Volume 3

390
talked of a thorn which he remembered; and there are on the bank of the
Eden, within this parish, two remarkable rocks which are known as the
muckle Thairn and the little Thairn, which a willing mind may connect with
the name of the district. If the ancient spelling were Naythansthorn, of which
there is no example, it might be deemed a corruption of Naythan's thorp, of
which mutation there are several instances in Scotland and in England. The
parish of Nenthorn appears to have been established during the 13th century,
and was formed of the ancient manors of Nathansthirn and Newton, which
are joined together by a narrow isthmus which is intersected by the Eden. In
the 12th century both those manors belonged to the opulent and liberal family
of the Morvilles, the hereditary constables of Scotland (f); and the lands were
held under them by various vassals. To the Morvilles succeeded, as we have
seen, the Lords of Galloway, a still greater family, which was equally enfeebled
by female heirs. After the death of Alan, the Lord of Galloway, in 1234,
Naythansthyrn was inherited by his youngest daughter, Dervorgilla, the
munificent wife of John Baliol, from whom it passed to the competitor for a
dependant crown ; and it was forfeited by his fall on the accession of Bruce (g).
In the 12th and 13th centuries the territories of Naythanthirn and Newton
were served by two chapels; the one at Naythansthirn and the other at
Newton, which were both subordinate to the mother church of Ednam, and
which, with the mother church, belonged to the monks at Coldingham (h).
(/) Hugh, the first Morville, gave to the monks of Dryburgh the tenth of the multure of the mills
of Naythanthyrn and Newton, with half a carucate of land in Newton, with pasture for nine oxen and
one work horse. Chart. Dryb., 64-153. William, the bishop of St. Andrews, the diocesan, in 1281,
confirmed to those monks the tenth of the multure of those mills. Ib,, 113-14.
(g) John, the King of Scots, confirmed to the monks of Dryburgh the tenth of the multure of the
mill of Nathansthirn, for the salvation of the soul of Hugh Morville, of his own soul, and of the soul
of his wife Ada. Chart. Dryb., 112. Between the years 1388 and 1400, Richard de Haganside, a
vassal of the Earls of Douglas, gave to the monks of Kelso all his land, " in territorio vill� de Litel
Newton, in constabulario de Lauder," Chart. Kelso, 489. This description evinces that Newton and
perhaps Nathansthyrn, though they lay without the limits of Lauderdale, were comprehended in the
Constabulary of Lander, which thus seems to have comprehended all the lands in Lauderdale. that had
belonged to the Morvilles and their successors, and were granted by Robert Bruce to Sir James Douglas.
Roberts. Index, 10.
(h) Robert, the diocesan, who ruled St. Andrews from 1128 to 1158, confirmed a convention
between the mother church of Ednam and the chapel of Newton. Chart. Cold., 41. Arnold,
the succeeding diocesan, confirmed to those monks the church of Ednam, and the chapels
of Naythanthirn and Newton. Id. In 1204, those monks made a composition with William, the
bishop of St. Andrews, " super Con et Cuneveth concessis episcopo cupellis de Newton et Naythanthirn."
Ib., 91.