Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

298
DALKEITH.
from the flutter of a French artist."* Stoddart
says of Dalkeith house, in his ' Remarks on Local
Scenery and Manners in Scotland,' [Vol. i. pp.
123 — 125.]: "The front view is by no means
good, as the ground, rising from it, is soon bounded
by the trees. The architecture is of the Corin-
thian order, and has the formal grandeur of the pe-
riod when it was built, — the latter part of the seven-
teenth century. On the opposite side, it appears
much more picturesquely seated, on an almost
perpendicular bank, overhanging the river. It is
said, that the castle was originally a place of great
strength, inaccessible on all sides, except the east,
where it was defended by a fosse, now filled up.
The rock too has been partly covered with earth,
gently sloped down to the river, and decorated with
shrubberies ; yet this part of the improvements has
not been executed with much taste : there is a for-
mality, both in the disposition of the ground, and in
the planting, which but badly suits the rapid Esk,
and the wild wood on the opposite side. To the
north of the house is a stone bridge, of a single arch,
70 feet wide, and 45 high, exceedingly heavy in its
effect. At its first erection, two stags — the sup-
porters of the Buccleuch arms — were placed on it, as
ornaments ; but they frighted the horses which
passed them so much, that it was found necessary
to remove them. From this bridge the house would
appear to advantage, if the shrubberies, above which
it rises, were in better taste. The park is a noble
piece of ground, containing about 8,000 Scotch acres,
planted with a number of fine old oaks, and other
venerable trees, and watered by the two Esks, the
North and South, whose streams unite about half-a-
mile below the house. The South Esk has a pleas-
ing wildness, being almost entirely overshadowed by
the dark hangings of the ancient wood : the North
Esk comes into more open day ; but has several very
pleasing walks on its banks, with views of the town
and church of Dalkeith, &c. In this park were
formerly kept some of the native wild cattle of Scot-
land described by Pliny, [see article Cdjibeenapld] ;
but the Duke and his son having experienced a dan-
gerous attack from them, they were destroyed."
The park is well-stocked with deer. — Population
of the parish, in 1801, 3,906; in 1831, 5,586.
Houses, in 1831, 567. The two villages of Lug-
ton and Bridgend had a population, in 1838, of
284. Assessed property, in 1815, £11, 911. —This
parish, to which the barony of Lugton was annexed
in 1633, is in the synod of Lothian and Tweeddale,
and is the seat of a presbytery. Patron, the Duke
of Buccleuch. Stipend £316 9s. 2d. ; glebe £40.
Unappropriated teinds £610 lis. lid. The old
church accommodates 1,130. An additional church
has been built by the Duke of Buccleuch at the west
end of the town; sittings 1,000. — There are two
United Secession congregations. The 1st of these
was established in 1744; church built in 1812; sit-
tings 880. Stipend £100, with manse and garden.
The 2d was established, and the church built in 1 749 ;
sittings 436. Stipend £100, with a manse A Re-
lief congregation was established here in 1768.
Church seats 685. Stipend £139, with manse
An Independent church was formed here in 1804.
* The same tourist adds : " Here, and in almost all the great
houses of Scotland, we have pictures of Queen Mary; but their
authenticity is often doubted from the circumstance of iier hair.
In one it is auburn, in another black, and in another yellow.
Notwithstanding, however, this difference, it is very possible
that all these pictures may be genuine. We have a letter pre-
served, from Mr. White, a servant of Queen Elizabeth, to Sir
William Cecil, in which he mentions his having seen Queen
Mary at Tutbury castle. ■ She is a goodly personage,' says he,
' hath an alluring grace, a pretty Scottish speech, a searching
wit, and great mildness. Her hair of itself is black ; but Mr.
Knolls told me, that she wears hair of sundry colours.' "
Chapel accommodates 300. Stipend £85. — A Wes-
leyan Methodist chapel was built in 1 789 ; sittings
240 — Parochial schoolmaster's salary £34 4s. 4Jd.
a house and garden, &c, with an average fee of 15s.
for each pupil ; average number of pupils 100. There
are 10 private schools in this parish.
Dalkeith, a town in the above parish, 6J miles
south-east of Edinburgh, and 18i north-west of
Lauder, on the Great south road from Edinburgh.
Population, in 1838, 4,642. It is situated on a nar-
row stripe of land between the two Esks, the banks
of which are here beautifully fringed with wood.
The principal street is broad and spacious, contain-
ing a number of elegant houses, and the whole town
may be considered as well-built. One of the greatest
markets in Scotland for grain is held here every
Thursday. It is the most extensive ready-money
corn-market in Scotland. The quantities of the
different kinds of grain exposed for sale in the mar-
ket-place of Dalkeith in the year ending on the 1st
July, 1839, were as follows :— Wheat, 10,220£ qrs. ;
barley, 15,803 qrs. ; oats, 43,630J qrs. ; pease and
beans, 1, 821 J qrs. : — in all 71, 475£ quarters ; while
the aggregate quantity sold in Haddington markets —
supposed to be next in magnitude — during the same
period was 42,361 qrs. It is to be observed, how-
ever, that 1838-9, being a year of comparative scar-
city, neither of these returns can be taken as a fair
representation of the quantity brought to market in
ordinary seasons, which in the case of Dalkeith, it is
thought, may be moderately stated at 100,000 qrs
There is another market of considerable extent held
every Monday for the sale of meal, flour, and pot-
barley, a considerable portion of the supplies brought
to which come from the more southern parts of the
county, and from the neighbouring counties of Rox-
burgh, Berwick, Peebles, and Selkirk.* Dalkeith
is also remarkable for the number of its shops and
the extent of business done in them. Favoured by
its extensive markets and convenient situation, the
shopkeepers of this place contend successfully with
those of the neighbouring metropolis in supplying
with their peculiar commodities the inhabitants of the
south and western parts of the country, and they
have thus contributed in no slight degree to the pre-
sent comfort and respectability of the place. Though
well-adapted for the prosecution of manufactures,
* In the Old Statistical Account of the parish of Dalkeith,
published in 1794, it is stated that " The village is abundantly
supplied with excellent butcher-meat, which may be bad in
great perfection on the Thursdays and Saturdays. The butchers
here contribute considerably to the supply of the Edinburgh
market, and some of them sell there the whole of what they
kill. During the season of winter and spring, the price of beef
is 4d. the lb. avoirdupois ; veal, 5d. ; mutton 5d. ; and pork, 4d.
From the month of September till about the middle of January,
the price of beef and mutton is 3d. or 3£d. thepound ; but dur-
ing the rest of the year it is not lower than what has been
mentioned above. In the summer season, chickens sell at about
3d. the pair, and hens from 16d. to J8d. In summer, the price
of butter is lOd. the lb. Butter is sold here by tron weight
22 07.. to the lb. ; in winter it rises sometimes to Is. or Is. Id.
The wages of labourers in husbandry, during the summer-sea.
son, are from Is. to Is. 3d. the day. Mowers receive from Is.
8d. to 2s. Gardeners from Is. 2d. to Is. (id. In winter, common
labourers receive from 8d. to 10d., and gardeners Is. The wages
of domestic female-servants, a-year, are from £2 10s. to £1."
The reader will be interested in comparing these prices and
wages with tho6e now current in Dalkeith. Very little butcher-
meat is now sent from Dalkeith to the Edinburgh market : the
London mart is the great object of attention. In the winter of
1838, Mr. Plummer of Dalkeith sent butcher-meat of different
kinds to London to the value of £10,000; and, on an average,
the amount sent from Dalkeith to London may be £15,000 per
annum. Ewe mutton now averages, from October to January,
about 5d. per lb. ; and from January to October, 6d. Wedder
mutton fetches about Id. per lb. more. Beef sells at the same
price as mutton. Veal fetches 7d. per lb. from October to
January ; and 9d. from January to October. The price of poul-
try is nearly the same as in 1793. The price of butter varies
greatly from year to year. Perhaps lOd. per lb. for Scottish
salt-butter has been the average price for a series of years.
Male agricultural labourers get from 10s. to 12s. per week all
the year round, female labourers, about 58, per week.