Imperial gazeteer of Scotland, or, Dictionary of Scottish topography > Volume 1

ANCRUM.
43
ANCRUM.
situation of Ancrum-house, where tho village of
Over-Ancrutn formerly stood, is picturesque and at-
tractive. Spots of verdant lawn, craggy knolls,
scattered trees, and, on the verge of the river, steep
banks, in some places naked and of broken surface,
and in others clothed with wood, here exhibit a fine
assemblage of romantic objects. The trees surround-
ing Ancrum-house are the oldest and most beautiful
in the district: they consist of oaks, beech, elms,
S lanes, and limes. The prospect from the house
own the vale of Teviot, of the junction of the Ale
and Teviot, and towards the lofty mountains of
Cheviot, is extensive and striking. Chesters-house
is a fine building, picturesquely situated farther up
the Teviot; and Kirklands, on the Ale, is deservedly
admired for both its architecture and its situation.
The Roman road from York to the frith of Forth,
after passing through the north-east part of the
parish of Jedburgh, cuts a small part of the north
corner of Ancrum ; and upon the top and declivity
of the hill to the eastward, on the border of Max-
ton parish, vestiges of a Roman camp may still be
traced. — There is a ridge in this parish, over which
the road to Edinburgh passes, about a quarter or
half-a-mile west of the line of the Roman road, on
the border of Maxton parish, called Lylliard's, or
Lilyard's edge, from a lady of that name, who, on
an invasion of the English under Sir Ralph Evers,
and Sir Bryan Latoun, in 1544, during the distracted
regency of the Earl of Arran, fought with masculine
bravery, and fell here under many wounds. The
old people point out her monument, now broken and
defaced. It is said to have borne an inscription —
recast from the well-known lines on a Chevy-Chase
hero — running thus:
" Fair maiden Lylliard lies under this stane;
Little was her stature, but great was her fame;
Upon the English louns she laid mony thumps,
And when her legs were cutted off, she fought upon her stumps."
Sir Walter Scott, in a note on the ballad of ' The Eve
of St. John,' gives the following account of the battle
of Ancrum Moor. In 1545, [1544?] Lord Evers and
Latoun again entered Scotland, with an army con-
sisting of 3,000 mercenaries, 1,500 English borderers
and 700 assured Scottish-men, chiefly Armstrongs,
Tumbulls, and other broken clans. In this second
incursion, the English generals even exceeded their
former cruelty. Evers burned the tower of Broom-
house, with its lady, (a noble and aged woman, says
Lesley,) and her whole family. The English pene-
trated as far as Melrose, which they had destroyed
last year, and which they now again pillaged. As
they returned towards Jedburgh, they were followed
by Angus, at the head of 1,000 horse, who was
shortly after joined by the famous Norman Lesley,
with a body of Fife-men. The English, being pro-
bably unwilling to cross the Teviot, while theScots
hung upon their rear, halted upon Ancrum moor,
above the village of that name; and the Scottish
general was deliberating whether to advance or re-
tire, when Sir "Walter Scott of Buccleuch came up
at full speed, with a small but chosen body of his
retainers, the rest of whom were near at hand. By
the advice of this experienced warrior — to whose
conduct Pitscottie and Buchanan ascribe the success
of the engagement — Angus withdrewfrom the height
which he occupied, and drew up his forces behind it,
upon a piece of low flat ground, called Panier-heugh,
or Paniel-heugh. The spare horses being sent to an
eminence in their rear, appeared to the English to be
the main body of the Scots, in the act of flight.
Under this persuasion, Evers and Latoun hurried
precipitately forward, and, having ascended the hill,
which their foes had abandoned, were no less dis-
mayed than astonished, to find the phalanx of Scot-
tish spearmen drawn up, in firm array, upon the flat
ground below. The Scots in their turn became the
assailants. A heron, roused from the marshes by
the tumult, soared away betwixt the encountering
armies: ' O!' exclaimed' Angus, ' that I had here my
white goss-hawk, that we might all yoke at once!'
[Oodscroft.] — The English, breathless and fatigued,
having the setting sun and wind full in their faces,
were unable to withstand the resolute and desperate
charge of the Scottish lances. No sooner had they
begun to waver, than their own allies, the assured
Borderers, who had been waiting the event, threw
aside their red crosses, and, joining their country-
men, made a most merciless slaughter among the
English fugitives, the pursuers calling upon each
other to ' remember Broomhouse !' — [Lesley, p. 478.1"
The English had 800 men slain, and 1,000 made
prisoners in this battle. Their leaders, Evers and
Latoun, were also left on the field,
"where Ancrum moor
Ran red with English blood;
Where the Douglas true, and the bold Buccleuch,
'Gainst keen Lord Evers stood.
The most venerable fragment of antiquity in the
parish were the Maltan walls, which stood on a
rising ground at the bottom of the village of Ancrum,
close to the side of the Ale, where it turns its course
towards the south-east, but whose last relics fell to
the ground in the winter of 18S6-7. " These walls,"
says the Statistical reporter in 1796, " were strongly
built of stone and lime, in the figure of a parallelo
gram; and, ascending on one side from the plain
adjacent to the river, were considerably higher than
the summit of the hill which they enclose; but are
now levelled with its surface, and small part of them
remains. Vaults or subterraneous arches have
been discovered in the neighbouring ground, and
underneath the area enclosed by the building.
Human bones are still found by persons ploughing
or digging in the plain at the side of the river,
which is an evidence of its having been formerly
occupied as burying-ground. The name, which
these walls still retain, gives the colour of authen-
ticity to a tradition generally received in this part
of the country, that the building and surrounding
fields had been vested in the knights of Malta, or
Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem,
who, upon account of their splendid achievements
and meritorious services in the holy wars, acquired
property even in the most remote kingdoms of
Christendom. — On the banks of the Ale, below the
house of Ancrum, there were several caves or re-
cesses, and not less than fifteen may be still pointed
out. In some, of them there are also vestiges of
chimneys or fire-places, and holes for the passage of
smoke from the back part of the cave to the outside
of the bank. From these appearances, it is natural
to conclude, that, though these caves — so frequently
found on the banks of rivers in border-counties — were
originally intended for places of concealment and
shelter, yet, after the happy event which put an end
to interior violence and depredation, they were pro-
bably assumed by the poorer classes for places of
habitation, and improved by such further accommo-
dations as the rude or simple taste of the times re-
quired."
The village of Ancrum stands on a rising ground,
on the right bank of the Ale, a little west of the
Jedburgh and Edinburgh road, and about 3J miles
north-north-west of Jedburgh. Its original or
uncontracted name was Alneerumb or Alncromb, and
signifies the crook of the Alne, — the original name of
the Ale; and is exactly descriptive of its situation
on a hold sharp curve of the river. The scenery
around it is softly yet richly picturesque. The pre-