along with the king,
swore fealty to Henry II. at York in 1175. Standing
near the border, the Abbey could hardly fail to figure
in many of the historical transactions of this troublous
time. It was in its chapter-house that the Yorkshire
barons, united against King John, swore fealty to
Alexander II. in 1215. In 1295 Edward I. gave formal
protection to its monks, and in 1296, while resting at
Berwick, after the apparent general submission of Scot-
land to his usurpation, he issued a writ ordering a
restitution to them of all the property they had lost in
the preceding struggle. In 1321 or 1322 the original
structure was burned by the English under Edward II.,
and probably reduced to a state of entire ruin, while
William de Peebles, the abbot, and a number of the
monks were killed. This led to a grant from King
Robert I., in 1326, of £2000, to be obtained from his
wards, reliefs, maritages, escheats, fines, etc., in the
sheriffdom of Roxburgh, and to be applied to the re-
building of the church. The sum was a large one for
that time, and the whole amount was not realised till
long after. In 1329, a few months before his death,
Robert wrote a letter to his son David, requesting that
his heart should be buried at Melrose, and commending
the monastery and the church to his successor's especial
favour — favour which was certainly given, for so late as
1369 we find David rene\ving his father's gift. It is to
this grant that we owe a considerable part of the present
building. The community, too, enjoyed the favour of
some of the English kings, no less than that of its own
native monarchs, for in 1328 Edward III. ordered the
restoration to the abbey of pensions and lands which it
had held in England, and which had been seized by
Edward II. In 1334 the same monarch granted a pro-
tection to Melrose in common ■with the other abbeys of
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