History and genealogy of the family of Wauchope of Niddrie-Merschell

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the MS. notes already referred to, was of opinion that " Wauchtoun, or Wauchop-
toun, in E. Lothian, belonged to this family " [the Wauchopes]. This, however,
is supported by no evidence. The earliest notice of these lands occurs in a
charter by Robert II. to " William de Lindsay, of the lands of Drem, in the
constabulary of Hadingtoun, vie. de Edinburgh, wliilk pertained to Johana de
Erth of Wauchtoun, and which William de Gourlay, her son and heir, resigned."*
The first we find of the patronymic of Waxhchope is Ada de Waleuhope,
who witnesses a charter by Symon de Lyndsay to the Abbey of Melrose,! in the
reign of William the Lyon, who ascended the throne in 1165. Dominus Ada de
Waleuhope, evidently the same person, also witnesses another charter to the
Abbey in the same reign ; and Ada de Wcdchope is witness to a charter in the
succeeding reign of Alexander II. In this reign (8th Feb. 1247), Wauchope, as
a locality, is thus mentioned in one of the Melrose documents — " Et eciam pas-
turam ad octo boues et octo vacas in Wauchop." In 1389, Robert II. confirmed
a charter of James, Earl of Douglas, to Alexander de Walchope, of the lands of
Walch-ope, and to the heirs of his body; whom failing, to Sir Adam de Glen-
donwin, who had married his daughter, and to his heirs.J Thus it is established
that the Wauchopes were originally settled in Roxburghshire, and that they were
vassals of the Douglases.
In the MS. notes, the author says — " In King James the 2d's time, this
family was forfaulted by the means of the Douglasses, who got the estates, and
particularly Wauchopdale ; from them the Maxwells, and from them the present
possessor, the Dutchess of Buccleuch, so that when the family was reponed, it
never got back Wauchopdale." Of this forfeiture we find no trace in the acts of
James II.'s reign ; and as the author, from a previous portion of the MS., evidently
alludes to Wauchopdale in Dumfries-shire, the statement must be founded on a
traditional misconception. Wauchopdale, in Dumfries-shire, belonged to the
Lindsays, and the lands of Wauchope in Roxburghshire passed to the Glendonwins.
In the Ragman Rolls (1291-1296), various parties of the name of Wauchope
appear. There is a Robertus de Walghope, belonging to Fife ; a Robertus de
Walghope, undesigned ; and a Thomas de Walghope, " tenant le Eusque de
Seint Andreu del Counte de Edeneburgh."
There was an old branch of the Wauchopes, who possessed the lands of
Culter, in Aberdeenshire. According to a transumpt of a charter,§ in the charter
* Robertson's Index, f Cart, of Melrose. J Douglas' Baronage.
§ A copy of this charter, published in Whyte's Account of Libberton parish, is amongst the
Niddrie papers.