Genealogical account of the family of Edmonstone of Duntreath

GENEALOGICAL ACCOUNT OF
nearly four hundred years. These lands were acquired by a grant from
Robert the Second, 'cum advocatione Ecclesie et Hospitalis ejusdem
Johanni de Edmonstoun et Isobelle Comitisse de Douglas filie nostre
carissime,' A.D. 1390, and confirmed by a charter of confirmation of
Robert the Third, April 25, 1392.
Edenham was one of the confiscated estates bestowed by Robert
Bruce on Walter, fourth Lord High Steward of Scotland, after the battle
of Bannockburn, on his marriage with Marjory Bruce, the King's daughter,
who died next year in giving birth to King Robert the Second, the first of
the Stuart line. It was seized by Edward the Third, for there is an
ancient charter in the Tower 1 by which the manor of Edenham is committed
to William de Montagu, in the eighth year of that monarch's reign. Indeed
a few years earlier (1335) there is a Passport in Rymer's Federa to William
de Edenham as one of the ' Nuntii ' between ' nos et nostras subditos,' on one
side, and ' Robert de Brugs et nobiles Scotiae,' on the other. In the twenty-
first year of Edward the Third there is a charter for restoring the Hospital
of Edenham with St. Mary's at Berwick to Robert Burton ; and in the last
year of the same king there is a charter granting half the manor of Eden-
ham, in Roxburgh, to John de Iselham, and in the following year Richard
the Second grants 26 marks annually to John de Iselham for this half of
the manor of Edenham.
Keith, 2 in his account of religious houses, says : ' The Hospital of
Ednam was dedicated to St. Lawrence, and seems to have been founded
by the Edmonstones of Ednam, who were patrons of this place.' It had,
however, been founded as far back as the reign of King William the Lion,
and St. Leonard is spoken of as its tutelary saint in the Register of the
Charters of the Great Seal. It may have been restored and re-dedicated
by the Edmonstouns.
The estate was sold by James Edmondstoune, the last male heir of
the elder line of the family, about 1773, and, after passing through other
hands, was purchased in 1827 by the last Viscount Dudley and Ward, who,
being raised to the Earldom of Dudley, took Ednam as his second title.
It is now in possession of his heir, Lord Ward. 3
1 Ayloffe's Calendar of Charters in the Tower, 1772.
2 Keith, Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, etc. 3 Note 5, Appendix.