(Na:

19 NOV/ 1990
PURCHASED
I library

HISTORY

OF THE

BERWICKSHIRE

NATURALISTS’ CLUB

INSTITUTED SEPTEMBER 22, 1831

‘MARE ET TELLUS, ET, QUOD TEGIT OMNIA, CCELUM”

VOL. XLIV.
PART 1, 1987

OFFICE BEARERS
1986-87

President.

L. H. CLEAT, Esq., B.Sc.C.Eng., M.I.Chem.E., Redbrae, Gavinton, Duns.
(Tel. Duns (0361)83400).

Joint Field Secretaries.

D. MACKENZIE ROBERTSON, Esq., 4 Hermitage Lane, Kelso.
Mrs D. MACKENZIE ROBERTSON, M.C.S.P., RS.A.Scot.

(Tel. Kelso (0573) 324252).

Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer
Miss S. G. STODDART, W.S., Ayton. (Tel. Ayton (08907) 209).

Editing Secretary.

Lady B. McEWEN, Polwarth Crofts, Polwarth, Duns.

(Tel. Duns (0361) 83323) (To June. 1988).

Professor W. H. R. Lumsden, 16A Merchiston Crescent, Edinburgh EH10
5AX. (Tel. Edinburgh (031) 229 2702) (From June, 1988).

Librarian.

Miss M. H. SIMPSON, J.P., A. LA., 124, Shielfield Terrace, Benvick upon
Tweed. (Tel. Berwick (0289) 307805).

1

J

1 9 NOV 1990

PURCHASED

HISTORY OF >iSBARY

BERWICKSHIRE NATURALISTS' CLUB

orl

JW

f -irrj ■ ^ :

r b ,b : : CONTENTS OF VOL. XLIV

^ ; Parti, 1987

. ■ 0 ',0 ■ . • ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

I. Qub Notes ii

2. . Presidential Address-Sir Archibald Cockbum 2nd Baronet of Langton .... 1

3. A Note on a Newly-discovered Portrait of John Mackay Wilson ................ 12

A: The Marine Algae of Alnmouth: A Century of Study 18

5. The Fossil Flora of Berwickshire and vicinage :.... 24

6. The Qub Horn 37

7. Twentieth Century Weather at Lochton, Coldstream 39

8. Obituary-John Shiel Wall 42

9. Field Notes and Records 43

10. Field Secretaries' Report 44

II. Librarians' Report, 1987 45

12. Treasurer's Financial Statement 46

Advice to Contributors inside back cover

ILLUSTRATIONS

John Mackay Wilson — Portraits ..
The Qub Horn

Plates

14, 15
37

CLUB NOTES

In many recent years the Club's visits have been reported only very
briefly in Club Notes. A fuller report was made in 1986 under the
title — Field Secretaries' Report — but was still placed in the 'prelimi-
nary' pages of the Part. It seems appropriate to accord the expanded
'Field Secretaries' Report' a full heading and place it in the general
body of the text of a Part; as is now done.

Consequently, Club Notes can be reserved in future for general
Club news or intimations and for editorial comment. In the present
Part, attention is drawn to a new entry — Advice to Contributors —
printed on the inside back cover. It is hoped that this will encourage
the submission of manuscripts.

The Editing Secretary would welcome comments on this and on
any other aspect of the History.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

BERWICKSHIRE
NATURALISTS' CLUB

SIR ARCHIBALD COCKBURN
2nd BARONET OF LANGTON

being the Anniversary Address delivered by L. H. Cleat,

Esq., B.Sc., M.I.Chem.E., President of the Club, on 21st
October, 1987.

History faithfully records the lives of kings and princes. But
little is written about less distinguished mortals; we can only
make a guess at their story and the reasons for their actions.
However, interest in the fortunes of others remains strong.
Thus the presentation of this brief biography is both a pleas-
ant and a hazardous undertaking. I believe the facts are
mainly correct but why all happened in the way it did cannot
now be explained.

I have attempted to describe the life of a vigorous, intelli-
gent, far-seeing, astute, and sometimes despised, laird who
owned, at one time, all the lands of Langton, an estate which
extended over the entire Berwickshire parish of that name
and beyond. After hearing the account of his life you may
wish to draw your own conclusions about this controversial
figure. The following is my description of the life, and
something of the times, of Sir Archibald Cockburn, 2nd
baronet of Langton.

A few words of introduction to the Cockbums of Langton
are necessary. The family of Cockburn, which was to sprout
so many branches, can be traced back to the Alexander
Cockbume who, in about 1330, married Mariota de Veteri
Ponte, or Vieuxpont, or Vipont as it became in Scotland. She
was an heiress of Norman descent, the only child of Sir
William Vipont who was slain on the field of Bannockburn

1

2

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

in 1314.’ It was Mariota who brought the lands of Langton,
and much else, to the Cockbums and from them sprang the
line which continued there for over four hundred years.

There were many other branches of this prolific family;
such as the Cockbums of that Ilk (that is to say 'of Cockbum'
itself), of Ormiston, Henderland, Bolton, Skirling, Choicelee,
Ryslaw, Caldra, Newbigging, Clerkington, Cockpen, and
others. This account is confined to the above-mentioned Sir
Archibald who owned the estate of Langton in the second
half of the 17th century.

There existed, at that time, a village of Langton which must
have been a place of some importance. In 1595 it was granted
a charter by James VI allowing it to be 'erected', that is to say
created, a burgh of barony. Such a charter permitted the
village to hold a weekly market, to erect a cross, and to hold
two fairs annually plus other privileges. There is no indica-
tion, however, that the charter was implemented and no
trace remains of the old Langton village.^' ^

Sir William Cockbum, father of Archibald, was created a
baronet of Nova Scotia, by Charles I, in 1 627. On his death in
1656, his eldest son inherited the baronetcy and the estate.
Possession of the lands of Langton by Sir Archibald is con-
firmed in a charter of 1662 and again by a second charter of
1681.“

Sir Archibald also inherited certain offices pertaining to
the Court. One of these was Keeper of the Great Seal of
Scotland to which an earlier Cockbum, Sir Alexander, had
been appointed in 1306. Another hereditary duty was Prin-
cipal Ushership to the King; a position sometimes called
Ostiarius Parliament!. The original charter conferring this
dignity was drawn up at Scone in the fourth year of the reign
of Robert II (cl 374). The Ushership of the White Rod, as it was
later called, carried a small salary of £250 per annum to
which was added the registration fees paid by newly created
Scottish peers, baronets, and knights. In Sir Archibald's day
there appears to have been no demanding duties attached to
the Ushership except taking part in State functions, includ-
ing coronations. At the opening of the Scottish Parliament on
28th July, 1681, it is recorded that Sir Archibald Cockbum of
Langton took his place as the Gentleman Usher of the White
Rod.5

The Ushership was a mixed blessing. From time to time
there seem to have been several claimants to the office and

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

3

disputes arose about the fees. These difficulties were solved
only after long lawsuits.

It was perhaps a little earlier than Sir Archibald's time that
the Cockburns moved out of Langton Castle. This ancient
stronghold stood in a commanding position in what used to
be known locally as 'Little Byres Park', on a spot some 350
yards due south of a modem house called Langton Edge. The
Castle was still occupied in 1 608 when Sir Archibald's grand-
father signed and dated a document and added the words 'at
the Castle of Langton'.*

The Cockburns built a more commodious and comfortable
dwelling overlooking the Langton Bum, a move made pos-
sible by the decreased need to occupy a house which could
be easily defended. The new building must have been large
because, when the hearth tax was introduced. Sir Archibald
was taxed on twenty-five hearths. Only one other house in
Berwickshire contained more fireplaces, this was Thirles-
tane Castle with forty-five.^ The new situation was more
sheltered from the elements and commanded a pleasant
view across the bum.

At this point I would like to digress for a moment to
consider the state of farming in Scotland three hundred years
ago. In the 1 7th century the fields were not enclosed by fences
or hedges.. The arable land was worked, as it had been for
centuries, in accordance with the mnrig system of farming.
The arable land was divided among the many tenants of a
farm and was cultivated in common; each small farmer being
allocated a number of strips of ground which were not
always adjacent. Indeed, in some areas adjacent strips often
belonged to different proprietors. Drainage was poor or non-
existent. The miserable crops of oats or here (a rather primi-
tive form of barley) were smothered in weeds. The tenants
held the land on very short leases: 3, 5, 7, or at most 9 years.
Thus, there was no incentive to improve the land because the
strips were often reallocated annually, sometimes by lot, and
any work put in to improve the fertility of the soil would,
most hkely, benefit someone else. The proprietor did not
bother because he knew no better and, in any case, he was
quite uninterested.

Sir Archibald, unlike most landowners, was very inter-
ested in agriculture and commenced to improve his estate by
enclosing the land and planting trees for shelter. He in-
structed that walls and fences should be built round the

4

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

various areas of arable ground and also planted hedges
round his fields and parks. He planted and enclosed so
extensively that he petitioned the Privy Council to allow him
to divert a public road which ran through his estate.® He did
so because there were two roads which crossed his land and
he wished the public to be restricted to the use of only one. It
was also necessary that he should improve this road because
'the way lying through the said Archibald his land betuixt
Langtoun and Chously (now Choicelee) by reason of marishes
and quagmyres and ane strait brae lying at the west end of
Langtoun is very incommodius and impassable'.

However, the draining of marshes and quagmires and the
levelling of braes were costly undertakings and imposed a
heavy strain on his resources which became all too apparent
some time later.

If I may be permitted to comment, priorities are rather
different today. Roads are now constructed in the manner
and direction which meet with the requirements of the
Minister of Transport. In Sir Archibald's time there was no
such person and the public highway could be re-routed
without too much fuss.

Sir Archibald's determination to pursue a programme of
land improvement and enclosure anticipated his fellow
landowners by 60 to 70 years. The main period of agricultural
improvement in Scotland was the middle of the 18th century.
Sir Archibald was one of the earliest landowners to enclose
his land and he did so some fifty years before the enclosures
in Galloway. The Galloway enclosures, commencing in the
1 720's, are usually considered to be among the first in Scot-
land.

1 need not stress the importance of fences and dykes to
keep out your neighbours' cattle if you wished to benefit
from improving your land. Three hundred years ago Scot-
land suffered from being overstocked with small, under-
sized beasts. The local cowherds — small boys whose task it
was to see that the cows under their care did not wander too
far away — were only too happy to drive their charges on to
land bearing a good crop of grass, or anything else!

Among the new methods of farming undertaken by Sir
Archibald was the purchase of highland cattle for fattening.
At that time this practice was quite unknown. He entered
into a contract with John Campbell of Glenorchy for the
supply of 'five hundred highland cowes yeirly for the space

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

5

of thrie yeirs, the price of each cow to be 20 merks Scots' (less
than £2 sterling).

Sir Archibald appears to have been a religious man and
staunchly supported the cause of Presbyterianism. Although
he lived in a time of much religious change and strife, he was
never persecuted for his beliefs. In 1679, although Presbyte-
rian ministers were forbidden to preach in the kirks, he
petitioned the Privy Council to permit Luke Ogle, the minis-
ter of the parish, to be allowed to hold services at Langton.^®
The petitioner is incorrectly recorded as Sir James Cockbum
of Langton but there can be no doubt that it was Sir Archibald
who was applying on behalf of the parishioners and himself.
Sir James Cockbum of Cockbum, his kinsmen and near-
neighbour, was created a baronet in 1671 and was often
confused with Sir Archibald by later historians.

Permission was granted and Luke Ogle, and other minis-
ters, held services on Langton estate. These took place,
initially, in one of the houses attached to the old Castle which
was no longer occupied. This meeting house would be rather
dilapidated. Sir Archibald built a chapel in Langton Wood as
a replacement so that the parish minister could still preach
without breaking the conditions of the agreement.” Unfor-
tunately, there is no visible trace of this small chapel today.

Sir Archibald, as a large landowner and important man,
took part in local administration and held many pubUc
offices. He was, naturally, a magistrate and took his turn on
the bench. In 1669, along with two others, he formed a court
to try Henry Wilson of Fogo Mill who was suspected of
practising witchcraft. The unfortunate man had been con-
fined within E>unse Tolbooth for some time.” The verdict of
the court is not on record.

Another of his public duties is now, happily, no longer
necessary. In 1672 he was appointed an overseer of the levies
of seamen from the County of Berwick. These were raised
from the fishing villages on the coast. Some time later, along
with the laird of Polwarth, he was requested to look into the
feasibility of other methods of raising this levy. This fol-
lowed the appeal by the heritors of Coldingham that the ten
men required should be drawn in a more equitable manner
from the villages of Eyemouth, Coldingham, Rosse, and
Northfield. The seamen were part of a total of five hundred
requested for war against Holland.”

Sir Archibald was Colonel of the Berwickshire Militia.

6

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

When ordered by the Privy Council, he mustered the regi-
ment at Dunse or Fogomuir and inspected the weapons with
which the men were armed. Swords were common and
sometimes a pistol was carried; but occasionally they were
unarmed.^^ After the battle of Bothwell Brig, on the 22nd
June, 1679, where the Covenanters were routed, he was
ordered to take charge of the prisoners, numbering some
1 100 to 1200, and escort them to Edinburgh. On this occasion
he commanded two militia regiments and a troop of dra-
goons. It must be mentioned that the subsequent incarcera-
tion and ill-treatment of these prisoners in the yard behind
the Church of Greyfriars, Edinburgh, was not part of his
duties and he took no part in these events.’^

Sir Archibald represented Berwickshire in the Scottish
Parliament in the years 1678, 1685-6, and 1689-1702. When
his financial position became serious, he was not above suing
his neighbour. Sir James Cockbum, who was also a Parlia-
mentary Commissioner for the County, for one hundred
pounds Scots as his portion of the commissioners' fees.^®
He was called on to carry out other duties pertaining to
Church and State. In 1690 his name appears as a member of
a committee on church affairs.^^ In the previous year he was
appointed a commissioner responsible for raising a sum of
288,000 pounds Scots (£24,000 sterling) to supply and equip
troops, one can suppose, to fight and defeat the deposed
James n & VII in Ireland.’® An entry in the Register of the
Privy Council refers to a complaint by the town clerk of
Lauder, appropriately called Charles Lauder, to the effect
that the magistrates and town council were unable to take the
oath of allegiance to William and Mary because of the ab-
sence of Sir Archibald Cockbum. As a member of the Estates
(Scottish Parliament) his presence was deemed essential.’®
But I have so far omitted to mention anything of his
personal details and I must rectify this. Sir Archibald was
twice married; first, about 1659, to Marion Sinclair, daughter
of John Sinclair, the yoimger, a branch of the family of
Longformacus.^® The Cockbums had four sons and two
daughters. The eldest son, William, died when still very
young. The second son, also named Archibald, became the
heir but in a manner which is not altogether clear. In January,
1686, this son succeeded to the title and the estate although
his father was still alive and in fuU control.^’ The charter
confirming the transfer reserved the liferent of all lands and

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

7

offices to the father. They were referred to, in official docu-
ments after this date, as Sir Archibald Cockbum of Langton,
elder and younger respectively; a situation as confusing to
later historians as it was to contemporary creditors, as will
become apparent.

But to continue with the family details. Sir Archibald
Cockbum, younger, became an advocate; a training which
stood him in good stead until his death in 1702, some three
years before his father. He was referred to, at that time, as 'a
gentleman of quality and merit.'^^ Thus it was the grandson
of Sir Archibald, elder, who succeeded to the title as third
baronet and the estate on the death of his grandfather. This
rather highlights the peculiar situation which existed be-
tween the elder and younger Sir Archibald; a situation which
was very much to their advantage.

If I may be permitted to jump forward a number of years,
this grandson died in 1710 without marrying and it was our
Archibald's third son, Alexander, who became the fourth
Baronet of Langton. His fourth son emigrated to Jamaica and
started a branch of the family there.

His second marriage, in 1689, was to Anna, a daughter of
Sir Thomas Stewart of Coltness. They had three sons, all of
whom predeceased their father. The youngest of these is said
to have been 'playing with several dice in his mouth when
one went down his windpipe and proved his instant death.'^^
This only goes to show that the dangers to children in the
home in those days were very similar to those which exist
today. I wonder whose dice they were?

It was about 1690, due to undertaking improvements on
his estate far beyond his means, that Sir Archibald fell deeply
into debt. He had borrowed extensively from his friends and
relatives; not least from his neighbour and kinsman men-
tioned previously. Sir James Cockbum of Cockbum. Sir
James, with more generosity than pmdence, assisted his
friend with the result that he, also, became bankmpt. If I may
be allowed to digress yet again, these loans to Sir Archibald
along with other huge debts which Sir James had incurred
eventually resulted in Sir James selling the lands of Duns in
1 696. W illiam Hay of Dmmelzier (a descendant of whom still
lives in Duns Castle) bought Duns and Cmmstane from the
creditors of Sir James Cockbum for £19,000 sterling.^^

Now to return to the affairs of Langton. It was when his
fortunes were at their lowest that he was able best to demon-

8

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

strate his resourcefulness. His creditors now began to pursue
him through the courts. He outwitted them by appealing to
the Privy Council, in 1690, for protection which was granted
for a period of three years, provided that he paid the yearly
interest on his debts. He argued his case so persuasively that
the Council decided 'such is the condition of his estate by
reason of the singular improvements he hath made and that
it cannot be better managed than by allowing him the ad-
ministration and management of it'.^®

He contrived to extend this protection to July, 1694, when
he was again strongly pressed to settle his debts. The Court
of Session ordered the estate to be leased out for a period of
between three and seven years, unless a purchaser could be
found; in which case it was to be sold.

The Court also instructed that the leasing was to be by
public roup and the annual rent was to be set at 24,000 merks
Scots (£2,000). 27

However, Sir Archibald was not to be outdone and outbid
all others by offering 30,000 merks if they would entrust him
'upon his word and promise' — which was accepted.^* The
indication is that he had wealthy and influential friends.
Surprisingly, he managed for a short time to pay the rent and
neither he, nor his possessions, nor his lands were seized.
Some of his creditors did not like this arrangement, not
surprisingly, and continued to press for settlement. He
managed to pay some of his debts but the estate was eventu-
ally rented by a certain John Watson. Surprisingly, Sir Archi-
bald was permitted to manage it.

The next few years saw a very confused state of affairs,
especially for the creditors. In 1696, his son had to petition
Parliament to obtain protection on the grounds that he was
not responsible for his father's debts.^® He was, of course, an
advocate and was, naturally, well versed in the law. Legal
arguments dragged on in the Court of Session in an attempt
to decide whether the elder or younger Cockbum was re-
sponsible for his father's debts.^’ He was, of course, an
advocate and was, naturally, well versed in the law. Legal
arguments dragged on in the Court of Session in an attempt
to decide whether the elder or younger Cockbum was
responsible for paying the debts. The Court also thought it
pmdent to establish the tme value of the estate and, in 1700,
requested that a valuation should be made.^“

By this time the protection granted to him had expired. He

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

9

was, occasionally, confined to prison; or managed to obtain
sanctuary in the precincts of the Abbey of Holyrood — a
refuge for debtors. The space around the Church and Palace
of Holyrood, enclosed by a boundary of some four miles, so
we are told, was treated as a refuge for debtors from arrest.
The right of protection from creditors had existed from the
time of David I, the founder of the original Church of the
Holy Rood.^^

It is on record that Sir Archibald, always lucky, made his
escape from the Tolbooth Jail in Edinburgh, on the night of
20th June, 1700, when the Edinburgh rabble broke into the
building. This followed the somewhat over-enthusiastic
celebrations, by certain sections of the populace, when news
was received that a Spanish attack on the Scottish colony at
Darien had been successfully repulsed. As well as breaking
numerous windows in the town, the mob broke down the
Tolbooth door by 'fire and other means' and set free all the
prisoners.^^

In July of that year it was finally decided that the estate
should be sold. In fact it was not sold until some fifty years
later. On hearing this decision Sir Archibald, nothing daunted,
applied to the Court of Session to be present when the estate
was being valued. He again claimed that he was the most
suitable person to demonstrate how it had been improved.
However, their Lordships declared that, as he had lately
escaped from the Tolbooth, he should be considered as still
a prisoner and his request was not granted.^^

Sir Archibald does not seem to have worried about the
damage to his reputation by being bankrupt. Indeed, it may
have been a common occurrence at the time and accepted
with resignation. However, this opinion was not held by
everyone, even in those days, as illustrated below.

As was the custom of the time. Sir Archibald was tutor to,
and exercised wardship over, a young girl — a distant rela-
tive— called Ann Cockbum. Her uncle. Lord Crossrig, con-
sidered that it was quite disgraceful that she should be under
the influence of a 'broken man'. The noble lord, with some

E>uring most of the 17th century, the Cockbums of Lang-
ton owned land at Simprim — 'ten husbandlands in Sympring'
(about 260 acres) — known as the Kirklands. A conspicious
local feature, to this day, is the bams at Simprim, buildings

10

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

of great length and originally three stories high. On the lintel ;
over the doorway is carved the letters S.A.C. 1676. The i
initials are those of Sir Archibald Cockbum and it is quite in
accordance with his Improving' ideas of agriculture that he
should build these large bams, or gimels, for the storage of
grain.

The renowned Thomas Boston, who became minister of
the Parish of Simprim in 1 699, makes several references to Sir
Archibald in his memoirs. Several comments illustrate the
laird's thoughtfulness towards the minister and the church ^
of which he was patron. On one occasion it was Sir Archi-
bald's privilege to provide the customary ordination dinner i
for the new minister and members of the presbytery; as it was
in the year 1699, Boston was doubtful if Sir Archibald would
be capable, or even mindful, of providing such a repast. The
minister, however, admitted to being pleasantly surprised to
find that a 'decent entertainment' had been prepared in spite
of the laird's financial predicament.^®

Mr Boston remarks, more than once, that the laird's diffi-
culties made life hard for him also. Not surprisingly, he had
some bother in obtaining payment of that part of his stipend
which was due to be paid in cash — eighteen pounds ^ots.
The laird, however, had no intention of shirking his respon-
sibilities as patron and principal heritor and eventually sent
his factor to pay the sum due, and to promise that the
remainder of the stipend, payable in here (barley) and oats,
would be available as soon as it could be collected together.®®

Mr Boston was caused additional worry by the delay in the
construction of the new manse which was being built for him
by the estate tradesmen of Langton. Delays in the completion
of new houses, of course, are not unknown at the present
time! The worthy minister refers to Sir Archibald's predica-
ment in the words 'Langton's Estate going then from hand to
hand.'®^

Sir Archibald died in the Abbey Sanctuary on 28th June,
1705, and was buried in the family burial ground at Langton
and not in a pauper's grave as might have been ex-
pected.®®' ®®

We have reviewed his life. But how can we sum it all up
and arrive at a fair conclusion! The results of his enterprises
were ill-fated and financially disastrous; he left debts to his
successors which, in 1758, — some fifty years later — led to the
sale of all his lands. Whether this should be attributed to

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

11

misfortune or extravagance is now difficult to find out. He
has been called 'the reckless waster of his ancestral estates'
by one insensitive chronicler. It would, perhaps, be kinder to
assume that his efforts to introduce improvements were
badly implemented by his workers and agents: new methods
were very likely scorned in those days. If an epitaph is
required it must surely be 'He was in advance of his Age.'

REFERENCES

1 . Cockbum, Sir Robert and Cockbtim, Harry A., The Records of the Cockbum Family, Lond.
& Edin., 1913, pp. 35-6.

2 Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, Vol. 6, Charter 365, 11 Nov. 1595.

3 Piyde, G. S., Scotland from 1603 to the Present Day, Lond. & Edin., 1%2, pp. 32-4.

4 Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, Vol. 11, Charter 237, also Acts of the Parliament of

Scotland, Vol. 7, p. 521.; Vol. 8, pp. 292-5.

5 Book of the Old Edinburgh Qub, pub. T. & A. Constable, Vol 18, p. 30; Vol. 25, p. 84.

6 Anderson, J., Calendar of the Laing Charters, A.D.854-1837, Edinburgh, 1899, p. 373.

7 Scottish Records Office E69/5/ 1, 'List of Hearths, Berwickshire, 1690'.

8 Register of the Privy Coimdl of Scotland, 3rd series, Vol. 2, 16th Feb. 1665, p. 31; 3rd May

1665, p. 48.

9 Cockbum-Hood, T. H., The House of Cockbum of that Ilk and Cadets Thereof, Edinburgh,

1888, p. 93.

10 Register of the Privy Coimdl of Scotland, 3rd series, Vol, 6, 20th Sept. 1679, p. 326.

11 Second Statistical Account, Vol. 2, Edinburgh, 1841, p. 241.

12 Register of the Privy Coundl of Scotland, 3rd series, Vol. 3, 8th April 1669, pp. 7-8.

13 Ibid, 4th April 1672, p. 501 &p. 515.

14 Ibid, Vol. 4, 1676, p. 587 & p. 596; Vol. 5, 1677, p. 146; Vol. 6, 1679, p. 227; Vol. 6, p. 440 also

Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, Vol. 9 1689, p. 26.

15 Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, Vol. 2, Edinburgh, 1928, p. 89, also Register of the Privy

Council of Scotland, 3rd series, Vol. 6, 1679, p. 298.

16 Lauder, Sir John, (Lord Foimtainhall), The Decisions of the Lords of Council and Session

1678-1712, Vol. 1, (Edinburgh 1759), 22nd Nov. 1692, p. 520.

17 Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, Vol. 9, 9th May 1690, p. 114.

18 Ibid, Vol. 9, 27th April 1689, p. 69.

19 Register of the Privy Coundl of Scotland, 3rd series, Vol. 14, 1689, p. 371.

20 Cockbum, Sir Robert and Cockbum, Harry A., op. dt., pp. 55-6.

21 Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, Vol. 8, 1686, pp. 632-4.

22 Book of the Old Edinburgh Qub, Vol. 16, p. 181.

23 Maitland Qub, 'The Coltness Collections', 1842, p. 63 & p. 421.

24 Hay, Francis S., The Family of Hay of Duns Castle, Edinburgh, c. 1920, p. 6.

25 Cockbum, Sir Robert and Cockbum, Hany A., op. dt., pp. 183-4.

26 Lauder, Sir John, op. dt., 27th July 1694, p. 640.

27 Ibid, 9th Jan. 1695, p. 657.

28 Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, Vol. 9, 17th July 1695, pp. 479-80.

29 Ibid, Vol. 10, 2nd Oct. 1696, p. 14.

30 Lauder, Sir John, op. dt., Vol. 2, 16th July 1700, p. 104.

31 Grant, J., Old and New Edinburgh, Edinburgh 1882, Vol. 2, p. 60.

32 Armit, H. (ed.). Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh 1689-1701, Edinburgh

1%2, pp. 313-4.

33 Lauder, Sir John, op. dt., Vol, 2, 13th July 1700, p. 107.

34 Chambers, R, Domestic Annals of Scotland, Edinburgh 1874, Vol. 3, p. 56.

35 Boston, T., A General Accoimt of my Life, 1908, p. 92.

36 Ibid, p. 119.

37 Ibid, p. 143.

38 Cokayne, G. E. (ed.). Complete Baronetage, Vol. 2, 1902, p. 327.

39 Scottish Record Sodety, Vol. 31, 1908, p. 11.

A NOTE ON A NEWLY-DISCOVERED PORTRAIT
OF JOHN MACKAY WILSON

E. Bowes

Hanging in the Reserve Collection of Berwick Museum and Art
Gallery is a striking, if sombre, bust-length portrait of an elegant
young man dressed in a dark jacket and fawn waistcoat (Fig. 1).^

At present the picture is in need of restoration. The featureless
brown background suffers from extensive bituminous craquelure;
disconcerting drying cracks have developed in the costume; and
the sitter's face is marked by yellow-brown splashes and childish
scribbles in pencil on top of the discoloured varnish coating.^ It is
scarcely surprising that no trace of the artist's signature is visible,
but a brief entiy in the Museum archives records that the picture
was painted by 'James Sinclair' in 1893. Who, then, was James
Sinclair, and what is the identity of his refined subject with his
rather long face, cupid's bow mouth, and extravagant head of hair?

Unless the picture is a copy, the late nineteenth century date is
patently contradicted by the evidence of the sitter's costume. A date
in the second quarter of the century would seem more acceptable
and, sure enough, the catalogue of the annual exhibition of the
Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh in 1830 reveals that two
pictures were exhibited in that year by James Sinclair of Berwick.
Pigot's Directory confirms that a portrait painter with this name was
living at 4 Silver Street in 1834 — and further records that he was in
business as a House and Sign Painter.

However, such publications can provide only the briefest infor-
mation about an individual's interests and movements. Far more
can be learned from contemporary newspapers and, in this in-
stance, the key to the mystery surrounding the anon)nnous portrait
lies within copies of The Berwick Advertiser published during the
brief editorship of John Mackay Wilson — from 1832 until his death
in October, 1835.

In an earlier issue of the Club's History it was noted that Wilson
"used his position to give strong support of Earl Grey and the cause
of Reform."^ But, in addition to this, before beginning the separate
weekly publication of what became his Border Tales on 8th Novem-
ber, 1834, he gave The Advertiser a more pronounced literary bias.
Before his return to Berwick, specimens of his verse had been
published in the newspaper, together with occasional reports of his
lectures in Manchester and elsewhere, but after his assumption of
the editorship, far more space came to be devoted to poetry and
literary criticism. Sometimes the latter would take the form of a
single, long essay by Wilson but, on other occasions, the piece might

12

JOHN MACKAY WILSON

13

be couched in the form of an entertaining discussion between three
enthusiasts with mildly differing views — Mr. Smart, Mr. Grant (a
genial figure who speaks intermittently in Border dialect) and the
editor himself.

However, Wilson was careful not to neglect the other Arts and he
would sometimes record the latest achievements of painters within
the town. Frequently he merely extracted paragraphs from other
newspapers such as The Tyne Mercury, hut on 6th April, 1833, the
following appeared: "VIEW OF BERWICK, &C — ^We have just seen
a spirited and excellent view of Berwick, painted by our townsman,
Mr. Sinclair. The view is taken from near the colliery on Sunnyside
Hill, and includes the whole of Berwick, the bridge, Tweedmouth,
and part of Spittal; it also embraces the pier, the new road to beyond
Spring gardens, and the entire landscape is most accurately painted.
It is by far the most complete view or Berwick we have seen. The
perspective, in particular, is excellent, and the river beautifully
managed. There is an agreeable warmth about the colouring, and
the whole painting is highly creditable to the promising talents of
the young and industrious artist. We would recommend him to
have it lithographed."

Unfortunately, Sinclair does not seem to have followed Wilson's
advice to have prints made — and his splendid panorama has disap-
peared without trace. But so enthusiastic is the tone of this 'puff
that one is at once led to suspect that there may have been some
form of link between the writer and the painter,^ and this is
confirmed only a few months later for, on 21st September, in "A
Three Handed Crack," Mr. Smart, Mr. Grant and the Editor of The
Berwick Advertiser engage in "A Conversation on Books — ^Engrav-
ings— The Arts — Berwick Artists, &c." T. S. Good, we learn, is still
the acknowledged doyen of the artistic community in the town. "A
more beautiful colourist than Good is not found among modern
painters" we are told. One painting in particular, Reading and
Listening (which features a young man with an abundant head of
hair reading aloud from a newspaper to an elderly individual who
rests his hands upon a stick) is singled out for praise — as, indeed,
it had been eighteen months earlier when Wilson transcribed the
following lines from The Spectator into the short-lived Border
Magazine: "the expression both of reader and listener is perfectly
real. It is like seeing the persons in a camera — which we think the
artist employs, judging from his peculiar style."® But, by 1833,
"Good, by the mere force of his talents, has long ago triumphed
over every ad versi ty, and can now paint to please himself." Instead,
his former pupil, William Henderson, is now "rapidly attaining
eminence, and Sinclair is industriously following hard in their
wake." Indeed, Sinclair has just completed two portraits —

Of one — a portrait of the Town Clerk — Wilson is keen to speak at
some length. "A more faithful likeness I have never seen," he

14

JOHN MACKAY WILSON

Hg. 1. John Mackay Wilson (1804-1835) by James Sinclair, 1833. Oil on
canvas (30 x 25in. — 761 x 635 mm.).

JOHN MACKAY WILSON

15

Fig. 2. John Mackay Wilson by an unknown artist, 1831 (?). Oil on millboard
(liy4 X lOVs in. — ^299 x 267 mm.). Scottish National Portrait Gallery (Repro-
duced by courtesy of the Gallery).

16

JOHN MACKAY WILSON

avows. "Sinclair loves his profession for its own sake, — his whole
soul is in his art, — his perseverance is also equal to his enthusiasm,
and his success is certain. Within the last nine months his improve-
ment has been wonderful, not only as a colourist, in which lay his
greatest deficiency, but in the character and the strong individual-
ity which he infuses into his portraits; and in his latter efforts there
is a freedom of touch, united with a smoothness and a clearness of
colouring which had no trace in his earlier productions."

But the Editor is teased about the second portrait by Mr. Grant:
"Weel, sir, and will your modesty no allow you to confess that
within these last few days he has taken another portrait, which I am
certain ye think more of than even of that ye hae been speaking of?"

In reply, Wilson bashfully admits that the execution of this paint-
ir^ "does honour to the artist." But he will not be drawn further:
"Of the portrait you refer to let others judge."

Without doubt, then, the painting which now hangs in Berwick
Museum is James Sinclair's Portrait of John MacKay Wilson and the
lamentable little likeness on millboard so described in the catalogue
of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (Cat. No. 1300) must be by
another, unknown hand (Fig. 2).* The young man in Good's Reading
and Listening may be a third likeness of Wilson.

Sinclair's portrait, produced in mid-1833, records Wilson's ap-
pearance at an interesting time in his career. He was then engaged ;
on writing and securing subscriptions for The Enthusiast, or Dreams
and Realities, A Metrical Tale in Two Cantos, With Other Poems: And a i
Preliminary Chapter on Poetry. This was published, after some delay, ;
on 28th December of the same year .^Eleven months later, he began
publication of The Border Taleshut, interestingly, though Sinclair
was given no acknowledgement, it was his portrait which was to
serve as the prototype for the well known likeness of Wilson,
published posthumously as an engraving by J. Gellatly in 1 837 and
used as the Frontispiece in Volume I of the Tales. Only, in the light
of the phenomenal success of the Tales, a single important modifi-
cation was deemed necessary — the inclusion of a distant Border
Keep, silhouetted against the sky, in place of Sinclair's plain brown
background.

And what of James Sinclair himself — the young enthusiast whose
very soul lay in his art? Sadly, little more is heard of him, but we can
be sure that the dreams of artistic success fostered by his eloquent
sitter soon succumbed to the mundane realities of life, and espe-
cially the need to earn a steady income. He continued as a local
business man and became a keen entrepreneur, it seems, operating
first of all as a house painter and later as a ship's chandler — at least
until the coming of the railway in 1846 when he disposed of an
immense quantity of his stock. Thereafter he fades from view.

NOTES

1. Catalogue number BERMG 1572. Oil on Canvas. 30 in x 25 in (761 mm x 635

JOHN MACKAY WILSON

17

mm).

2. The painting appears never to have been restored. The badly 'cockled' canvas
has a fairly fine, plain weave and is still attached to its rather crude, original wooden
strainer. But the back of the canvas is stained red-brown and bears smudges of paint
and other material. It is tempting to speculate that Sinclair has used a piece of sail
cloth.

3. HBNC, Vol. XXXIX, Part 3, 1973, p. 184.

4. It may be only a coincidence that the lawyer who acted as the executor of
Wilson's estate was named Sinclair.

5. The Border Magazine^ o\. 1, 1 832, p. 242. Good's picture was painted in 1 832 and
exhibited at the British Institution in that year (282). In the collection of the second
Lord North wick it came to be known as The Village Politician.lt measures 13 V2 in
X I6V4 in. In 1 966 it was with an art dealer in London. It is not known whether Good
used a camera obscura or some other form of mechanical device to assist with his
paintings.

6. It must be admitted that the Edinburgh portrait has an excellent provenance.
It was acquired by the Gallery in 1936 from a distant descendant of the poet who
stated that it was painted by Sinclair in 1831. But, in the years following Wilson's
death, confusion seems to have arisen within the family regarding its authorship —
unless it represents a very juvenile work by Sinclair which seems unlikely. The
provenance of the Berwick picture is unknown; even the date when it entered the
collection is unrecorded.

7. Notices of the imminent publication of The Enthusiast{phce five shillings)
appeared in The Advertiser towards the end of 1833, together with copious "Testi-
monials of the Press." (The Spectator judged that "As a T^ie writer, Mr. J. M. W. bears
away the bell from all other writers in the Annuals.") On 6th January, 1834, Wilson
sent a copy of the book to W. A. Mitchell (1796-1845), the Editor of TheTyne Mercury
in Newcastle, reminding him "that it was in the columns of the Mercury eleven or
twelve years ago that I first appeared before the public as a writer of verses." (Letter,
private collection.)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the preparation of this article I have received significant help from the staff of
The Tweeddale Press, Miss Elizabeth Doley (Berwick Museum and Art Gallery),
Mr. Ian Martin, and Mr. James Holloway (Scottish National Portrait Gallery).

THE MARINE ALGAE OF ALNMOUTH:
A CENTURY OF STUDY

F. G. Hardy

Department of Biology, University of
Newcastle upon Tyne

The later years of the nineteenth century were very much the
heyday of the amateur naturalist and a number of very detailed
surveys of particular localities were carried out at that time which
have since proved to be of great interest and use to subsequent
generations.

On the Northumberland coast Andrew Amory studied the marine
flora at Alnmouth (between Seaton Point (NU 2612) to the north,
and Birling Carrs (NU 2507) to the south) and his records, of 106
species, were published in this journal (Amory, 1884, 1885, 1887).
These records are listed in Table 1. In addition, his record for
Monostroma grevillei (dating from April 1886) was published in a
check-list for the British marine algae (Batters, 1902). Surprisingly,
some very common species, such as Hildenbrandia rubra, Laminaria
hyperborea and Fucus spiralis, are not recorded by Amory.

By chance, his herbarium - a volume containing 176 specimens,
many in beautiful condition and representing 1 04 species (see Table
1) - was rediscovered recently by a member of his family (and is
now in the Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne). The only
species which Amory lists in his papers which are not represented
in his herbarium are Petrocelis hennedyi and Phymatolithon polymor-
phum. (The record for Monostroma grevillei cited by Batters is not
included in either Amory^s papers or his herbarium). The existence
of such a comprehensive collection of records for a specific area,
dating from exactly a century ago, inspired this present study to
determine what records exist for Alnmouth for the past hundred
years.

At first sight Alnmouth would seem to be an unlikely area in
which to find a rich algal flora, there being an extensive stretch of
sandy beach from which, drift specimens apart, seaweeds are
absent. Phycological interest is concentrated on two locations:
Marden Rocks (NU 261 1, about half a mile north of the village) and
a salt marsh to the south of the river estuary. Perhaps for this reason
the area has been largely ignored since the time of Amory's survey.

One of the most prominent phycologists at the end of last century
was Edward Batters, a barrister. He made extensive studies of the
algal flora of Berwick upon Tweed, and his check-list for that area
was published in this journal (Batters, 1889). New or critical species
of British marine algae were the subject of a number of his papers,
and in one of these (Batters, 1900) he included a record for the

18

THE MARINE ALGAE OF ALNMOUTH

19

filamentous red alga Audouinella endozoica which George Brady
had found at Alnmouth on the bryozoan Alcyonidium hirsutum.

Batters was particularly good at utilising previous records, and
his check-list of the British marine algae (Batters, 1902), in which the
localities of individual species are given, is especially useful. The
records he cites for Alnmouth are, presumably, based on those of
Amory . In general, the commonest species are described as coming
from particular counties, rather than from specific localities, al-
though one or two common species are more exactly located (for
example. Laminaria hyperborea is recorded from Alnmouth, where it
was missed by Amory). The records for Alnmouth which Batters
cites in his papers are listed in Table 1.

Published records for Alnmouth during the twentieth century
are so sparse as to be inconsequential. As part of a field meeting in
August 1959, members of the British Phycological Society visited
the area and recorded 6(!) species. Steve Mercer, visiting Marden
Rocks as part of a survey of the distribution of Himanthalia elongata
on the north-east coast, recorded the presence of Halidrys siliquosa
(Mercer, 1976).

The study of the marine algae of Alnmouth has been adopted by
the Borders region of the Marine Conservation Society as one of its
projects, and the records of the species found on a field meeting
held in June 1986 are given in Table 1. In addition to the species
recorded here a number of encrusting coralline red algae were
found which were not identified to the species level. Further field
meetings at Alnmouth are envisaged.

The number of species recorded in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries are given in Table 2, from which it can be seen that, from
the total of 120 species recorded from the area, only 39 have been
seen so far this century (although 109 have been recorded in
Northumberland: see Table 1 and Hardy, 1985). Interestingly, 7 of
these 39 species were not recorded from Alnmouth in the nine-
teenth century. This curious dearth of records most probably
reflects the extent to which this locality has been neglected by
phycologists during the present century rather than being indica-
tive of a massive loss of species from this relatively unspoiled and
unpolluted area.

Throughout this paper the nomenclature follows that of the
check-list of Parke and Dixon (1976).

20

THE MARINE ALGAE OF ALNMOUTH

TABLE 1:

THE MARINE ALGAE OF ALNMOUTH
FROM SEATON POINT TO BIRLING CARRS

1. Amory published records (Amory, 1884, 1885, 1887).

2. Amory herbarium.

3. Batters published records (Batters, 1900, 1902).

4. Twentieth century published records (Jones, 1960; Mercer,
1976).

5. Marine Conservation Society records, 28 June 1986 (Marden
Rocks).

6. Twentieth century Northumberland records (Hardy, 1985).

Species

Cyanophyta
Calothrix cmstacea
Rhodophyta

Audouinella endozoica
Audouinella floridula
Audouinella virgatula
Gelidium pusillum
Gelidium sesquipedale
Bonnemaisonia asparagoides
Furcellaria lumbricalis
Cystoclonium purpureum
Plocamium cartilagineum
Gracilaria verrucosa
Ahnfeltia plicata
Phyllophora crispa
Phyllophora pseudoceranoides
Chondrus crispus
Gigartina stellata
Petrocelis hennedyi
Corallina officinalis
Dermatolithon pustulatum
Lithophyllum incrustans
Phymatolithon lenormandii
Phymatolithon polymorphum
Dilsea camosa
Ehimontia incrassata
Gloiosiphonia capillaris
Callophyllis laciniata
Hildenbrandia rubra
Palmaria palmata
Lomentaria articulata
Lomentaria clavellosa
Callith amnion hookeri
Callithamnion sepositum
Ceramium diaphanum
Ceramium rubrum
Ceramium shuttleworthianum
Griffithsia flosculosa

1

*

*

*

*

4

♦

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

2 3 4 5

*

*

*

*

*

♦

♦

♦

*

* *
*

*

*

*

*

*

* *

* *

♦

* ♦

* *

♦ *

* *

*

*

♦

♦

4

*

6

*

Sf

Sf

Sf

Sf

Sf

Sf

Sf

THE MARINE ALGAE OF ALNMOUTH

21

Species

2 3 4 5 6

Plumaria elegans
Ptilota plumosa
Spermoth amnion repens
Cryptopleura ramosa
Delesseria sanguinea
Hypoglossum woodwardii
Membranoptera alata
Nitophyllum punctatum
Phycocfi-ys rubens
Heterosiphonia plumosa
Brongniartella byssoides
Laurenda hybrida
Laurenda pinnatifida
Odonthalia dentata
Polysiphonia brodiaei
Polysiphonia elongata
Polysiphonia fibrata
Polysiphonia lanosa
Polysiphonia nigra
Polysiphonia nigrescens
Polysiphonia urceolata
Pterosiphonia parasitica
Rhodomela confervoides
Rhodomela lycopodioides
Porphyra leucosticta
Porphyra linearis
Porphyra umbilicalis
Phaeophyta

Ectocarpus fasdculatus
Ectocarpus siliculosus
Giffordia granulosa
Laminariocolax tomentosoides
Pilayella littoralis
Spongonema tomentosum
Elachista fudcola
Leathesia difformis
Chordaria flagelliformis
Eudesme virescens
Mesogloia vermiculata
Isthmoplea sphaerophora
Myriotrichia clavaeformis
Myriotrichia fUiformis
Asperococcus fistulosus
Litosiphon pusillus
Pundaria plantaginea
Dictyosiphon foeniculaceus
Petalonia fasda
Scytosiphon lomentaria

* ♦

» ♦ 4

♦ *

* *

♦ 4 ♦

* *

4 4

4 4 4

4 4

4 4

4 4 4

4 4

4 4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4 4

4 4

4 4

4 4

4

4

4

4 4

4 4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4 4

4 4 4

4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4 4 4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4 4

4 4 4

22

THE MARINE ALGAE OF ALNMOUTH

Spedes

2 3 4 5 6

Desmarestia aculeata
Desmarestia ligulata
Desmarestia viridis
Chorda filum
Laminaria digitata
Laminaria hyperborea
Laminaria saccharina
Alaria esculenta
Sphacelaria cirrosa
Sphacelaria plumosa
Sphacelaria radicans
Halopteris scoparia
Qadostephus spongiosus
Dictyota dichotoma
Ascophyllum nodosum
Fucus ceranoides
Fucus serratus
Fucus spiralis
Fucus vesiculosus
Pelvetia canaliculata
Himanthalia elongata
Halidrys siliquosa
Chlorophyta
Monostroma grevillei
Spongomorpha aeruginosa
Spongomorpha arcta
Enteromorpha clathrata
Enteromorpha compressa
Enteromorpha intestinalis
Enteromorpha linza
Ulva lactuca
Chaetomorpha capillaris
Chaetomorpha linum
Chaetomorpha melagonium
Qadophora laetevirens
Qadophora rupestris
Qadophora sericea
Bryopsis plumosa

* * *

*

♦ ♦ ♦

♦

♦ ♦ 4

♦ ♦

*

*

If X-

*

If If

X- ♦ X-

If ♦

X- X- X-

X-

X- ♦ X-

X^ X- ♦

X-

x-

If

X-

X-

X-

X-

X-

♦ x-

X-

4 4

4 4

4 4

4 4

4 4 4

4 4

4 4

4 4

4 4

4 4 4

4 4

4

4 4

4 4

4

4 4 4

4

4

4

4

4 4

4

4 4

4
4

4 4

4

4

4

4

TABLE 2: CHANGES IN THE MARINE ALGAL FLORA
OF ALNMOUTH, 1884-1986

Amory

Batters

20th century

Total

Cyanophyta

1

0

0

1

Rhodophyta

56

27

17

62

Phaeophyta

36

31

17

42

Chlorophyta

14

5

5

15

THE MARINE ALGAE OF ALNMOUTH

23

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I should like to thank Professor John Cram for the use of the facilities in the
Department of Biology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, where this work was
carried out, and Martin Wheeler for his critical reading of the manuscript.

REFERENCES

Amory, A. (1884). Alnmouth list of marine algae. Hist. Berwicksh. Nat. Club, 10, 539.
Amory, A. (1885). Alnmouth marine algae. Hist. Berwicksh. Nat. Club, 11, 267-268.
Amory, A. U887). Alnmouth marine algae. Hist. Berwicksh. Nat. Club, 12, 113-114.
Batters, E. A. L. (1889). A list of the marine algae of Berwick-on-Tweed. Hist.
Berwicksh. Nat. Club, 12, 221-392.

Batters, E. A. L. (1 900). New or critical British marine algae. /. Bot., Land., 38, 369-379.
Batters, E. A. L. (1902). A catalogue of the British marine algae, being a list of all the
species of seaweeds known to occur on the shores of the British Isles, with the
localities where they are found. /. Bot., hand., Suppl, 1-107.

Hardy, F. G. (1985). The marine fauna of the CuUercoats district. 17. Flora:

Seaweeds. Rep. Dove mar. Lab., 3rd series, 30, 1-71.

Jones, W. E. (1960). List of algae collected on the Northumberland coast. August
1959. Br. phycol. Bull, 2, 20-22.

Mercer, S. (1976). The effects of pollution on the distribution of Himanthalia elongata
(L.) S. F. Gray on the north-east coast of England. M.Sc. thesis. University of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Parke, M. & Dixon, P.S. (1976). Check-list of British marine algae - Third revision.
/. mar. biol Ass. U.K., 56, 527-594.

THE FOSSIL FLORA OF BERWICKSHIRE AND
VICINAGE

Albert G. Long

Berwickshire and the neighbouring counties of Northumberland
and East Lothian have had a long and important connection with
palaeobotany. This connection was reviewed in two articles writ-
ten for the Club's History (Long, 1959, 1960). In these two articles I
mentioned in particular Henry Witham (1779-1844) and Robert
Kidston (1852-1924). Both collected in Berwickshire and their work
was seminal. The purpose of this article is to try and bring these two
previous articles up-to-date and summarize results.

Witham used techniques of cutting and rock sectioning devel-
oped in Edinburgh and thereby described details of internal plant
structure. Such methods led up to modern petrological sectioning.
From this was developed the "peel" technique using cellulose
acetate and acetone, which superseded Walton's slower method
using a solution that set on drying to produce the film. Such "peel"
sections made as transfers from a smooth surface etched in dilute
hydrochloric acid made it possible for amateurs to prepare serial
sections easily. Thus from one block found near Hutton Mill by the
Whitadder I was able to make over 900 serial peel sections contain-
ing important type material using only carborundum, elbow grease,
water and perseverance!

The major geological formations represented in Berwickshire are
the Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian and Carboniferous. It is in the
Lower Carboniferous period (Cementstone Group), 300-340 mil-
lion years old, that the most interesting plant fossils have been
found. These are known as petrifactions or permineralizations
because the preserving mineral matter has penetrated the plant
tissues to a greater or lesser degree and thereby preserved the plant
cell walls. In some exceptional fossils even contents of cells are
present and in fossil seeds the archegonia (female organs) and
microspores (comparable to primitive pollen grains) are present.

At that time in geological history there was much volcanic
activity especially in the Kelso area and in the coastal region near
North Berwick and in Fife, as is witnessed by the Bass Rock — a
volcanic plug. Volcanic vents and ashes are well known, e.g., near
T antallon and Gullane, while on the Berwickshire coast at Cove and
Bummouth the lowest beds in the Cementstone Group are exposed
in close proximity to the Upper Old Red Sandstone below. The
junction is conformable, i.e., there is no sign of a time break in the
rock sequence.

Similarly in the valley of the River Whitadder there is a region of
passage beds between the two formations in the river bed above
Preston Bridge, consisting of stratified ashes containing unidenti-

24

THE FOSSIL FLORA OF BERWICKSHIRE AND VICINAGE

25

fied primitive seeds wdth slender stalks almost Cordaitean in
appearance along with other poorly preserved plant fragments.

Last century Hugh Miller obtained by gift a compressed speci-
men, virtually only an impression lacking carbon, of the fern-like
frond of Archaeopteria hibernica. This was said to come from
Prestonhaugh and was figured under the name Cyclopterus
Hibernicus in Lecture Eleventh — "On the less known fossil floras of
Scotland", given before the Geological Section of the British Asso-
ciation, at Glasgow in September, 1855, and later published in his
book: 'The Testimony of the Rocks'. Probably the site of origin was
at the Old Red Sandstone scaur on the Whitadder right bank below
Cockburn Bridge and on the big curve near Baramill Plantation.
Here I have found large stems with longitudinal ribs but no fronds
by which they could be identified with certainty. Archaeopteris is
now classed as a progymnosperm and is considered identical with
CalUxylon found petrified as woody stems in North America. We
know that it was a spore plant but very close to some primitive seed
plants. How exciting it would be to find it in a petrified state in the
Berwickshire rocks!

At the present time there are two major groups of living seed
plants, gymnosperms and angiosperms. The gymnosperms have
naked seeds not enclosed in an ovary but often protected between
cone scales as in the Scots Pine. The angiosperms have enclosed
seeds developed from ovules borne inside a carpel or section of the
flower ovary. These are our chief food plants, vital to human life.
Concerning these groups there is a great enigma, viz., their pa-
laeobotanical origin or fossil ancestry. It was formerly thought that
they could have descended from ferns but these are now consid-
ered to have been an independent group by a different line of
descent.

From Preston Bridge to the Tweed opposite East Ord the river
Whitadder (or White Water) repeatedly cuts some of the lowest
beds of the Cementstones. These very rarely contain any marine
fossils though I have seen Orthoceras at West Blaneme. The Ce-
mentstone Group consists mainly of shales (consolidated fine
mud), sandstones (composed of sand grains carried in flood water),
and layers of Cementstone, a muddy limestone composed of cal-
cium and magnesium carbonates. It seems to have been precipi-
tated from a solution by evaporation but shows little or no stratifi-
cation and fractures at all angles. Doubtless the mineral matter
came from ash of volcanic origin. This ash could have fallen over a
wide area and then been dissolved in rivers, lakes of lagoons
possibly at no great distance from the sea.

In the T weed area up to the region of Kelso, and in the Blackadder
below Greenlaw, as in the Langton Bum above Gavinton, Ce-
mentstone rocks occur, which are all possible sites of fossil plants.
At one place near the Duns Golf Course volcanic ashes, similar to

26

THE FOSSIL FLORA OF BERWICKSHIRE AND VICINAGE

those in the bed of the Whitadder above Preston Bridge are ex-
posed.

One of my favourite modes of collecting has been on shingle beds
for which the Whitadder has proved more productive than the
Tweed and Blackadder, because of its brisker flow and its numer-
ous twists and turns in close proximity to the Upper Old Red
Sandstone.

In the Tweed and Blackadder the different rate and depth of flow
means that when shingle is exposed in dry spells the boulders are
coated with a film of mud and algae and each must be chipped with
a hammer to determine its character and contents. In the Whitad-
der, especially early in the year one can wade in the shallower water
and see the boulders more clearly. It has been my custom to carry
a miner's pick and turn over the boulders to see their cleaner
undersides. By working upstream from where a fossiliferous block
was located it was possible to find the very productive layer
between West Blaneme and Edrom. This contained very large
irregular limestone concretions in shale, resting lower down the
river on sandstone. I found the best method was to use a crow-bar
and then break the blocks with a sledge hammer, as entire blocks
were too heavy to carry either to Edrom Mains or West Blaneme
Farms. The next stage was to transport them to Newcastle and cut
them into centimetre-thick slices on a slab saw at the Hancock
Museum. This was rather laborious dirty work using paraffin and
flushing oil as lubricant. After washing the slices in detergent they
were left overnight in a hot air oven to remove any remaining oil
and then examined with the aid of dilute acid. Any seeds, stems or
fronds so located could then be further sectioned by serial "peels",
using vernier calipers to measure the thickness of the slices. All the
sp»ecimens were fragmentary, as if they had been washed into
muddy water partially charged with lime salts.

One of the most productive blocks was found on shingle above
Hutton Mill, on the Whitadder left bank higher up than the old weir
wall. This was in 1957but now (1987) the shingle is overgrown. The
two great floods in 1948 and 1956 left much shingle in their wake
and the necessary bulldozing to repair banks also exposed fossil
material. I came to Berwickshire as a teacher in 1945 without any
previous knowledge of its interesting fossil flora. Today, as a result
of the diminished flow of water, vegetation has encroached over
much shingle exposed by former floods.

The flood of 1948 was indeed a terrible event and it was a wonder
there was no loss of human life. The house in the angle between the
Whitadder and Blackadder above the junction was submerged up
to the roof where 1 believe inhabitants took refuge in the beam of a
light shone from a road near by. Later I surmised that a bulldozer
had been used to clear the bed of the Blackadder a short distance
above the bridge as I found a heap of flattened concretions near the

THE FOSSIL FLORA OF BERWICKSHIRE AND VICINAGE

27

field fence opposite Allanbank Mill Farm. These contained
Lepidodendron sp., Lyginorachis arberi, Stauropteris berwickense, and
the seed of Genomosperma latens. I was reminded of the mysterious
Anabathra Pw/cljcrnmaof Witham, recorded from a sands tone quarry
at Allanbank Mill which was later filled up. Recently new evidence
regarding this fossil plant has been published; eleven slides of the
holotype material were purchased by the British Museum (Natural
History) as part of the Nicol Collection in 1867. These and others
have been re-examined and figured by H. L. Pearson (Pearson,
1986). The conclusion reached is that Anabathra pulcherrima Witham
1833 is the same as Paralycopodites brevifolius (Williamson) DiMich-
ele, best known at Pettycur, Fife, and formerly thought to be a
Lepidodendron or Lepidophloios, characterised by its attached leaves.

At the time of the 1948 flood I was living at Preston Schoolhouse
and saw the extent of the damage at Cumledge Blanket Mill. Huge
carding machines had been shifted from their sites. I helped to clean
out two cottages and remember a wall clock in which the pendulum
had stopped when the water had risen about six feet. I heard a man
remark "We aye wanted water in the hoose but not like this". The
"cauld and hungry hole" where I had fished for perch and trout
below Preston Bridge had gone.

I knew nothing about Cementstone fossil plants then and it was
not until Peter D. W. Barnard wrote from Birkbeck College, Lon-
don, in February 1957, that I discovered what an interesting re-
search subject lay close at hand. By then I was living at Gavinton
and my first fossil finds were at Hanna's Bridge on the Langton
Bum. This site had first been discovered by William Stevenson of
Duns and later visited by Robert Kidston and Arthur Maccon-
nachie of the Geological Survey. The most interesting fossils found
at Hanna's Bridge were the primitive seeds first described by Dr
Mary Calder from slides in the Kidston Collection at Glasgow
University. I was greatly encouraged and helped by Professor John
Walton and, under his guidance, re-named the seeds Genomosperma
kidstonii and G. latens. The name Genomosperma was suggested by
the late Charles Taylor who was the Classics master at the Berwick-
shire High School. These seeds are of importance in that they
support the theory of the origin of the seed integument from sterile
primitive segments known as telomes. Other interesting finds at
Hanna's Bridge were primitive species of plants known as Cladoxylon
and Clepsydropsis. Tnese species had never been discovered in
British rocks before; they were first found in Saalfeld, East Ger-
many, about the middle of last century by Richter and Unger. Since
then they have been discovered in the Black Mountain region of
France and studied by P. Bertrand and more recently by Jean
Galtier of Montpellier. The latter has described a new species of
Clepsydropsis and named it C. parvula because of its small size.
(Galtier 1966, 1970). It is of interest that this fossil has turned up in

28

THE FOSSIL FLORA OF BERWICKSHIRE AND VICINAGE

the site near West Blaneme, in situ in the bed of the Whitadder.
Sections are mounted on slides 7098-7105 and 9250-9272 of my
collection in the Hancock Museum. They have not yet been de-
scribed. At the same Whitadder site, I also found many specimens
of Clepsydropsisantiqua Unger. On two of these, respectively Nos. 22
and 4, there are roots (Slides 10367-77, 10278-415). Unfortunately
we have never found the stem of this primitive fern. The axes
discovered are called phyllophores being intermediate between a
stem and a leaf stalk. In C. antiqua the pinnae alternate singly left
and right but in C. parvula they are in dternating pairs, more like
other primitive ferns, e.g., Etapteris.

Stems and branches of the primitive fem-like plant Cladoxylon
have been found at many different sites in Berwickshire and once
at Oxroad bay near Tantallon Castle in East Lothian. Since Cladoxylon
has small branches with a vascular bundle resembling a small
Clepsydropsis there may be some relationship. Again, it was in
Berwickshire rocks that a specimen of Cladoxylon (C. kidstoni Solms-
Laubach, 1910) was first found in Britain. In my opinion Cladoxylon
is probably more closely related to primitive so-called ferns (spore
plants) than to primitive seed-plants such as the pteridosperms.
Berwickshire has also produced another very primitive fern-like
plant Stauropteris berwickensis Long, 1966 and this is very wide-
spread. At first I confused it with the species S. burntislandica found
at Pettycur but when the sporangia were discovered at Burnmouth
the distinction was realised. This is one of the fossil plants found in
Langton Glen as well as the rare Sphenophyllum insigneYJiW., 1874.
The material from this site was in loose blocks though in the left
bank there is a peculiar yellowish rock layer not unlike the Carham
limestone. The latter is a cherty magnesian limestone occurring
near Carham in the bed of the Tweed low down in the Cementstone

S'oup. I have never seen it elsewhere so its occurrence in Langton
len seems open to doubt.

Psalixochlaena berwickense Long, 1976 was also found at the West
Blaneme site as well as in a loose block on shingle below Hutton
Bridge after the 1956 flood. It has some puzzling features so that
more specimens are needed before its classification can be settled
with certainty.

As these discoveries of early fem-like plants sprang out of my
first investigation of the blocks found by the Langton Bum to which
I was directed by Peter D. W. Barnard I would like to pay tribute to
the remarkable personal qualities which he showed. In his youth he
had suffered an accident in the gymnasium at his school. The result
was paralysis from the waist down so that for the rest of his life he
had to use a wheel chair but learned to drive a car with hand
controls. He came to Duns with his tutor Dr K. Alvin and we visited
the Whitadder and Crooked Bum. Single handed he drove his car
through the Blue Stone Ford. Later we visited fossil sites at Oxroad

THE FOSSIL FLORA OF BERWICKSHIRE AND VICINAGE

29

Bay and Dunbar. After taking his PhD he became a teacher, and
later a lecturer at Reading University. While there he became
interested in Mesozoic plants and carried out an excursion to collect
from coal seams high up in the Elburz Mountains in Persia. After-
wards he married and was nobly supported by his wife Margaret
up to his death on July 12, 1984.

Long (1976) relates events leading to a resumption of my pa-
laeobotanical research while I was living at Gavinton, near Duns. It
gives a list of papers published up to 1976. Two further papers are
noted here: on the genus Pitus Witham (Long, 1978) and on the
relationship of Sphenopteris bifida L. & H. to the seed genus
Hydrasperma (Long, 1979).

Subsequent to retiral after 14 years spent at the Hancock Museum
in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, I tried to complete the description of new
material but found this difficult because of a lack of facilities and ill-
health. Three papers were, nevertheless, completed: on Oxroadop-
teris parvus a small pteridosperm (Long, 1984); on Oxroadia gracilis
Alvin, an example of a lycopod stem-base with 72 roots and 12
rhizophores, almost like a diminutive Stigmaria, one specimen
showing ligules in broken leaf-bases (Long, 1986); a note on the
cupule-carpel theory (Long, 1984). This last paper is admittedly no
more than a speculative attempt pointing to a possible origin of the
carpel in flowering plants. At present I have in press a paper sum-
marizing 25 years of searching for specimens of Eristophyton. This
enigmatic plant is of importance as it seems to combine features of
the pteridosperms and cordaitean gymnosperms. I have concluded
that it is most probably a pteridosperm.

For many years I have pondered the problem of the origin of
angiosf)erms and their relationship to the Cordaiteae and conifers.
To me this problem seemed to centre round the origin of the carpel
and of the second (outer) integument of the ovule in angiosperms.
Several times I have been forced by evidence to re-consider my
views. Eventually I have come to think that the progenitors of
angiosperms were unknown primitive pteridosperms possessing
woody stems and that the second ovular integument must have
been a modification of one or more adnated lobes of the cupule. The
remainder of the cupule must have undergone basal fusion to
become the carpel. As for the Cordaiteae I admit a lack of evidence
but suspect that they had pteridosperm ancestors in the Lower
Carboniferous. Seeds with a possible bilobed integument like that
in certain pteridosperms occur in the ash beds above Preston
Bridge. Short shoots modified to form cones may have been a
feature concerned with a xerophytic environment in which certain
early pteridosperms found themselves owing to climatic change
brought about by continental drift or other geographic factors.
Other genera of Lower Carboniferous age which might have rela-
tionship with the Cordaiteae are Bilignea and Endoxylon especially

30

THE FOSSIL FLORA OF BERWICKSHIRE AND VICINAGE

the latter. Bilignea has been found at Burnmouth and Oxroad Bay
but I have never seen Endoxylon in the Cementstone Group of
Berwickshire and vicinage. However, a specimen in the Hancock
Museum Dunn Collection seemed to agree with it and came from
the Ridsdale shales from which ironstone nodules were formerly
mined as iron ore.

Two other papers concerning the geology of Berwickshire by T.
E. Smith should also be noted (Smith, 1967, 1968).

Since my retirement in 1980 important new investigations into
the Cementstone flora have been carried out at Foulden (Crooked
Bum) and at Oxroad Bay, as well as spore studies at various other
sites. The Foulden investigation was a joint effort combining re-
search into both the fossil flora and the fossil fauna and was
published as a symposium of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,
entitled "The Dinantian of Foulden, Berwickshire, Scotland": the
section on flora is by Scott and Meyer-Berthaud (1985) and that on
spores by Clayton (1986). Also Scott et al. ( 1 984) give information on
the Berwickshire fossil flora. Finally I should mention that the
Cementstone microspores of the T weed basin have been studied by
Derek Robeson of Kelso and his studies were presented as an MSc
thesis to the University of Sheffield in 1986.

Although my main collections of slides and blocks are in the
Hancock Museum at Newcastle upon Tyne, and are not yet fully '
catalogued, 1 have endeavoured during my retirement to prepare 1
a slide collection from duplicate "peels" for the Royal Museum of
Scotland. Lists of the fossil plant specimens deposited, and of the i
localities where they were collected, are appended.

PALAEBOTANY SLIDES IN THE ROYAL MUSEUM j
OF SCOTLAND !

A. G. Long I

LIST OF SPECIES

Achlamydocarpon scoticum Long, 1968
Alcicomopteria convoluta Kidston, 1887
Amyelon sp. WiU, 1874

Anaspertna humense Long, 1966 (synonomous with Eurystoma burnense).
Archaeocalamites radiatus (Brongniart, 1828) Stiir, 1875

Bilignea sp. Kidston 1923
Buteoxylon gordonianum Barnard and Long, 1973

PALAEBOTANY SLIDES IN THE ROYAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND 31

Calatnopsis sp. Heer 1859 (the use by Solms Laubach 1896 was illegitimate)

Calathospermum fimbriatum Barnard, 1960

Camptosperma hemiciense Long, 1961

Clepsydropsis antiqua Solms-Laubach, 1896

Cladoxylon waltoni Long, 1968

Deltasperma fouldenense Long, 1961

Dolickosperma pentagonum Long, 1975
Dolickosperma sexangulatum Long, 1961

Eccroustosperma langtonense Long, 1961
Eosperma oxroadense Barnard, 1959

Eristophyton heinertianum (Gogppert 1845) Zalessky, 1911
Eristophyton waltoni Lacey, 19^

Eury stoma angidare Long, 1960

Eury stoma humense (Long, 1966) Long, 1975

Genomosperma latens Long, 1960
Genomosperma kidstoni (Calder, 1938)

Hierogramma sp. Unger 1856
Hydrasperma tenuis Long, 1961

Kalymma tuediana Calder, 1938

Lepidodendron calamopsoides Long, 1964
Lepidodendron hrevifolium Williamson, 1872

Lepidostrohus sp. Brongniart 1828

Lyginorachis arberi Lon^ 1964

Lyginorachis brownii Cmder, 1935

Lyginorachis papilio Kidston, 1923

Lyginorachis waltoni Calder, 1935

Lyginorachis whitadderensis Barnard and Long, 1975

Lyrasperma scotica (Calder, 1938) Long, 1960

Oxroadia gracilis Alvin, 1965
Oxroadopteris parvus Long, 1984

Pitus antiqua Witham, 1833
Pitus primaeva Witham, 1833

Psalixochlaena berwickense Long, 1976
Protoclepsydropsis kidstoni (Bertrand, 1911) Hirmer, 1927

Rhetinangium sp. Gordon 1912

Sphenopteris bifida Lindley and Hutton, 1832
Sphenophyllum insigne Williamson 1874
Stauropteris berwickensis Long, 1966

32 PALAEBOTANY SLIDES IN THE ROYAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND

Stenomyelon tuedianum Kidston in Scott, 1909
Stenomyelon heterangioides Long, 1964
Stenomyelon primaevum Long, 1964

Stamnostoma sp. Brongniart 1822

Tantallosperma setigera Barnard and Long, 1973

Telangium sp. Benson 1904

Tetrastichia bupatides Gordon, 1938

Tristichia ovensii Long, 1962

Triradioxylon primaevum Barnard and Long, 1975

LIST OF SPECIES BY LOCALITY

Allan Bank Mill Farm — NT 863 544
Lepidostrobus sp.

Lyginorachis aroeri
Stauropteris berwickensis

Bells Bum— NT 842 565
Lyginorachis whitadderensis

Blue Scaur— NT 843 566
Aldcomopteris sp.

Kalymma tuediana
‘ ■ ca

Protodepsydropsis kidstoni
Stenomyelon sp.

Telangium sp.

Bummouth shore — NT 957 610 to 957 611
Achlamydocarpon scoticum
Archaeocalamites radiatus
Bilignea sp.

Qadoxylon waltoni
Eristopnyton beinertianum
Kalymma tuediana
Lepidodendron calamopsoides
Lyginorachis brownii
Lyginorachis papilio
Lyginorachis witoni
Lyrasperma scotica
Oxroadia gracilis
Stauropteris berwickensis
Stamnostoma huttonense
Stenomyelon heterangioides
Stenomyelon tuedianum
Triradioxylon sp.

Tristichia ovensi

PALAEBOTANY SLIDES IN THE ROYAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND 33

Chimsidebridge 1 — NT 850 556
Genomosperma latens
Eiirystoma angulare
Lepidodendron calamopsoides
Lyginorachis arberi
Stauropteris berwidcensis

Chimsidebridge 2 — NT 855 556
Dolichospenna pentagonum
Genomosperma latens
Genomosperma kidstoni
Lepidodendron brevifolium
Lyginorachis arberi
Spenophyllum sp.

Stauropteris berwickensis

Cove 2— NT 786 715
Alcicomopteris
Qadoxylon waltoni
Eristopnyton beinertianum
Eristophyton waltoni
Eurystoma bumense
Lyg^orachis brownii
Lyginorachis papilio
Lyginorachis w^toni
“ca

Pitus antiqua
Stenomyelon tuedianum
Tristichia sp.

Cove-Horse Roads Bay — NT 787 715
Camptosperma bemiciense
Eurystoma angulare
Kalymma sp.

Oxroadia gracilis
Tristichia ovensi

Edington Mill— NT 893 548
Genomosperma latens

Edrom House— NT 825 560
Eccroustosperma langtonense
Lyginorachis arberi
Stenomyelon tuedianum

Gilsland—NY 608 697
Pitus primaeva

Hanna's Bridge — NT 770 525
Genomosperma kidstoni
Heirogramma sp.

Lepidodendron brevifolium

Horse Roads Bay — NY 789 716
Genomosperma latens
Lepidodendron sp.

Stenomyelon tuedianum

Hutton Bridge— NT 921 545
Kalymma tuediana

34 PALAEBOTANY SLIDES IN THE ROYAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND

Lyginorachis waltoni
PsSixochlaena berwickense

Hutton Mill 2— NT 917 545
Eurystoma bumense
Lepidodendron calamopsoides
Stauropteris berwickensis

Hutton Mill 3— NT 914 545
Dolichosperma sexangulatum
Deltasperma fouldenense
Eurystoma angulare
Eurystoma bumense
Genomosperma kidstoni
Hydrasperma tenuis
Lepidodendron brevifolium
Lepidodendron calamopsoides
Lepidostrobus sp.

Lyginorachis kidstoni
Lyginorachis papilio
Protodepsydropsis kidstoni
Stamnostoma huttonense
Telangium

Triracuoxylon primaevum
Tristichia ovensi

Ladykirk Bum— NT 901 480
Lyginorachis waltoni

Langton Bum — NY 771 525
Genomosperma kidstoni
Lepidodendron calamopsoides
Rhetinangium pith

Langton Glen — NT 754 530
Aldcomopteris convoluta
Qadoxylon waltoni
Eurystoma angulare
Lepidodendron calamopsoides
Lepidostrobus sp.

Lyginorachis papilio
L^rasperma scotica
Kalymma tuediana
Stauropteris berwickense
Stenomyelon primaevum
fehenophyllum insigne
Tristichia ovensi

Lennel Braes — NT 856 410
Aldcomopteris sp.
Deltasperma sp.

Eurystoma bumense
Kalymma tuediana
Lepidodendron calamopsoides
Lepidostrobus sp.

Lyginorachis papilio
Lyrasperma scotica
Pitus antiqua
Stamnostoma sp.

Stauropteris berwickensis
Stenomyelon tuedianum

i

PALAEBOTANY SLIDES IN THE ROYAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND 35

OxroadBay 2— NT 598 847
Eosperma oxroadense
Oxroadopteris parvus
Stamnostoma huttonense
Tantallosperma setigera
Tetrasticnia bupatides

Oxroad Bay— NT 596 847 to 598 847
Bilignea sp.

Buteoxylon gordonianum
Eristophyton beinertianum
Hydrasperma sp.

Oxroadia CTacilis
Triradiox)don primaevum

Pettycur 2— NT 2600 8623
Lepidodendron brevifoHum
Metaclepsydropis sp.

West Blaneme — NT 821 560
Amelyon sp.

Dolicnospenna sexangulatum
Eurystoma angulare
Eurystoma bumense
Eccroustosperma laugtonense
Eristophyton sp.

Calatnospemum fimbriatum
Qadoxylon waltoni
Qepsyi-opsis antiqua
Calamopsis sp.

Genomosperma latens
Lepidodendron calamopsoides
Lepidostrobus sp.

Lyginorachis arberi
Lyginorachis papilio
Lyrasperma scotica
dxroadia gracilis
Pitus primaevum
Protodepsydropsis kidstoni
Rhetinanmum arberi
Stenomydon heterangioides
Stenomyelon tuedianum
Stenomyelon primaevum
Stigmaria
Tetrastichia sp.

Tristichia ovensi
Triradioxylon primaevum

36 PALAEBOTANY SLIDES IN THE ROYAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND

REFERENCES

Qayton, G. (1985) Plant miospores from the Dinantian of Foulden, Berwickshire, Scotland.

Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. Earth Sciences, 76, 21-24.

Galtier, J. (1966) Naturalia Monspel. ser Bot., 17, 111-132.

. (1 970) Recherches sur les vegetaux a structure conservee du Carbonifere inf erieur fran^ais.

Palebiologie Continentale, 1 64-68, PI. 19 and 20.

Long, A. G. (1959) The fossil plants of Berwickshire: a review of past work. Part 1. Work done
mainly in the nineteenth century. Hist. Berwicks. Nat. Club, 34, 248-273.

. (1960) Part II. Ibid., 35, 26-47.

. (1973) Presidential Address: The Early History of Seeds. Hist. Berwicks. Nats. Club, 39, 85-

98.

. (1976) Palaeobotanical Reminiscences. Hist. Berwicks. Nat. Club, 40, 179-189.

. (1977) Some Lower Carboniferous pt endosperm cupules bearing ovules and

microsporangia. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., 70, 1-11.

. (1977) Some Lower Carboniferous pteridosperm cupules and the origin of angiosperms.

Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., 70, 13-35.

. (1978) Observations on the Lower Carboniferous genus Pitus Witham. Trans. Roy. Soc.

Edin., 70, 111-127.

. (1979) The resemblance between the Lower Carboniferous cupules of Hydrasperma cf.

tenuis Long and Sphenopteris bifida L. & H. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., 70, 129-137.

. (1984) Oxroadopteris parvus gen. et sp. nov.: a protostelic Lower Carboniferous pteri-
dosperm from Oxroad Bay, East Lothian, Scotland. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. Earth Sciences, 75,
383-389.

. (1984) The Cupule-Carpel Theory. A Defence. Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinb., 44, 281-285.

. (1986) Observations on the Lower Carboniferous Lycopod Oxroadia gracilis Alvin. Trans.

Roy. Soc. Edinb. Earth Sciences, 77, 127-142.

. (1987) Observations on Eristophyton Zalessky, Lyginorachis Waltonii Calder, and Cladoxylon

edromense sp. nov. from the Lower Carboniferous Cementstone Group of Scotland. Trans.
Roy. Soc. Edinb. Earth Sciences, 78, 73-84.

Pearson, H. L. (1986) Stucture and taxonomy of the Carboniferous lycopsid Anabathra. Bull. Br.
Mus. Nat. Hist. (Geol), 40, 265-292.

Scott, A. C., Galtier, J., and Qayton, G. (1984) Distribution of anatomically-preserved floras in
the Lower Carboniferous in Western Europe. T rans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. Earth Sciences, 75, 31 1-40.
Scott, A. C., and Meyer-Bertaud, B. (1985) Plants from the Dinantian of Foulden, Berwickshire,
Scotland. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. Earth Sciences, 76, 13-20.

Smith, T. E. (1%7) A preliminary study of sandstone sedimentation in the Lower Carboniferous
of the Tweed Basin. Scott. J. Geol, 3, 282-305.

. (1968) The Upper Old Red Sandstone-Carboniferous junction at Bummouth, Berwickshire.

ScoU. J. Geol, 4, 349-354.

THE CLUB HORN

D. and L. Mackenzie Robertson

The Club Horn, illustrated above, summons members to join
together at field meetings and listen to the speaker and also to
ensure silence to be able to do so. It is made of copperized brass and
nickel, 14 cm. long with a bell of 4.5 x 3.0 cm. It is a "reed" instrument

The horn was presented to the Club sometime between 1927 and
1936 by Colonel G. F. T. Leather of Middleton Hall, Belford,
Northumberland, according to Mr. W. R. Elliot, a former Club
Secretary. It is thought to be much older than that time. It was
originally intended for use in hunting a pack of beagles; although
smaller than a fox-hunter's horn it nevertheless has considerable
acoustic power. It has recently been insured on the advice of a
professional valuer for £100.

Colonel Leather (1865-1941) was granted a commission in the
Northumberland Militia in 1882 and in the 5th Northumberland
Fusiliers in 1886, serving first with the 1st Battalion in Ireland. In
1887 he carried the Regimental Colour at the Jubilee of Queen
Victoria. The Colour he carried was the one that had been carried
throughout the Peninsular War; it was then flying for the last time
before it was laid up. After 5 years as Adjutant to the Northumber-
land Militia Captain Leather resigned his commission to settle
down on the estate he had inherited at Belford, taking an especial

37

38

THE CLUB HORN

interest in forestry. He took a keen interest also in local history and
was twice President of the Club. His Obituary appeared in the Regi-
mental Journal of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (St. George's
Gazette of 31 May 1941) to which we are indebted for some of the
information given above.

TWENTIETH CENTURY WEATHER AT LOCHTON,
COLDSTREAM, BERWICKSHIRE

Henry A. Aitchison

I have been asked to contribute an article about the weather here, as
recorded by my father and myself. What a boring subject to write
about!

But keeping records has its uses and in support of this I quote
verbatim from a recent bulletin issued by the Meteorological Office
in Edinburgh: "Firstly, there are a large number of people who need
to know what the weather was like at a particular time and place.
Legal and insurance firms need to check up on the weather associ-
ated with accidents while building contractors may need to prove
that adverse weather was responsible for causing the work to be
behind schedule. Secondly, long period climatological observa-
tions are needed to provide design criteria for all sorts of struc-
tures— to prevent a repetition of the sagas of the Tay and Forth rail
bridges — the first of which was blown down and the second of
which is thought to be twice as strong and expensive as it needed
to be."

Rainfall measurements in particular are of interest to water and
drainage engineers who will wish to know how strong structures
such as dams and culverts will need to be. They will want to know
the answer to questions like: How often can we expect a fall of
100mm of rain in 24 hours at this site? A long term and well-
maintained daily rainfall record from a nearby gauge can provide
the answer.

My father came to this farm in May, 1903 and started to keep
rainfall records in the October of that year. I believe that he was
encouraged to do this by his brother-in-law, James Hewat Craw, of
West Foulden. Craw was a man of very wide interests and was a
very active member of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club. My
father continued to do this until he retired in 1938; I have continued
recording up to the present day, except for the war years when I was
very fortunate to have a wife who was prepared to continue with
this as well as coping with all her very many other daily chores.

Measuring is done daily at the laid-down time of 9 a.m. Cards are
issued by the Meteorological Office in Edinburgh. On them I make
a note of each day's weather and the rainfall, if any, and then send
them off at the end of each month, keeping a note of each day's
weather in the Farm Diary. (There are quite a few diaries here now! )
As a result of this 1 can quite quickly lay my hands on any untoward
incident.

Lochton Farm is situated on the north bank of the Tweed,
midway between Kelso and Coldstream (Map reference: NT 776389).

39

40 TWENTIETH CENTURY WEATHER AT LOCHTON, COLDSTREAM

The rain gauge stands in a garden, well clear of buildings and other
impedimenta — some 1 20 feet above sea level . 1 measure officially in
millimetres but convert to inches for my own use and in order to
maintain continuity.

This is a dry area, the yearly average (1904 to 1987 inclusive),
being 25.17 inches, made up as follows:

January

2.04 inches

February

1.54

March

1.76

April

1.55

May

1.55

June

2.03

July

2.51

August

2.94

September

2.20

October

2.61

November

2.38

December

2.06

Total

25.17 inches

Here are one or two salient features:

Wettest year 1916
Driest year 1972
Wettest day 12 August 1948
Wettest month August 1948
Driest month March 1929

37.48 inches
16.21 inches

4.86 inches (See further below)
9.03 inches
0.02 inches

12-13 August 1948. 1 made three separate readings when I realized
the severity of the rain.

At approximately: 1500 hrs, 12 August, 0.72 inches
2130 hrs, 12 August, 2.42 inches
At 0900 hrs, 13 August, 1.72 inches

24-hour total 4.86 inches

Unfortunately, in spite of taking intermediate readings, my
bottle was full at 2130 hrs on the 12th! I therefore feel that I must
have lost a certain amount. Other readings in the neighbourhood
have suggested that the day's total might have been in the vicinity
of 6 inches.

As regards frost, I measure quite simply with a thermometer on
a stake a few feet above the ground. From the records I see that,
measuring in Fahrenheit, we recorded 40'’ of frost on the morning
of Sunday 4 January, 1941. This was, of course, exceeded by the

TWENTIETH CENTURY WEATHER AT LOCHTON, COLDSTREAM 41

exceptional frost of January 1982 when on the 11th the thermometer
registered 44° Fahrenheit below freezing point.

One other unusual item. On Boxing Day 1979 I was awakened
about 4 a.m. by what 1 immediately recognized as an earthquake
(having been well-used to them while living in Japan). This lasted
for quite a few seconds and the whole house shook and windows
rattled. Later, we heard that the centres appeared to be in the
Longtown, Dumfriesshire, area and that the 'quake' measured over
5 on the Richter Scale — though I find this measurement difficult to
believe.

May I conclude this rather dull article on a lighter note? Some
years ago I met an old and very distinguished friend from up north,
whose records appeared monthly in The Scotsman (and still do). On
my making reference to his rainfall figures, his reply was "Treat my
recordings with a modicum of reserve". I looked out of my study
window the other morning and saw my male retriever closely
examining the rain gauge." Enough said!

OBITUARY— JOHN SHIEL WALL

John Wall was President of the Club for the year 1978-79. He died
suddenly in his garden at Spittal, on the 29th June, 1987. He had
been a member of the Club since 1970 and served on the Club's
Council from 1974 until his death.

John was born on the 28th October, 1911, in Berwick-upon-
Tweed. He always took a pride in being a native Berwicker,
although as a young boy he lived on his grandfather's farm,
Dykegatehead, near Whitsome. He was a solicitor by profession,
admitted at the early age of 21 after serving articles locally. He then
decided to make his career in local government. He first served as
Junior Assistant Solicitor at Stoke-on-Trent. He moved from there
to Rotherham, where he remained for the remainder of his career,
rising by promotion to become at 34 the youngest Town Clerk of a
County Borough in England. He served Rotherham with distinc-
tion until 1968, when threatened ill health compelled his early
retirement.

He, and his very supportive wife, Anne elected to return to their
native town, a course often considered difficult but which for them
proved successful and happy. In Berwick he regained his health
and was soon able to take an active interest in local affairs. His
experience in public service was quickly and rightly appraised and
the Berwick Preservation Trust, whose work so much admired,
wisely recruited him as their Director. He served in that post for
three years. Subsequently he was elected to the Borough Council.
He was Sheriff in 1976-77 and Mayor in 1981-82. He was an
Honorary Alderman in 1983. He was thus, and deservedly, hon-
oured in his native place.

John's service as the Club's President came between his years of
holding these high Civic offices. It was therefore natural that he
should draw on his civic interest and knowledge to produce a
noteworthy Armiversary Address on the subject of 'The Archives
of the Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed".

Despite attaining positions of leadership professionally, in civic
affairs in Berwick, and in the Club, John was essentially a quiet and
humble person. Physically a big man, with a fine presence, he never
exerted influence by relying on these attributes but made his
leadership contributions gently, often with quiet, kindly humour.
He relied on a clear perception of desirable ends and on garnered
wisdom from his years of public service. He was a very well
respected and worthy President of the Club.

H. D. Jeffries

42

FIELD NOTES AND RECORDS— 1987

Plants

Iberis umbellata L. In late July, 1987, Mr. H. F. Church, of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, collected four plants of this species, apparently cas-
ual annuals, 6-8 inches high, with asymmetrical closely-bunched
mauve flowers, along the new road on the north bank of the Tweed
(VC 68, NT 95). They were identified by the Royal Botanical Garden
Herbarium, Edinburgh, as this crucifer, a member of the same
genus as the common garden candytuft.

The plant was recorded on the banks of the Ettrick and Tweed,
Selkirk, by I. M. Hayward in 1910 (see: Hayward and Bruce — The
adventive flora ofTweedside, p. 275, no. 253) and is thought to be alien,
possibly introduced by agriculture or gardening.

Lepidoptera

Xanthia gilvago D. & S. Dusky Lemon Sallow. 13 September — one
at light, Berwick-upon-Tweed. The larva of this species feeds on the
fruits of the Wych Elm, as this tree is threatened by Dutch Elm
Disease, it is possible this moth will also be threatened.

Lycaem phlaeas L — Small Copper, 8 September — one by the new
road on the left bank of the Tweed.

A. G. Long

Birds

Grus grus L. — Crane, 8-15 May — two were sighted by Mr David
Graham in a barley field at New Mains, Reston (NT 878613). The
field used to be a marsh and the birds were feeding on the barley
shoots and grains. Both birds were sub-adults, having head mark-
ings but no red patch. One bird was larger than the other, probably
male and female. The larger bird had greyish upper parts, the
smaller was coloured more creamy buff. Both had the dark grey
drooping "tail" formed by the elongated inner secondaries. The
face had a light cream, stripe extending well down the neck. The
wings were black. In flight the head and neck, and the legs, were
held extended. They flew off each evening at about 8 p.m. and
returned in the morning. Their call was a guttural KRRR.

Mrs M. Edgar

Notifying my sighting of a crane at Hule moss, near Greenlaw, in
August, 1984, to the Scottish Bird Report, elicited the information
that a crane, presumably the same bird, had been reported 4 times
earlier that year, at Mellerstain in May, at Grantshouse and at
Fairnington, near Jedburgh, in June and at Bummouth in July; and
that the last previous record for the species in this area was at
Hawick in 18/4.

W.H.R.L.

43

FIELD SECRETARIES' REPORT— 1987

HRST MEETING

Thursday, 14th May. Leith. Trinity House, formerly the Head-
quarters of the Forth pilots; a handsome building with a unique
collection of Leith maritime history. South Leith Church, dating
from 1483, was originally much larger but was badly damaged
during the siege of Leith in 1560. A "walk-about" in Leith noting its
fine restorations.

SECOND MEETING

Wednesday, 17th June. Abbotsford House, home of Sir Walter
Scott, containing Sir Walter's treasures. Huntlyburn, the Borders
General Hospital, soon to be opened for patients, was most impres-
sive. Melrose Station, transformed from a derelict building into its
former glory as the pride of the Edinburgh-Carlisle link of the
railway to London.

THIRD MEETING

Thursday, 9th July. Luffness House, a historic, fortified dwelling
with beautiful furnishings and lovely gardens of ancient origin.
Also its monastic ruins. Aberlady Nature Reserve, on the shore side
of Luffness House, a great attraction for all botanists and ornitholo-
gists. Luffness Mill House. Beautiful gardens with many plants
unusually seen in Scotland.

FOURTH MEETING

Wednesday, 19th August. Lilbum Tower with rare furnishings
and pictures and beautiful gardens. Chillingham Castle, one of the
most important examples of fortified domestic architecture, dating
from the 13th century and now extensively renovated. Parish
Church of St. Peter, showing Norman features. Within the Lady
Chapel (13th century) is the ornate and beautiful table tomb of Sir
Ralph Grey and his wife. A conducted walk to view the famous
Wild Cattle herd.

HFTH MEETING

Thursday, 17th September. Warkworth. St. Lawrence's Church,
part Saxon, part Norman, with bells dating from the 14th century.
A "walk-about" the village especially to see the very fine mediaeval
bridge. Warkworth Castle, dating from 13th century, it is on the site
of a former motte and bailey. Warkworth Hermitage, probably 14 th
century, hewn out of the rocky cliff beside the River Coquet.

EXTRA MEETINGS

Thursday, 4th June. Gordon Moss. Essentially a botanical meeting.

Wednesday, 21st October. The Wine Museum, Palace Green,
Berwick. In the morning prior to the Annual General Meeting.

44

REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN 1987

45

At every meeting more than 100 Members attended, on one occa-
sion over 140.

REPORT OF THE LffiRARIAN 1987

Mr Ross's Library is now established at the Barracks Museum and
a preliminary stock-taking has taken place. It now requires classi-
fication to make it more readily usable by readers. However, the
books are available to those entitled to use them, together with the
Club Library which consists mostly of runs of periodicals which we
exchange with other societies.

We are now trying to complete the holdings of the BNC History
at the copyright Libraries, but have no spare copies of the issue of
1981 . However, several members have given copies surplus to their
requirements, and for these the Club is most grateful.

LIBRARIAN'S FINANaAL STATEMENT FOR YEAR ENDED 20 SEPTEMBER, 1987.

Income

Expenditure

Opening Balance
Sales of BNC History
Interest
Total

713.76 Postage
53.00 Stationery

26.65 Balance fwd

793.41

9.16

1.34

782.91

793.41

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Balance on Current Account as at 20/9/87 £143.83 Audited and found to be correct

Balance on Savings Account as at 20/9/87 £2,978.42 good order.

Andrew Walker, Royal Bank of Scotland,

ADVICE TO CONTRIBUTORS

The History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club has now run
continuously for more than 150 years and has recorded a huge
amount of information about every aspect of life in the Borders —
its archaeology, histoty, sociology and natural history. It is an
invaluable repository for primary information about the Borders
and the Club would like to extend its function in this regard. To
encourage contributions from people who may perhaps be inhib-
ited by unfamiliarity with the preparation of manuscripts for
publication the following notes are included in the History.

Contributions

Manuscripts should, if possible, be typed, double-spaced but even
handwritten documents, if clearly le^ble, can be considered. Fig-
ures should be numbered consecutively and provided with short
descriptive legends. Reference to other publications in the text are
most simply done by author name(s) and date of publication and
listed in alphabetical/ chronological order at the end of the paper.
As examples:

Baxter, E. V., Rintoul, L. J. (1953) The birds of Scotland. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.

Boyd, H., Ogilvie, M. (1 969) Changes in the British wintering population of the pinkfooted goose
from 1950-1975. Wildfowl, 20, 33-46.

Taylor, G. (1937) list of fungi observed in the neighbourhood of Cockbumspath. History of the
Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, 29, 303-313.

Sometimes references to other publications/ authors, documents,
episodes, etc., in the text are more appropriate by superscript
numbers, e.g.: "the house of Netherbyres^"
and then related to a numbered entry in a list of references/ notes
at the end of the paper:

""5. Scottish Record Office TD 78/7."

Field Notes and Records. Notes of unusual occurrences are wel-
come and of great value for future workers. For maximum useful-
ness, they are best reduced to their essentials.

Contributions can be sent direct to the Editing Secretary, or
handed to any Council Member.

HISTORY

OF THE

BERWICKSHIRE

NATURALISTS’ CLUB

Price to non-members and for additional copies £3.00

The Centenary Volume, published 1933, provides an index to the
History from Volumes 1 to 27, (1831-1931).

Price £15.00

The Sesquicentenary Volume, published 1987, provides an index to the
History from Volumes 28 to 41 (1932-1980)

Price £10.00

For purchase apply to:

The Librarian, Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, 124 Shielfield Terrace,
Tweedmouth, Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, U.K.

PRINTED FOR THE CLUB
BY MARTIN’S PRINTING WORKS
MAIN STREET, SPITTAL
1988