Genealogical account of the family of Edmonstone of Duntreath

62 NOTES TO GENEALOGICAL ACCOUNT OF
of Dunferline, together with Robert, Lord Erskine, on the part of the Right Rev. Father
in Christ, Alexander, Archbishop of St. Andrews, ' Commendatarium monesteriarum de
Dunferling et Coldingham,' etc., relating to James Edmonstone of Ednam, as heir to his
brother David, for the lands of Edmonstone.
In the infeftment which followed of James Edmonstoun there is this peculiarity,
that Edmonstoun is spoken of as a barony, though holding of a religious house, and
not of the King ; ' of which the instances,' Mr. Riddell states, 'are not many, and rarer
still in the case of a convent or abbacy than of a high ecclesiastical see. Dunfermline,
however, had the right of regality, or was, in other words, a palatinate, or what amounted
to that in England.'
The transfer of the property from the Edmonstones to the Raiths seems to have
caused some feud, for there is a remission under the Great Seal to James Raith of
Edmonstone, for the accidental mutilation of Patrick Edmonstone of Woolmet, the loss
of his left arm — a serious affair — dated July I, 1664.
Note 2, Page 3.
It would seem that Woolmet became the appanage of a younger branch of Edmon-
stoun of that Ilk, but I am not aware of any notice of its final alienation. It is now the
property of the Earl of Wemyss.
Note 3, Page 3.
It is a curious coincidence that Gilmerton, mentioned as the property of Sir John
Herring of Edmonstone, in Clydesdale, is very near Edmonstone in Midlothian.
Gilmerton Grange was the scene of a dreadful act of savage vengeance, as related in the
' Memorie of the Somervilles.' 1 Sir John Herring having discovered an intrigue carried
on in that house between his daughter and a monk of Newbattle, set fire to it, and
destroyed six or seven other persons together with the culprits. It is stated in a note
that the tradition is preserved in the neighbourhood, and that Gilmerton Grange is still
called the ' Burnt-dole.'
Note 4, Page 3.
In Chalmers' 'Caledonia,' vol. i. page 501, there is a mention of the settlement of
Ednam, by Thorlongus an English colonist. In the 169th number of the ' Quarterly
Review' (Scottish Abbeys and Cathedrals), this is mentioned more at length, and as
the reference is to Raine's 'North Durham,' a work to which I have not access, I give
it in the words of the Review : — ' There is a parchment in the treasury at Durham which
enables us to describe in his own words how the Northumbrian colonist settles himself
on the left bank of the Tweed in the beginning of the 1 2th century. " To the sons of
Holy Mother Church " — thus the Charter runs — " Thor the Long, greeting in the Lord :
Know that Aedgar my Lord, King of the Scots, gave to me Ednaham a waste ; that
1 Memorie of the Somervilles, vol. i. p. 118.