A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.
Below you will find the history on the Tweedbank area going bank to the 11th century, when it was known as Briggend, which at the time was regarded as part of Darnick. In the 18th century this area became part of The Lowood Estate which went as far as Bowden, and since then the area was referred to as Lowood, which included Tweedbank Farm, and it is for this reason that Lowood and Briggend feature so much in the history you are about to read.
Bill Robertson
1st Lord Scott of Buccleuch 1565 to 1611
Scott Walter 4th of Buccleuch Born 1549 Died 1574 and lived at Bridgend
This is the first record of anybody staying in the Bridgend area.
The Usher Family of Bridgend Darnick
By the early 17th century the family had proliferated in the parish of Melrose. The name Usher appears on the very first page of the Parish records. The first entry is "George b 14/12/1626 - m. Bessie Tait of Gallowshiels". The Ushers belonged to the villages of Darnick and Briggend. In a letter from James Curle, Melrose, dated January 1855, he states "the family of Usher appear to have been large proprietors in Darnick for a period exceeding 250 years
In 1752 the lands of Toftfield (now Huntlyburn) were acquired by John Usher from Charles Wilkinson, a Writer in Melrose.
James Usher his only child had a large family. On April Fools Day in 1782 Andrew his third youngest of twelve children was born at Toftfield They didn't play about in those days! This Andrew went on to found the world famous Whisky Distilling and Blending Company of Andrew Usher & Co in 1813 and the famous Usher Brewery in Edinburgh in 1831. He claimed that he "fully maintained the character of the April Fool" in a narrative of his life which he wrote shortly before his death in 1855. Obviously he was more than that!
In 1816 the current John Usher of Toftfield. eldest brother of the April Fool Andrew, sold the greater part of Toftfield to his neighbour Sir Walter Scott who had by now built his famed Abbotsford House. At this time Toftfield included Harleyburn, now Chiefswood. Sir Walter Scott changed the name Toftfield to Huntlyburn which is what it is known as to this day. Also on Toftfield was Cauldshiels loch and Rhymer's glen where Thomas the Rhymer in ancient times used to meet the Queen of the Fairies (the Faerie Queen in Scottish). The following poem alludes to one such meeting:-
"True Thomas lay on Huntlie bank
a ferlie he spied wi his e'e;
And there he saw a ladye bright
Come riding down by the Eildon tree.
(Briggend) Briggend House
Elizabeth C. Clephane who was also a song writer (1830-1869) Born: June 18, 1830, Edinburgh, Scotland. Died: February 19, 1869, Briggend House, near Melrose, Roxburghshire, Scotland. Buried: St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, Scotland.Elizabeth was the third daughter of Andrew Clephane, Sheriff of Fife and Kinross. She lived most of her life in Melrose, Scotland, about 30 miles southeast of Edinburgh. She spent most of her money on charitable causes, and was known locally as "The Sunbeam."Clephane's hymns appeared posthumously, almost all for the first time, in the Family Treasury (1872), under the general title of "Breathings on the Border."
The Pavilion House
John Broadwood & Sons is the oldest and one of the most prestigious piano companies in the world. The instruments have been enjoyed by such famous people as Mozart, Haydn, Chopin, Beethoven and Liszt. The company holds the Royal Warrant as manufacturer of pianos to Queen Elizabeth II.
on August 9th, 1858. The youngest of the 9 surviving children the Famous Lucy Etheldred Broadwood was actually born in Scotland, in the Borders town of Melrose, where her parents had their 'Tweed-side home',The Pavilion (6) although her childhood was mainly spent at Lyne in the south-east of England. (7) She continued to visit Melrose as an adult, and stayed at Bridgend house just prior to her visit to John Potts. The farm where she met Potts is only around twenty miles from her place of birth.
LUCY ETHELDRED BROADWOOD (1858 - 1929) was both folksong collector and researcher, composer, singer and poet.
The Pavilion
JOHN BROADWOOD (1732-1812)
Born in Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, a cabinet makes who left home at 29 and reputedly walked to London
Notable Achievement: founded the great London pianoforte house of Tschudi and Broadwood, marrying the daughter of Swiss born harpsichord maker Burkhardt Tschudi. Highly gifted, he made great advances in the design of the pianoforte both upright and grand, such as adding pedals and increasing the range. He supplied pianos across the world to composers and royalty, and when he died left a substantial estate. The house is still in business today.
Lucy Broadwood was to become one of the foremost folksong collectors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries - a lynchpin of the collecting movement around which many of the important collectors of the day revolved, and from whom they received advice, information and support. She was a talented classically trained singer, composer and poet, and provided inspiration and assistance to many composers of the 20th century English classical school of music, such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Percy Grainger and Gustav Holst.
Bridgend House
Lucy Broadwood continued to visit Briggend House which is on the lowood estate near to where she was born, the Pavilion, as it was recorded by her cousin in 1907. Lucy would have been 49 years old by now, and 11 years old when Elizabeth C. Clephane died in 1869 but Lucy would have been too young to stay at Bridgend House at this time, so either someone else moved into Bridgend House after Elizabeth C. Clephane or else the family knew the person who stayed at Bridgend House between 1869 and 1907.
Bernard Holland [cousin] at Harbledon to Lucy Broadwood at Bridgend House, Melrose, Scotland. He has sent her letter to Aunt Cathy in Canterbury. He comments on 'that book' [unspecified] and on their ancestry; and asks whether she has seen the 3rd edn which includes additional letters. He thinks it is an excellent occupation of hers to go about collecting folk songs and tunes. He discusses his travel plans and family matters and tells her of an early Victorian local ballad called 'The [?]Folkcutac Murder'. It is very sad to lose Mary Coleridge. Letter dated Sep, envelope postmarked [19]07 and annotated 're his mothers letters etc' 2185/LEB/1/327-330 Sep [1907]
1st record of Lowood house.
Robert Reid, Master of Works and Architect to the King, from 1839 to 1856. could be the person who built the current Lowood House, in 1829 which was then called bridgend.
ARCHITECTURE NOTES
NMRS REFERENCE:
Architect: Robert Reid, 1829
Retirement home of Robert Reid, Master of Works and Architect to the King, from 1839 to 1856.
Robert Reid retired and lived at Lowood.
Lowood House
The next family was Henry Kidd who was the son of Robert Charles Kidd, Henry Kidd married Lady Mary Kerr, daughter of Schomberg Henry Kerr, 9th Marques of Lothian and Lady Victoria Alexandria Scott, married on 7 December 1897, Henry Kidd died on 23 June 1923, and lived at Lowood House. The house had alterations in 1914 carried out by J M Dick & Forbes Smith Architectural Practice, and the alternative name are associated with the house, Name Bridgend, Current Name, Bridgend.
NEW
Lowood House
Added 20th July 2009
The next family was Lambert William Middleton was born on 29 April 1877 He was the son of Henry Nicholas Middleton and Sophia Elizabeth Meredith. He married Lady Sybil Grey, daughter of Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey and Alice Holford, on 21 September 1922. They lived at Lowood House. He died on 10 December 1941 at age 64
Lady Sybil Grey was born on 15 July 1882 She was the daughter of Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey and Alice Holford. Lady Sybil Grey was invested as a Officer, Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) in 1918. She married Lambert William Middleton, son of Henry Nicholas Middleton and Sophia Elizabeth Meredith, on 21 September 1922, Lambert Middleton was a Director of the Bank Of Scotland in Edinburgh, From 21 September 1922, her married name became Middleton they had 2 children, Henry, born 1923, and Mary 1925.
Lady Sybil Middleton achieved a very high professional standard in her hobby as a photographer about 1930 to 1932 and there are still people alive in Darnick and St Boswells who can remember her with her camera and often catching them unawares. Whenever there was a Village concert in Darnick, recalls Mr Bob Darrie who was her game keeper, he was told to erect her viewing screen in the village hall and the local people would turn out to see themselves performing in the film. It was one of the great attractions in the village said Mr James Wanless (my Mothers Uncle) whose brother worked as a groom for Lady Sybil Middleton. Her son Harry appeared in the film as one of the children on a pony and a donkey being given a leg-up by Mr Wanless brother. Her Husband Lambert Middleton Died on 10th December 1941 at the age of 64, and when peace came she sold Lowwod House and went to live in the new forest. Lady Sybil's film turned up in a junk shop in Andover, and was a feature on the BBC 2 programme "caught in time" about the borders village of St Boswells, they assumed that the person who had made the film was a professional photographer and a man. In actual fact it was Lady Cybil Middleton an amateur who lived at lowood near melrose.
The Scottish Borders
Scotland's Oldest History
This area had an archaeological study done to find a iron age settlement going back 3,000 years, and was the same land Old Melrose was built on due to its fertile soil, then a Roman settlement 40AD to 450AD at Trimontium, Saint Columba 521 to 557AD Saint Cuthbert 635 to 687AD Newstead Village the oldest Village in Scotland possible 10th Century Ledgerwood Church first record 1127AD but dates back to the 11th Century making it Scotland's oldest church, Briggend we think dates back to 1050 AD. Trimontium, permission has been granted to start archaeological dig as this is the largest Roman site in Scotland dating back to 80AD to 500Ad. History going back 2,000 years
Below is the history of Briggend
from 1050AD
On reading this if you are in Melrose, you will find you are in the most historic part of Scotland within 20 miles. Half a mile from here lies Newstead, the oldest continuous inhabited village in Scotland. The area also has 4 Abbeys: Melrose, Dryburgh, Jedburgh and Kelso, dating back to 1132AD
The Borders were so wealthy there were around 2,400 houses that employed servants.
The local newspaper the Southern Reporter, was the main financial newspapers in Britain hundreds of years ago, and is still published today.
You will read about the Duke of Roxburgh of Floors Castle, and the Duke of Buccleugh:
These two houses were gifted all of the land between Berwick on the east coast to the west located at the Solway Firth where the border with England meets the sea, making them the richest land owners in the UK.
This land was gifted for services to the crown for signing over their armies
The Scottish Borders is not regarded in Scotland as part of Scotland.
You are in the area of Briggend.
Below, you can read the information about Briggend from the possible 11th century up the present day. It's possible the Bridge predates Melrose Abbey 1132AD, and Ledgerwood Church 1127AD (the oldest church in Scotland, 12 miles from Melrose) I think the bridge origins could be around 1050AD
B Robertson - See Photos for more info
Archaeology Notes
NT53NW 41 c. 5197 3547
Location formerly cited as NT 5197 3547.
Bridge [NR]
(site of) [NAT]
OS 1:2500 map, 1972.
The site of a bridge, which had its origins in the 11th century but was rebuilt about 1544AD by the Pringle Family. This bridge, the only one on the river tweed between Peebles 20 miles west and Berwick 40 miles east, meant William Wallace and his Army had to use this bridge on his invasion into England, it was also used by English Armies when they tried to make Scots accept rule by England. The only alternative was to go by Carlisle on the west coast.
No trace of the structure survives but associated works can still be seen eg: the cutting back of a rocky shelf on the left bank to provide benching for an abutment built against the cliff-face; and the terrace of a zig-zag roadway rising towards the east.
RCAHM 1956
No trace of the bridge remains.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 26 January 1961
This bridge formerly carried a road across the River Tweed to the east of Galashiels.
Voici l'histoire de Briggend
Extract From THE ROADS THAT LED TO EDINBURGH, ETC. 43
Below this map from 1863 shows the area once know as Briggend with roads and land marks we can still see today.
From the point of the river where the bridge crossed, you can see the road that winds it way past Bridgend House, through Bridgend, up through the wood where it splits, and both roads are dissected by the North British Railway.
At this point, one road leads up to Tweedbank Village, which I understand was a farm in its day, the other road goes on to join up with the Darnick to Abbotsford road, parts of which you can still see to this day in the Barret Housing Site.
The road that leads from Tweedbank down to the river, can also be seen today as it goes under the railway bridge and gives access to the fields called the sheep pen.
The railway cut through the middle of what must have been a community around Lowood House and bridgend in 1863
Tweedbank Village was built in the 1970's, and took in Tweedbank Farm which is now the Community centre, and Bridgend Mains became the Craft Complex.
The railway was reopened between Tweedbank and Edinburgh in September 2015, and the new railway station is in the field called Well Park.
Bill Robertson
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 31 January 2006.
Extract From, THE ROADS THAT LED TO EDINBURGH, ETC. 43:
Leaving out both Stow and Galashiels altogether. Prior to that date the main highway from Selkirk to Edinburgh was by Darnick to Lauder, this route was used for transporting cannons in July 1547.
Dere St, the 2,000 year old road would have been used as it could be joined only half a mile from the north side of the bridge, which gave a straight road all the way to Edinbugh.
It was evidently the only alternative main route to Edinburgh, other than by Peebles.
It is rather interesting to note that on the same occasion some cannons, brought from Peebles were not taken direct to Selkirk by Minchmoor which was the usual way, and in fact, a turnpike road as late as 1772, but were brought round by Darnick.
The river Tweed was evidently forded there, as it is unlikely the wooden
bridge at Bridgend would bear the weight.
National Library of Scotland.
(The monks from Melrose Abbey forded the river Tweed by widening the tweed increasing its width making it half as deep. The Romans also built a bridge over the Tweed opposite Darnick to link Dere Street)
This map from 1863 shows the area once know as Briggend with roads and land marks we can still see today.
Waverley Line 1863
Extract from The Roads that lead to Edinburgh:
THE BIGGAR ROAD.
The position of the wooden drawbridge over the Tweed at Bridgend near Darnick, which has long since disappeared, presents some interesting problems, rather negative in character.
Being two miles away from Melrose Abbey, it was plainly not for the convenience of the Abbot, and this also makes the popular supposition, that the Girthgate led from it, extremely doubtful.
Its erection is attributed to the Pringles of Galashiels, who in the fifteenth century for long periods held in their family the office of "Ward, or Ranger, of Tweed." It would therefore appear that the bridge dues would be taken on traffic to Selkirk, Hawick, and Jedburgh, which would all come from Lauder by this route. As the ferry was in use in 1590, it is very probable that the bridge was destroyed in 1544, when Melrose Abbey was burned by the English.
National Library of Scotland refers to the bridge over the Tweed about a mile west of Melrose town.
An ancient Bridgend, a hamlet in Melrose parish, Roxburghshire, adjacent bridge of curious construction stood here; it's said to have been built by David I, to facilitate communications with Melrose Abbey; and halfway across it had a tower, containing a bridge-keeper's residence. (Frances Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
We now know that the bridge at briggend predates Melrose Abbey BR
A Battle Site
This area of flat haugh land beside the River Tweed was the scene of a battle in 1526. Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, (Duke of Buccleuch) brought 600 riders in an unsuccessful bid to rescue the young King James V from the domination of the Earl of Angus and his allies, the Kers (Duke of Roxburgh) and Homes. In the ensuing combat the Scott faction lost more than eighty men and was routed, although one of Scott's servants, named Elliot cut down Ker of Cessford in the pursuit. The Southern Upland Way footpath crosses the site.
The Walter Scott in this story is not the Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), Scottish writer and poet.
National Library of Scotland
This is the view from the south bank looking at the point where the bridge came over the Tweed
This tree is on the south bank at the point where the bridge came over, I am not suggesting it goes back to the time of the bridge, but I do think it is the oldest tree in the Tweedbank area, as it measures 6 metre's or 19.7 feet round at the narrowest point and is listed as a historic tree as it could be 600 years old. The map on the left shows where the bridge made contact on the north bank. The bridge the romans built 2,000 year ago also made contact with a high bank on the north side of the Tweed.
This is the road that leads from Lowood and Bridgend,known as the drovers road, which then crossed a bridge over the railway to give access to the south side of the railway for the horses, the road then joined the Darnick to Abbotsford road, I believe the bridge was blown up when the railway was closed in the sixties, but you can still see the wall on the south side where the bridge came over, and the fence posts made from railway sleepers leading down to towards the railway then turning left up towards Tweedbank Farm.
This was the drovers road from Bridgend linking up to the road to Abbotsford
Built in the 11th century replaced 1779AD
Children of Lady Sybil Grey and Lambert William Middleton
2.Henry Lambert Middleton+ born. 26 Aug 1923. He married Susan Jenifer Fearnley-Whittingstall, daughter of William Arthur Fearnley-Whittingstall, on 8 January 1964. He and Susan Jenifer Fearnley-Whittingstall were divorced in 1978
Henry Lambert Middleton also went by the nick-name of Harry He was educated at Eton College, Eton, Berkshire, England. He was educated at New College, Oxford University, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. He was with the BBC between 1943 and 1965.
2.Mary Sybil Middleton+ born. 4 Jul 1925. She married Captain John Brooke Boyd, son of Commander John Gordon Boyd, on 20 February 1948
From 20 February 1948, her married name became Boyd. She lived in 2003 at Whiterigg, Melrose, Roxburghshire, Scotland and had 4 children
1.Diana Mary Boyd 2
2.Simon John Boyd b. 1949
3.James Lambert Boyd b. 1952
4.Caroline Elizabeth Boyd b. 1952
Lady Sybil Middleton sold Lowood House after the 2nd world war to a couple who lived at Lowood for a couple of years before selling to Mrs Constance Hamilton, and the Hamilton family sold the estate to Scottish Borders Council for a housing develop, 2019.
To be continued
The area had two families who helped shape the Borders and beyond,
Andrew Currie,
a sculptor who carried out his work in a workshop in the grounds of Darnick Tower from about 1859 onwards. Amongst his work are: Mungo Park statue in Selkirk; The Ettrick Shepherd at St Mary's Loch, the Bruce Monument at Stirling; figures on the Scott Monument in Princes' Street Edinburgh. He died in 1891 and is buried in Weirhill Cemetery, Melrose.
The Smith family
- This family were builders and masons based in Darnick and working from the early 1800's through until the 1850's. Most of the major houses built in the area during this period were worked on by one of the family. A list of these reads like an index of the major works of the time: Melrose Parish Church, Dryburgh Abbey House, Chiefswood, Abbotsford (extension), Gattonside House, Yetholm Parish Church, St Boswells Schoolhouse, Eckford Church etc.
In addition to house and churches, they also built bridges amongst which are: North Bridge Hawick, Hermitage Water Bridge, Faulshope Bridge at Bowhill.
The Wallace Statue at Dryburgh was also the work of the family.
The Borders through time
In the Scottish Borders we don't have the names of well known Scottish Clans. It was Family names not clans. Most had a Castle or Keep with land and farm animals mostly cattle, and each family were reivers who would steal cattle from their neighbours, this was a wild and dangerous place living in fear of other families. Today all the Border towns: Hawick, Selkirk, Galashiels, Kelso, Jedburgh, Earlston, Coldstream hold Border Civic weeks, they ride the Marches on horse back every year in memory of the towns and associated families.
Unlike the highlands who sufferd the higland clearenses driving families of there land and having their houses burnt down, the Lowlands/Scottish Bordres suffered a different fate as the English crown gave all the land between the east coast to the west coast to two Families the Kerrs, and the Scots, who are now known as the Duke of Bucclugh and the Duke of Roxburgh. But unlike the higlands the Borders became very welthy resulting in having 2,400 houses that employed servents, and the Borders became the welthiest part of Scotland with the local newspaper the Souther Reporter became the Financial News Papers in Britain, which is still published today.
Below are the Border Reiver Family Names, see if you are one.
Anderson * Archibold * Armstrong * Aynsley * Beattie/Bettisoun * Bell* Blackadder * Brewis * Bromfield * Burns * Carlisle * Carlton/Charlton * Carnaby * Carr/Kerr * Carruthers * Cessford * Chrichton * Clennell * Cockburn* Collingwood * Corbett * Coxson * Cranston * Craw/Crawford * Crisp * Crozier * Curwen * Cuthbert * Dacre * Dalgliesh * Davison/Davidson * Delaval * Dickson/Dixon * Dodd * Douglas * Dunne * Edgar * Ellerker * Elliot * Errington * Fenwick * Fluke * Forster/Foster * Fraser/Frissell * Gilchrist * Glendenning * Gordon * Graham * Gray * Hall * Halliday * Harden * Hedley * Henderson * Heron * Hetherington * Hodgson * Horsley * Hume/Home * Hunter/Huntley * Irvine/Irving * Jamieson * Jardine * Johnstone * Kirkpatrick/Kilpatrick * Laidlaw * Latimer * Little * Lowther * Maxwell * Medford * Milburn * Mitford * Moffat * Mow * Musgrave * Nicholson * Nickson/Nixon * Noble * Ogle * Oliver * Ord * Percy * Pile * Potts * Pringle * Radcliffe * Redhead * Redpath * Reed/ Reid * Richardson * Ridley * Robson * Rome * Routledge * Rowell * Rutherford * Salkeld * Sawfeld * Scott * Selby * Shaftoe * Simpson * Snowden * Stamper * Stapleton * Stokoe * Storey * Strowther * Swinhoe * Swinton * Tailor/Taylor * Tait/ Tate * Telfer * Thompson/ Thomson * Trotter * Turnbull * Turner * Vardy * Wake * Wallace * Wanless * Watson * Widdrington * Wigham * Wilkinson * Wilson * Witherington * Yarrow * Young *
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WAVERLEY ROUTE
Following the Smith-Barlow Commission investigation of 1839, into the feasibility of trans-Border Anglo-Scottish trunk routes, the Government decision in 1841 stating that only one trans Border route was viable seriously underestimated the potential for long distance traffic.
The North British Railway were granted Parliamentary approval for the first trans-Border route between Edinburgh & Berwick, via the East coast, in 1844. This was a new company at the time, and the founder of the N.B.R., John Learmonth, already had plans in mind to serve the whole of the Borders region between Edinburgh, Carlisle & Berwick with a railway network. He knew, however, there would be very little traffic generated in parts of this region due to the fact it was largely agricultural.
Undeterred, he pressed on with his plan, if not somewhat slightly over-optimistic of the actual traffic potential. The following year, in 1845, the N.B.R. acquired the Edinburgh & Dalkeith Railway, constructed by James Jardine in 1831, for the princely sum of £120,000 and also absorbed the Marquis of Lothian's Waggonway, of 1832, further south. As a point of interest, the Edinburgh & Dalkeith Railway was surveyed as long ago as 1818, by one Robert Stevenson (who recently featured on the BBC series "Seven Wonders of the Industrial World") and received Royal Assent on 26th May 1826.
The acquisition of these lines would provide another stepping stone to the south, without bringing too much attention to themselves, or so they thought. Their plan, soon to be unveiled, was to build the "Edinburgh & Hawick Railway", by way of Galashiels & Melrose.
In some ways it is easier to find the History of land and bricks and mortar, what i have found more difficult is to trace the families who have lived at Bridgend and the people who helped shape it, below is my best effort to find out who they were
The Families who lived at Bridgend, added January 2009
Read the information below about Bridgend and Tweedbank from the 12th century up the present day
The History of Tweedbank and its importance from the 12th century, through to the present day.
As the railway connecting the Borders to Edinburgh reopened in 2015, i thought it would be interesting to look back in history to find the origins of the area we live in called Tweedbank.
All Maps and extracts are taken from the National Library of Scotland
At Web Address http://www.nls.uk/maps/
Any comments by myself may not be a true statement of fact as I am not a historian, only someone taking an interest in our local history.
Below the parish map showing the Galashiels Parish of Rev M Douglas, and the boundry of Selkirk Parish.
You will also see a road going along the front of Abbotsford House leading towards Tweedbank Farm, where you can still see the remains of the wall from Abbotsford leading up to the new road bridge, over the tweed, where it then would have gone down the black path and through Tweedbank Farm stopping at the Railway Bridge
For those of you who are seriously into local History, go to the other link which covers Melrose and surrounding area, including Bridgend.
Feedback email
tweedbankbill@aol.com