HISTORY

OF THE

BERWICKSHIRE

NATURALISTS’ CLUB

INSTITUTED SEPTEMBER 22, 1831

• MARE ET TELLUS, ET, QUOD TEGIT OMNIA, CCELUM '

VOL. XLIIL
PART II, 1985
PART ni, 1986

OFFICE-BEARERS

Joint Field Secretaries

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

(Tel. Kelso 324252).

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

Editing Secretary.

Lady McEWEN, Whiteside, Greenlaw. (Tel. Greenlaw 265).

Librarian.

Miss M. H. SIMPSON, J.P., A.L.A., 124, Shlelfield Terrace,
Berwick upon Tweed.

HISTORY OF THE

BERWICKSHIRE NATURALISTS' CLUB "

CONTENTS OF VOL. XLIII
PART 2, 1985

1. Club Notes

2. Presidential Address — Langton Parish 47

3. Kathleen Barbara Fleming 54

4. A Naturalist's Diary 55

5. Club Meeting 1849

6. Kelso Abbey 55

7. Librarian's Report 1985-1986 70

8. Financial Statement, September 1985 71

ILLUSTRATION

StenomyelonTuedianum Kidston from Whitadder south bank near Edrom .... 59

CLUB NOTES

In 1985 the Club met as follows: —

22nd May. Alnwick Church and Alnwick Castle.

13th June. Stevenson House and Garden. Haddington: St.
Mary's Church, Haddington House, St. Mary's Pleasance and
Herb Garden, Jane Welsh Carlyle Museum and Garden.

17th July. Craigmillar Castle. The Royal Observatory, Edin-
burgh.

15th August. Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens. Bolam.

Shortflatt Tower and Harnham Hall.

11th September. Kelso Abbey. Floors Castle.

18th October. Annual Meeting, Berwick.

Extra Meeting: 29th April. Burrell Collection, Glasgow.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

BERWICKSHIRE
NATURALISTS' CLUB

LANGTON PARISH

being the Anniversary Address delivered by Mrs. Kathleen
Barbara Fleming, President of the Club, on 18th October, 1985

From Duns, the nearest bounda^ of Langton Parish is a
mile south-west on the road to Greenlaw, a small field's
breadth beyond the house called Hardens Way where we
live. Along the foot of that field runs the Bluidy Burn which
got its name when the people of old time Dunse stampeded
an invading English force into the bog by the Burn and
massacred them there. At the farthest corner of the field the
Bluidy Burn joins the Pouterlynie Burn which forms part of
the Parish boundary, and the main road crosses into the
Parish over Pouterlynie Brieve. Continuing through the
Parish south west towards Greenlaw, the road approxi-
mately demarcates the limit of the rich arable land stretch-
ing northwards from the Tweed, through the Merse of
Berwick.

The Parish is entirely agricultural and one of its features
is the diversity of the land within its boundaries, which
encompass an area extending at its extremes only 3V2 miles
from east to west and 4V2 miles from north to south. South
of the road are the arable farms of Langton Mill, Mid-
dlefield, Ladyflat, Woodend and part of Choicelee. North
of the road the land rises into the Lammermuirs with the
farms of Hardens, Raecleughhead, Langtonlees and more
of the Choicelee land, still mainly on the southern slope.
Further north the farm of Stobswood lies among the hills,
and Forestry Commission plantings occupy the steepest
land in the north east of the Parish along Langton Edge.

'47

48

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1985

The lowest land in the Parish is around 300 feet above sea
level. The highest point, where the old war-time radar
masts are located on top of Hardens Hill, is 1166 feet. This
range of about 850 feet in altitude may not seem great, but
in these northern latitudes it is sufficient to cause a marked
difference in climate. On winter mornings it is commonp-
lace to see from our north-facing windows that precipita-
tion, which fell as rain on the lower ground, fell as sleet or
snow down to about the 600 foot contour on Hardens Farm.
And in more wintry weather, two miles away on Hardens
Hill the road to Longformacus is often blocked by snow,
when very little has fallen at the foot of the hill.

Depth and fertility of soils also come into the picture. The
deep soils of the arable land give way to less than one inch
of poor topsoil under the heather on the hills. Place names
help to underline the contrast; for example Boglands Plan-
tation, between Ladyflat and Woodend, contrasting with
Hell's Cleugh, which is a deep and wild ravine behind
Hardens Hill. The total effect is that there is a range from
totally arable farming on the low land, through stock farm-
ing, with some araWe on the lower slopes, to Blackface
sheep in the heather which they share with grouse on the
highest ground.

Turning back to Pouterlynie Bridge on the Duns to
Greenlaw road, the stream rises as the Wellrig Burn two
miles upstream on the watershed of Langton Edge in the
north easternmost corner of the Parish, in an area of
afforested land known as Young Jeanie's Wood. Over the
Parish boundary is Jeanie's Wood. Who were Jeanie and
Young Jeanie? Defining the eastern boundary of the Parish,
the Wellrig Burn gathers other small streams from Langton
Edge on its way downhill and once fed the reservoir which
supplied Duns with water. Crossing the Duns Golf Course
it passes Wellrig, now reduced to ivy grown walls, on the
edge of the Duns to Longformacus road.

B^y the bridge just inside the Parish boundary is Pouter-
lany which is said to be a corruption of the name Peter
Lany. Originally a small row of cottages occupied by
Flemish weavers, the site is still occupied by a modern
house which encompasses some of the original structure.
Just to the west, on the opposite side of the main road, is
Scotston, built to house linen weavers brought from the
west of Scotland. Still occupied today, Scotston retains part
of its old red tile roof, and stonecarved weavers' knots are at
each corner of the gables.

Half a mile downstream, beyond the confluence with the

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1985

49

Bluidy Burn, the linen woven at Scotston was bleached at
Bankhead. Remnants of the ponds and sluices can still be
seen in the stream bed, also the old channel of the mill lade
which led water downstream to drive Langton Mill, now a
small farm, but then primarily a mill with some adjoining
land.

Here is an example of how the same water was often used
repeatedly to provide power to drive waterwheels. Just
downstream from Langton Mill, water from the Pouter-
lynie Burn was led off across two fields to drive the water
wheel at Duns Mill. From Duns Mill this water was released
into the Langton Burn which again provided water to drive
Putton Mill a little further downstream. In cases like these,
early use of water power is readily visible, but it was also
used in locations apparently well above any serviceable
stream. Middlefield Farm just to the south is such a case.
Standing well above the nearest stream, it was supplied by
a long lade buried deep underground which brought water
from some way upstream under two fields of arable land, to
a waterwheel located underneath the farm buildings.

Below Langton Mill the Parish boundary is marked by
the Langton Burn, which almost immediately flows under
the disused track of the railway line which crosses Mid-
dlefield Farm and which once linked the main East Coast
railway line at Reston with the South West of Scotland. It
served all the small towns and many villages along the way.
There were for example stations at Chirnside, Edrom,
Duns, Marchmont and Greenlaw. Certainly it was not an
express service, but you could commute from Duns to
Edinburgh. This line was not a victim of the Beeching axe
but of the famous flood of 1948, which washed away so
many bridges in the Borders, including one on this railway,
which was too expensive to repair. Last year in Bogota in
Colombia we met a lady from Dumfriesshire, who as a girl
travelled regularly all the way from west to east, to attend
her school which had been evacuated to Ayton during the
Second World War.

Although it is nearly forty years since the through line
was broken, it is less than twenty years since trains ceased
to come into Duns from Reston. In its time, the railway was
the main source of transport for the farms. Livestock were
driven up to several miles to the nearest station, in this case
Duns or Marchmont, for shipment to markets as far away
as Edinburgh or beyond. By the same route, store and
breeding stock were brought into the area from even farther
afield. Similarly farm produce was carted to the stations for

50

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1985

outward shipment, and other farm supplies came in by the
same route.

From the Langton Burn, the boundary turns south fol-
lowing the eastern boundary of Middlefield Farm till it
strikes the Howe Burn, whence it turns west following the
Howe Burn, the Kirk Burn and the Back Burn up stream,
finally crossing the Duns to Greenlaw road at the Backburn
Bridge, close to where a few surviving houses mark what
was once the site of Polwarth village in the neighbouring
parish.

All along this southern side of the parish between the
boundary burns and the main road to me north is friendly
arable land, intensively farmed. The aspect changes and
quickly becomes bleaker as the boundary begins to swing
north beyond the Backburn Bridge and again picks up the
Langton Burn as boundary by Polwarth Mill Toll, where the
Tollhouse is still occupied. A little way downstream is
Choicelee Farm, and a little way further still is Gallows
Knowe.

At Choicelee the Westruther road forks off to the west,
still running through arable stock farm land till it reaches
Foulburn Bridge. Along this section the boundary follows
the Langton Burn in the gully below the road. Across the
burn to the west rise the heather covered slopes of Hanged
Man's Hill, and at the Foulburn Bridge the boundary
swings almost due north to run across open moorland over
rising land, till it reaches the Duns to Longformacus road by
Henlaw Woods. Over this section it is running close to, and
eventually follows the alignment of the old road from
Greenlaw to Longformacus of which very little trace
remains today. The Foul Ford, where the old road then
crossed the Burn, was the centre point of a gruesome and
supernatural tale. This involved the death early last century
in circumstances of horror, first of the blacksmith from
Longformacus and some years later of his son. Still stand-
ing in the heather is a stone erected to mark these grim
events.

Where the boundary joins and then crosses the Long-
formacus road at Henlaw Woods, there is an outlook over
the northernmost section of the parish. A watershed has
been crossed and the streams are running north towards
the Dye Water, instead of east and south as they do south of
the watershed. First the parish extends north along the
Black Sike to where it is joined from the east by the Sel
Burn, then east along the Sel Burn to a point close to the
crest of the opposite ridge. From this point it turns sharply

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1985

51

to the south and east roughly following the line of another
watershed from which the streams run north and east.
Along this line is the wildest and remotest part of the
parish, most of it close to or above the 1000 foot contour.
Black Hill is crossed at above 1100 feet, followed by a steep
drop of 600 feet into Hell's Cleugh, and a steeper climb to
the Ordnance Survey marker at 1159 feet on Langton Edge.
From here the boundary runs east a little farther through
Young Jeanie's Wood, to reach the point where the Wellrig
Burn sets off downhill along the eastern boundary where
this account began.

Stobswood Farm occupies the northern section of the
parish with an area of lower-lying cultivated fields around
the farm steading, merging into the rough grass and moor-
land around. All the cultivation relates to stock farming.
Even with modern equipment, growing and harvesting
grain crops in such surroundings is difficult, but there was
a time when grain prices made it worthwhile to grow crops
even in this unfriendly environment. Also on the lower
ground opposite Henlaw Woods is the abandoned site of
Old Stobswood, marked by a derelict house and ruins of
other buildings standing among old trees. Extending
around it is a large area of ridge and furrow land on which
crops were once grown at a cost in effort which would
normally be out of all proportion to the harvests that were
reaped.

A recent development in this area is virtually invisible. It
is the large underground pipeline carrying North Sea gas
from North East Scotland to the South. Unlike the water
that ran in the old mill lades this is not a renewable
resource.

Turning East from Henlaw Woods, the road from Long-
formacus runs eastwards towards Duns reaching a high
point close to Snuffyhole Bridge, above Langtonlees Farm,
and below the radar masts on Hardens Hill. From various
points along this road the full beauty of the Border Country
can be appreciated. North are the long, quiet contours of
the Lammermuirs. Westward beyond the moors in the
foreground, the Eildon Hills, twenty miles away as the
crow flies, are only in the middle distance. In clear weather
the Moorfoot Hills and Ettrick Forest can be seen beyond,
stretching into the far distance. To the south-west, south,
and east, the views take in the whole length and breadth of
Teviotdale and the Merse of Berwick, including the farm
lands to beyond Wooler in Northumberland. Nearly 25
miles due south is the Cheviot, and this time it is the Border

52

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1985

Hills which stretch away south west into the distance. East
beyond the valley, the scene changes to the North Sea at
Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Northumbrian coastline to
beyond Bamburgh Castle. And all this diversity of scenery
changes with every change of light and through the chang-
ing seasons.

People have looked out on these scenes since prehistoric
times. Probably the first settlements in the Parish were in
this area, when Beaker Folk of the early Bronze age settled
here anything up to 1800 BC. From their cist burials on
Hardens Hill a very ancient beaker and other relics were
recovered, which are now in the National Museum of Anti-
quities in Edinburgh. Later, prehistoric people built the
circular fort on Raecleugh Head Hill which is the western-
most feature by Hardens Hill, and still close to the 1000 foot
contour. It dominates the surrounding countryside. Look-
ing up from Hardens Way we see the earthworks on the
skyline. From the fort itself can be seen prehistoric cairns on
nearby Dirrington Great Law and Dirrington Little Law,
and farther off the Twin Law Cairns. These are clearly
visible because they were rebuilt after the original cairns
had been used as targets by a Polish tank brigade which
was based in the grounds of Langton during the war.

Less prominent earthworks and cairns are recorded
around and in the parish, from other earthworks on Lang-
ton Edge; two cists containing inhumations found on the
lands of Middlefield and Crease in the 18th century; a
masonry cist containing an inhumation in the Blakeside
field found in 1943; and several earthen urns of different
sizes containing what were probably cremations found
when a cairn was removed from the summit of Crimson
Hill in 1792. All of these sites adjoin the village of Gavinton,
where Langton Church was built on the summit of Crimson
Hill in 1798.

Progressing downhill from the fort on top of Raecleugh
Head Hill, and just north of Raecleugh Head farmhouse, is
another earthwork with massive defences comprising
double ramparts and ditches, and nearby what was possi-
bly another earthwork. Below Raecleugh Head farm build-
ings it is thought that there may have been a substantial
village in the middle ages, but no traces remain. Nor does
any trace remain of Langton Castle which stood to the east
of Raecleugh Head.

A little farther down the hill are woods which sur-
rounded Langton House with its village of Langton, its
home farm Langton Mains, its walled garden, lodges and

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1985

53

other buildings. For centuries, and as recently as the early
1920's, this area would have been populous, and the hub of
Parish life. Records relating to a series of Langfon churches
go back to 1150. Now there is very little left except a few
smaller houses which are still occupied, and a sawmill
operating in the area once occupied by the mansion house.
The old churchyard is overgrown, and only traces remain
of the last church which stood on the site.

Gavinton village itself still houses an active and close-
knit community but is of relatively recent date. David
Gavin built it half a mile to the south-east after he acquired
Langton estate in 1758, to rehouse the inhabitants of Lang-
ton village, and it was named Gavinton after its founder. A
new church built on Crimson Hill at the west end of the
village retained the name of Langton, as did a newer church
built on the same site in 1872 by a grand-daughter of David
Gavin. Langton House itself had been rebuilt in the 19th
century, but its inheritor in the 1920's never lived there and
removed the roof. Partially demolished in the 1930's, it was
completely demolished about 20 years ago.

VVhen it was built, the village of Gavinton was a country
village completely integrated into, the life of the surround-
ing countryside. In July and August 1844 the new minister,
the Reverend David Dunlop, visited all the houses in his
parish recording who lived in them, and in many cases
what they did. In Gavinton itself which then had 225
inhabitants he records more than 20 professions, frades
and occupations. These include a quarrier and a sawyer; a
stonemason and joiners; a slater and a plasterer; a hedger
and carters; a blacksmith and a cooper; a bonnet maker and
a shoemaker; a baker and a grocer; a travelling merchant
and a journeyman tailor, not forgetting a second minister
and the village schoolmaster. Numbers of others were
recorded as labourers, or working at Langton House or
neighbouring farms. Some of the villagers had their own
smallholdings. There were at least one cow byre and stack-
yard in the village, and the minister had the use of a 10-acre
glebe.

In the "country parts" David Dunlop recorded another
288 people, giving the parish a total of 513 inhabifants. On
the farms are lists of the farmers and their families, ste-
wards, shephers, hinds and bondagers. The latter were
male and female farm labourers. There was a keeper of the
Polwarth Mill Toll. In and around Langton House were
gamekeepers, gardeners, coachmen, a cook, a footman, a
housekeeper, lady's maid and other servants. The occup-

54

KATI-ILEEN BARBARA FLEMING

ant of Langton Mill was a farmer and miller. Pouterlany and
Scotston no longer housed weavers. Pouterlany had two
households one headed by a farmer, the second by a
widow, 9 people in all where 2 live today. At Scotston there
were still three households, one headed by a joiner who
worked in Gavinton, another by a miller who worked at
Langton Mill and the third by another widow. Again 9
people where 1 lives today.

On the farms there is a similar picture. In most cases
mechanisation and changed cropping patterns have
reduced the occupants to the farmer and his family plus one
or two other households, compared to 43 people at
Woodend, 36 at Choicelee, and 40 at Middlefield and
Crease when David Dunlop made his record. No trace
remains of Crease.

Gavinton village faces south across the fertile intensively
cultivated farmlands of the Merse to the Cheviots beyond.
Behind the village the outlook takes in the old grounds of
Langton House to Raecleugh Head Hill behind. It is still
very much a village in the country, but it is no longer a
country village in the sense that its life is linked to activities
in the surrounding parish and countryside.

There are no outlets for any of the old trades and services
recorded by the Reverend David Dunlop, and the connec-
tions between the village and what he called the "country
parts" of the Parish have become very tenuous. His succes-
sor now lives ten miles away in another parish, and the
Parish children go to school in Duns. Many of the people
living in the village have retired locally or from elsewhere.
Most of those who work find their livings outwith the
Parish, most of them in non-agricultural activities. Over
more than three thousand years the area now comprising
Langton Parish has seen many changes and clearly change
continues.

KATHLEEN BARBARA FLEMING
PRESIDENT 1984-1985

It was with deep regret that the members of the Club learned of
the death of Barbara Fleming on 1st December, 1985. She was our
President in the period 1984-85 and had been an active member of
the Club for many years, taking part with much enthusiasm in all
its activities.

At the outbreak of war, Barbara immediately volunteered and
served with the Auxiliary Territorial Service from 1939 to 1945.

A NATURALISTS DIARY 1985

55

These duties were acknowledged by the award of the British
Empire Medal. Following demobilisation, she joined the
Women's Voluntary Service and saw further service in Burma
and in Malaya, as it was then called, from 1946 to 1948. From
there she went on to work in South Africa before returning to the
United Kingdom.

It was her time in Rangoon that she first met her future hus-
band, Tom Fleming. After his demobilisation Tom returned to his
work as a planter in Sumatra and it was not until he came home
on leave, in 1951, that they were married. From 1952 to 1963 they
made their home in Sumatra where their three children, Sheila,
Thomas, and Richard, were born.

Barbara had a gift for homemaking. Whether home was an
isolated plantation bungalow amid the scarcity and insecurity of
post-war Sumatra, or at Hardens Way — where the family settled
in 1964 — her first concern was to make a comfortable and wel-
coming home. The many visitors who came received always the
same warm welcome. In the subsequent years, maintaining a
home for the family and their friends remained her first concern,
but whenever possible, she found special pleasure in accompany-
ing her husband on his working trips to remote places in South-
East Asia, the South Pacific, and Latin America, where she con-
tinued to add to her wide circle of friends.

This circle also grew larger through her involvement in many
local activities, and through her membership of the Naturalists'
Club from which she always had special satisfaction. Sadly, her
year as President was marred by illness which progressedf until
her death. Although very ill, she courageously attended her last
meeting in office and was present to hear her Presidential
Address delivered by her husband. The Parish of Langton was
her subject; very carefully researched and tackled with her
characteristic thoroughness. She died only a few weeks later.

Barbara was held in high esteem by all who knew her. At her
Memorial Service, in a church crowded with relatives and
friends, many of whom were members of the Club, there were
many references to her kindness and readiness to help other. We
must be grateful for having known Barbara Fleming as a friend.

A NATURALIST'S DIARY— 1985

Dr. Albert G. Long

The year 1985 was noteworthy for its cold spring, wet summer
and warm dry October.

My first excursion was on January 31 to Oxroad Bay near
Tantallon Castle and I was rewarded with a nice specimen of
Eristophyton beinertianum (Goppert) Zalessky. This fossil stem

56

A NATUI^LISrS DIARY 1985

was discovered in Lower Carboniferous rocks of Silesia in the
1840's. Its first discovery in Britain was in 1900 on the Scottish
side of Norham Bridge by Dr. Kidston and Arthur Macconachie
of the Geological Survey. Its generic name means "litigious
plant" since its classification was in dispute. D. H. Scott assigned
it to the genus Calamopitys but Zalessky disputed this and erected
the new genus Eristophyton; even up to the present its affinities
have remained dubious.

On February 9 I received word from Dr. Rotheray of the Royal
Museum of Scotland that the moth I had captured in the Good
Food Shop, Berwick, in November 1984 was Cryptophlebia
leucotreta. It is a Tortricid, imported with Citrus fruits on which
the larva feeds.

On February 14 1 took a slice of limestone containing Eristophy-
ton into the Royal Museum, Edinburgh. It was from a loose block
found on shingle near Gin Head to the west of Tantallon. Dr. A.
Livingstone tested it and ascertained that it contained calcium,
iron and manganese but no barium. I etched it and made peel
sections but the plant cell walls appeared translucent.

On February 16 Professor G. W. Rothwell of Athens, Ohio,
visited me and showed me a ground section of a large stem
extracted from the cliff at Oxroad Bay. This proved to be Eris-
tophyton beinertianum.

Oh March 2 I searched for it along the left bank of the Tweed
from Norham Bridge to Ladykirk Burn but without success. Oys-
tercatchers were back on the shingle beds.

On March 6 honey bees were active on the crocuses and on the
9th I saw wild geese flighting N.W. near N. Berwick.

At Cove, near Cockburnspath, Skylarks and Yellowhammers
were in song on March 11 and a large rock-fall below Cove village
had exposed compressions of Archaeocalamites radiatus.

On March 12 at the Royal Museum, Edinburgh I was shown by
Dr. Waterston an illustrated catalogue of plant fossils which had
been prepared by Robert Dunlop of Kilmarnock, a remarkable
self-taught man known to Dr. Kidston. I suspect he may have
been the collector who found the second specimen of Eristophyton
at Norham Bridge mentioned by D. H. Scott in his secona paper
(Scott 1918).

On April 2 while searching shale for spore samples at Langton
Burn below Gavinton sewage plant I found a Dipper's nest with
eggs. It is an early nester. The spores from this site are very fine
and have recently been examined by G. Clayton (Scott eta/, 1984).
The next day Bumble bees were on the wing and Greenfinches
and Linnets in song. On April 4 a Chiffehaff was heard near the
footbridge between Edrington and Paxton. I visited the volcanic
dyke below Cumledge House and saw granitic balls in the ash
beds nearby. On April 8 several large concretions were seen
exposed by flood water at Lennel Braes but on cracking them the
plant remains were very poorly preserved.

On April 12 I met Capt. Tayior at Norham House (the former

A NATURALIST'S DIARY 1985

57

vicarage) and with his kind permission searched round the
periphery of his garden for the Vitus stems which were said to be
placed there after the building of Norham Bridge when Dr. Gilly
was Vicar {H.B.N.C. II, 182). I was unsuccessful but saw the
old-world garden plants Butcher's Broom, Stinking Hellebore
and a purple Corydalis.

On April 13 1 visited Dunglass Dean and thence up the coast to
Bilsdean Burn. I found the clay shale with Sphenopteris affinis but
failed to find the ten inch coal nearer Linkhead. In the shale above
this seam have occurred the only reputed Cordaites of lower
Carboniferous age I know of in this area (Crookall 1970, p. 797).

On April 16 1 saw a Green Veined White on Aubrieta and on the
following day a Willow Warbler was singing near Castle Drive. At
night about 9 p.m. a pipistrelle bat was catching midges along
Windsor Crescent. Recently there have been many lacewings in
the house after hibernation indoors. Ladybirds, 7-spot and
9-^ot have become active outdoors.

On April 20 a pair of Wheatears on passage was seen near
Whitekirk and one swallow near Tyninghame. A specimen of
Eristophyton found at Oxroad Bay proved to be E. waltonii Lacey
having medullary rays up to six cells wide (Lacey 1953).

At Baramill Plantation on May 2 there were House Martins and
two Common Sandpipers near the Whitadder below Cockburn
Bridge. At the scaur of Old Red Sandstone near Preston Haugh
one fossil stem with longitudinal ridges was seen. It could have
been Archaeopteris hibernica but proof of foli^e was lacking.

On May 6 three swifts arrived at Windsor Crescent greeted by
the first apple blossom. On the 7th a 14-spot ladybird was found
by Miss G . A. Elliot on hawthorn near Craster. It was brown with
seven white spots on each elytron. By May 8 a redstart was
singing regularly at the Meadows.

During the winter I had kept two pupae of the Puss Moth in a
garden shed. On May 19 a female emerged so I put it outside. In
the morning it had moved to a nearby clothes post where it
remained in cop with a male for two full days, a result of the cold
weather. On May 21 a male emerged about 3.45 p.m. Its wings
expanded in about 30 minutes. I put it outdoors and in the
morning it had flown.

On May 30 a male Orange Tip was seen near the Blue Stone
Ford feeding on the flowers of Cardamine amara. The same day
two more were seen near Allanbank Mill Farm and cuckoo bees
{Nomada sp.) were active in the garden wall nearby. A Garden
Tiger larva was seen on Creeping Thistle below the Allanton
Bridge over the Whitadder.

On June 1 — a glorious day, many Orange Tips were flying at
Lennel Braes where there is much Dame's Violet. Garden Warb-
lers, Sedge Warblers and Blackcaps were in sor^, but no Sand
Martins, victims of the north Africa drought. A Greater Sotted
Woodpecker was at work on the many elms affected by Dutch
Elm disease.

58

A NATURALISTS DIARY 1985

On June 8 I was at Oxroad Bay and saw one Painted Lady, and
an Eider Duck sitting on eggs near high tide level. Another
Painted Lady appeared on our strawberry patch on June 15, and
on July 7 one visited Sweet Williams. The last record was October
21, a second brood specimen. Mr. R. F. Bretherton informed me
there was an enormous influx starting in April. It reached West-
morland and Furness with one record for Cape Wrath on May 28
and a few in Orkney July 2. There were at least three incursions in
April, late May, and early June. It is a great traveller and truly
cosmopolitan.

In June, at the Crooked Burn near Foulden Newton I got about
a dozen fossil seeds of Samaropsis bicaudata Kidston in shale.
These were probably borne on the primitive pteridosperm
Stenomyelon and are identical with the petrified seeds Lyrasperma
scotica. They are often closely associated with the frond Alcicor-
nopteris convoluta though as yet we have not proved connection
between this and Stenomyelon. The seed megaspores were peel-
ing off the shale and were readily macerated in concentrated
nitric acid and sodium chlorate. I managed to make mounts and
got one showing three abortive spores at the apex.

A Buff Tip moth was seen squashed on the pavement near
Berwick Town Hall on June 21.

On June 25 a cock bullfinch was seen feeding a grown young
bird on Windsor Crescent.

On August 7 a dead Swallow Tail moth was found near the Pier
House and on the 30th a Small Fan-footed Wave near Burn-
mouth, both by H. F. Church.

August was very cold and wet. About ten swifts were last seen
at Windsor Crescent on the 18th. The last House Martins were
seen on October 13, five, hawking flies high over Castle Drive on
a bright sunny morning.

I was at Todmorden, West Yorkshire August 20-28 and took a
freshly emerged Copper Under wing moth (Amphipyra
pyramidea). By a strange coincidence Miss G. A. Elliot reared a
similar specimen from a larva taken on a tea-rose in Castle How-
ard gardens near York. This proved to be Amphipyra berbera, a
species only recognised as distinct in 1968. Both moths are near
the limit of their range in Yorkshire and become rare northwards.
We know of few records for Northumberland, and none for
Berwickshire.

One bonus of the wet summer was that the Whitadder bed was
scrubbed clean. This exposed a good fossiliferous block below
Edrom scaur. It contained two stems of Stenomyelon tuedianum,
and many seeds of Lyrasperma scotica clustered near Alcicornop-
teris. The primitive pteridosperm Sfenomyc/on is of special interest
in that it was first discovered in Berwickshire about the middle of
last century by Adam Matheson an amateur geologist of Jed-
burgh. It was later re-discovered at Norham Bridge and described
in 1912 by Kidson and Gwynne-Vaughan. S. tuedianum is the
type species of the genus. In the Edrom block one of the stems

A NATURALIST'S DIARY 1985

59

S tenomyelon tuedianum Kidston from Whitadder south bank near
Edrom. Transverse section of petrified stem showing central solid
primary xylem surrounded by secondary xylem and cortex with
about fivedecurrent petiole bases. Note one free petiole oiKalymma
tuediana at bottom loft. Geological age: Upper Tournaisian,
Cementstone Group, Lower Carboniferous, c. 340 million years.

60

CLUB MEETING 1849

shows the stele completely surrounded by cortex which is largely
composed of the decurrent bases of five or six petioles known as
Kalwnma tuediana.'^

Perhaps the most interesting event of the year occurred in the
Indian summer we experienced in the month of October. On the
2nd I caught a specimen of the Vestal Rhodometra sacraria in a
stubble field at West Blanerne. This small migrant moth breeds in
North Africa and southern Europe and had never been recorded
before in Berwickshire. It must have been carried here on warm
winds or convexion currents. In the same field I saw a Painted
Lady and Silver Y moth but these could have come from early
migrants and been second brood specimens. On the 14th I caught
a second Vestal in a stubble field near Broomhouse Mains and on
the 17th I took a third at the side of the Whitadder in rank
vegetation above Hutton Bridge. Dr. Keith Bland of Edinburgh
informed me that one was taken about 12 October at Gorebridge
by P. Brown and that there are no Berwickshire records for the
Vestal in the Scottish Insects Records Index kept at the Royal
Museum of Scotland. Mr. Andrew G. Buckham or Galashiels has
also kindly informed me that two were caught on Oct. 12-13 in a
stubble field near the Tweed not far from Scot's Mill, Peebles by
Miss Helen Robertson. Like those in Berwickshire the moths
were disturbed by day. Dr. J. Parrack of Whitley Bay has also
informed me that specimens were taken in Northumberland
about the same time at Stocksfield, Newham Bog and Holystone.
Mr. R. F. Bretherton who reports annually on migrant lepidopt-
era informed me that there were two phases of immigration, the
first commencing on Sept. 18 and the second in early October. 14
were trapped at Brancepeth in Durham and 26 at Beetham,
Westmorland showing that this was a very considerable immig-
ration. Usually it is more limited to the south of England.

On Sept. 29 1 saw two larvae of the Large Elephant Hawk moth
on Rose-bay Willow-herb near the Whitadder above Blanerne
Bridge. On Oct. 1 another was caught in a garden on Windsor
Crescent.

On Nov. 11 1 went to Horncliffe Dean and searched again near
the old mill for the fossil seeds found in shale last century by J.
Rhodes of the Geological Surv^. Now known as Samaropsis
nervosa it was first described by Kidston in 1893. The seeds are
rare and of interest because they could be cordaitean. I was
unsuccessful. The origin of Cordaites and the conifers is as great a
mystery as that of Angiosperms. My own opinion is that S.
nervosa could actually be the compressed state of Eurystoma bur-
nense which occurs at Burnmouth, Lennel and Cove. This pet-
rified seed showing structure is triangular in section when young
and possesses three wing-like extensions. If compressed it might
only show two wings like S. nervosa. Another resemblance is that
both possess radiating fibrous bands in the wings. If they are
identical then S. nervosa would not be cordaitean but would be a
pteridosperm seed like Samaropsis bicaudata. Thus it would belong

CLUB MEETING 1849

61

to the Calamopitys seeds. Hence pteridosperms could prove to be
the ancestors of both conifers and flowering plants and them-
selves descended from progymnosperms.

My last collecting excursion of the year was to Oxroad Bay on
Dec. 14. Already the fulmars were squatting on their nest sites. I
explored the bay immediately below Tantaffon Castle and found
an unusual fossiliferous pebble containing calcareous worm-
tubes adjacent to dark coloured silicified plant material contain-
ing a decorticated stem oiStenomyelon tueaianum. This fossil plant
is nequent in Berwickshire but rare at Oxroad Bay and it was only
the second record for this locality. The rock proved as hard as flint
to slice on the cutting machine and it had to be etched in hydrof-
luoric acid to get peel sections, nevertheless it was of interest and
raised questions as to whether there were fumaroles charged
with silica at the time the volcanic rocks were erupted.

REFERENCES

CROOKHALL, R. 1976. Fossil Plants of the Carboniferous Rocks of Great Britain. Mem. Geol.

Surv. Great Britain. Palaeontology IV. Section II, part 7, p. 914, PI. 171, figs. 20-22.
EMBLETON, R. 1846. 'Tresidential Address". H.B.N.C. II, 168.

KIDSTON, R. 1894. On some New Species of Fossil Plants from the Lower Carboniferous
Rocks of Scotland. Proc Roy. Phys. Soc. 12, 258-267.

KIDSTON, R. and G WYNNE- VAUGHAN, D. T. 1912. On the Carboniferous Flora of
Berwickshire Part I, Stenomyelon tuedianum Kidston. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin. 48, 263-271.
LACEY, W. S. 1953. Scottish Lower Carboniferous Plants: Eristophyton waltoni sp. nov. and
Endoxylon zonatum (Kidston) Scott from Dunbartonshire. Ann. Bot. N.S. 17, 579-596.
SCOTT, A. C., GALTIER, J. and CLAYTON, G. 1984. Distribution of anatomically-preserved
floras in the Lower Carboniferous in Western Europe. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin. Earth Sciences:
75, 311-340.

SCOTT, D. H. 1902. On the Primary Structure of certain Palaeozoic Stems with theDadoxylon
Type of Wood. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin. 40, 331-365.

SCOTT, D. H. 1918. Notes on Calamopiys Unger. Joum. Linn. Soc. Bot. 44, 205-232.
ZALESSKY, M. D. 1911. Etude surl'Anatomie duDadoxylon Tchihatcheffi Gbpp.M'em. Comite
Geol. Russe, N.S. 48, 18-29. St Petersbourg.

AN ACCOUNT OF A MEETING OF THE
BERWICKSHIRE NATURALIST'S CLUB HELD
AT GRANTHOUSE ON JULY 25th, 1849. FROM
DR. JAMES HARDY'S UNPUBLISHED
NOTEBOOK No. 4, pp. 160-184.

"On going down to Grant's I found Mr. Milne just issuing from
breakfast, in company of Mr. Melrose of .Coldstream, and Mr.
John Boyd jr. of Cher^trees, (son of the brother-in-law of Mr.
Turnbull of Abbey St. Bathans. Cherrytrees is a small estate, but
of good land). Mr. Milne mentioned having visited the Brock-
holes quarry that morning, but found nothing particular. The
Greywacke rocks of this district offer but slight indication of the
existence of organised remains; the fineness of their structure

62

CLUB MEETING 1849

shewing that they have been deposited in deep water, where
animal and vegetable life is scanty. This is the only quarry in this
vicinity where slabs of stone, 6 or 7 feet long can be got, and from
it ancient grave stones obtained.

The stony nature of the land was remarked, which Mr. M.
appeared to attribute to the weathering of the rock at its outcrop,
although the rounded nature of the stones, and a scatter from a
trap region appear to be due to the action of water. The advantage
or disadvantage of these stones to the farmer was then adverted
to. It was mentioned that although apparently against good culti-
vation these stones might still be of value in keeping the soil open
where stiff, in heating the soil, in preventing rapid radiation, and
in sheltering the hemage. Grass it may be observed will grow
better in a light soil among stones, than if no stones at all, when
condemned to barreness . Instance mentioned of farmer having to
lead them on again at Hoprig, in this neighbourhood. It was
observed that the light soils here, when the lime out of them,
were covered almost to the exclusion of other grasses, by Agrostis.

The benefit of cutting down thistles to weaken them was also
noticed. In connection with the localities Mr. Milne mentioned
having recently read Somerville's autobiography with which he
appeared considerably interested; particularly his courtship with
my old friend Miss Forsyth; and with his general intelligence. The
site of St. David's Cairn, placed like Ajax's monument, to com-
mand a far view, was passed, calling up the memory of primitive
ages, and protestations against the rage for demolition of those
venerable edifices. It was remarked that these structures such as
Edin's Hall, Arthur's oven, were British rather than Roman. An
old place above Butterdean mentioned as very ancient called
Kilspindy, from cilia a cell, as Bonkill, Icolumskill, Killin, Kilmun,
KilpatricK.

In examining my collection of insects various interesting topics
were started. I noticed that I had hitherto only met with the larva
of the turnip fly, in the wild radish, and mustard; and Mr.
Melrose stated that so fond it was of the latter plant, that it had
been proposed to sow mustard in the hollows, to save the turnip
seed, and that it had sometimes been effectual. The great abun-
dance of yellow mustard this season was noticed as very remark-
able; the Dilberry was noticed just ripening; and heather would be
late in flower. Roses both wild and in gardens have bloomed
exceedingly profusely. A general want of butterflies was also
noticed. The various metamorphoses of insects were then exp-
lained. In connection with the Glow-worm Mr. Milne mentioned
as having seen some fine Flugoridae in America which gave light
in the forests by night. He also mentioned the sawing beetle
which is said to cut off a branch of a tree by a process like a saw
projecting from its thorax or head. In connection with the
aphides, Mr. Milne mentioned the great destruction the little
Coccus of the spruce fir had occasioned in the Highlands, great
portions of forests being destroyed by them. They were quite

CLUB MEETING 1849

63

blacked as if scorched, as they appear in the back end. He men-
tioned Sir Charles Ly ell's opinion, many of whose trees when he
visited him at Kinordy, were falling from it; that the larch not
being a native tree was degenerating, and that the insect took
advantge of its sickness and attacked it. On the other hand I
stated, that I considered it introduced into nurseries from abroad,
and thus was gradually propagated throughout the country, and
that it would attack the larch even if in its healthiest state. The
introduction oi Aphis larigera was mentioned as similar. Mr. Selby
afterwards supported the latter opinion, and mentioned that this
disease was found in the native country of the larch. The means
of destroying scale were then referred to, some mentioning
hand-picking. Mr. Milne mentioned a plan he had got in answer
to a query put to Gardeners' Chronicle, and Mr. Boyd mentioned
daubing the plants over with mire and then syringing as very
effectual. The nature of honey dews was then discussed. Mr.
Milne mentioned that they were very copious last season on a
hedge under his lime trees. He referred to a substance sent home
from Australia proposed to be used as a substitute for sugar about
which the Edinburgh philosophers differed widely, some sup-
posing it the production of a gall fly or the aphis tube others an
exudation. He appeared particulars surprised to learn that the
gall-fly had no mouth ana in its perfect state took no sustenance.
In reference to fungi on flies Mr. Milne mentioned the vegetable
caterpillar out of whose head a tall fungus grows. Mr. Milne
opened some scales in May and these had eggs. The nature of the
Cochineal and Kermes insect was referred to, the copious hon-
eydews mentioned by White of Selborne, and those found in
Persia; and the opinion of German commentators that wild
honey of scripture was a honey dew. I pointed out the grub of a
weevil in Turnip seed, and Mr. Melrose mentioned having
noticed it in Mustard seed. In returning again towards Grant's
the cocoons of the (moth) rumicis were pointed out on the dock;
also the larva of a fly widening the leaves; and the larva
of ? devouring the flower buds and seeds of Spurrey. In the
course of the walk Mr. Milne mentioned the custom of some
places in this vicinity for persons who had tenures having right
for wood in the woods of the manor "for harrow and barrow, for
soam and team", soam explained as gear for the oxen. I men-
tioned the old lease of Broclcholes, where the tenant had right to
as much wood as would repair his utensils; and that people of old
Cambus in Quixwood's Charters had a right to brushwood, call
for Kainfowl, and so much straw if needed, mentioned. An adder
appeared on the road which drew our attention once more to
natural history. The use of olive oil was then explained to coun-
teract. Here we met the other members of the Club who had come
later. Mr. Milne here left us, conspicuous among all the rest by his
tall form, like Saul among the people. He has rather a longish
nose, and a part of flabby skin hanging down before the point
makes it rather a prominent feature. We here met Dr. Johnston,

64

CLUB MEETING 1849

Mr. Selby the ornithologist, his son-in-law Sir Thomas Tancred,
Mr. Broderick, Mr. Jerdon, and Mr. Hepburn. Mr. Selby is an
exceedingly pleasant, unassuming polite man, who appears
more willing to listen than to speak. He is of middle size, grey
haired, mouth and chin rather prominent, with the mouth
inward; dressed in plaid suit, light closely chequed and oldish
hat, square coat, as nad Dr. Johnston. Shortly after joining, the
Club noticed a bird crying, and apparently to be willing to allow
the ornithologist to show his skill, but he declared he had not
seen it; and I called out it was merely an ox-eye to which they all
agreed. Brambles, Roses and Hieracia occupied the rest or the
walk. I captured a fine female half wingless moth on our Green-
road. Mr Jerdon is a young tallish thin-raced genteel person, with
rather an English accent, and an unpleasant stammer. He was the
botanist of the party. The galls of the spruce fir were opened and
examined as we passed them. The company then assembled in
my room, and went over such of my collection as they had time
for; when Dr. Johnston cried out that they should stay no longer,
unless they declared the Club in committee, and accordingly all
left but Mr. Selby, who appeared to be much taken with my
collection. Sir Thomas Tancred appeared to be short sighted, as
he examined all objects with his glass even the dishes at table; a
pleasant person, however. Mr. Broderick bald, and ruddy, and
somewhat of a haughty look, apparently a lover of field sports. In
going down the woods I pointed out the knapsacks of Attelabus
curculionidius. The life oiHylobius piniperda then referred to. Mr.
Selby was of opinion that it never attacked trees till in a state of
decay or disease when vital powers fail; and he knew at once
when a tree was going to be attacked by it. Eggs and larva only in
old stumps, and trees. The young trees attacked only by old
insects, and it is chiefly the side shoots that are affected. Noticed
several Black Italian Poplars planted in our bog. His trees far too
thick in the bank, and are killing each other. (If pruned them the
wood full of black knots, or should paint the part till it heal. These
self pruned ones in thickets, when come out to air, have sides all
scorched, are sickly things unable to stand the breeze, and as F.
Turner says, are like children brought up in luxury, turned out to
the moorland to lead a gypsy life, for which they are quite unfit to
bear the brunts). Mr. Selby considers the silver firs in the dean to
be killed by Coccus, and pointed out their white exudation on the
stem. They cover he says, the whole stem and it dies. Many of his
had so failed. Mentioned the great abundance of Tortrix viridana
in some oak woods: he had seen whole hill sides in the highlands
brown with it. We noticed the bracken's leaflets rolled together
and of black hue in specks here and there, with a larva in the
inside. A variegated plane pointed out; a Weymouth pine, and
several chestnuts, which Mr. Selby says are much grown in the
south for hop poles. The destruction (and destructiveness) of
rabbits was adverted to, Mr. Selby said that in one place he had to
plant there twice and only succeeded at last by getting them

KELSO ABBEY

65

rooted out. The rabbit is very prolific and is said between itself
and descendants to produce 40 pairs in a season. The old ones
produce 4 or 5 at a time, sometimes 6, and the second day after
the young are born, they are with young again: their young ones
also produce young in the same year. The hare also has several
broods, and has sometimes 1, 2, or even 3 at a time. In winter the
rabbits are very destructive to oaks eating them off above the
snow, when cannot get to other food. The beauty of the Pease
Bridge was much admired, particularly from the new road Sir
John Hall has lately caused to be made. The ferns were growing
beautifully in the shady glen, and the little waterfalls and rapids
were noticed as peculiarly adapted for fishing. The rocky bank
below the bridge was much praised. On the rock near the bridge
Bolaea perversa and Pupa urrwilicalis were noticed. The botanists
procured Aspidium angulare and aculeatum and Scolopendrium vul-
gare. The Elm grows wild here, and I noticed here in a winged
state, its aphis, in its pouch. Anthomyia meteorica was particularly
prevalent, and it was observed that they never went to a white
hat as long as they could get a black one; hence the use of white
tassels for horses ears; ladies with straw bonnets are little
annoyed. Gradually disperse as get to a more airy situation.
These flies are all females. The custom of killing hawks etc. was
discussed; Mr. Selby stated that the Kestrel lived almost entirely
on mice and vermin and that in Kent he has seen it hawking for
cockchafers, taking them in its claws, and putting them into its
mouth. Squirrels eat bark and tops of larches. Mr. Selby expres-
sed his opinion, that shortly all our prettier birds of any size
would be extirpated. On our return to Grant's we met Dr. Wilson
of Kelso, a rather rough Scotch Doctor, not very select in his
stories, Mr. Renton of the Highlaws, a good natured person, and
Mr. Stephens, author of the Book of the Farm, a substantial
person of "merit", with grey head, well filled, not plump features
and very conversible. Mr. Selby occupied the chair and Dr. John-
ston the foot. A poor young woodpigeon Dr. Johnston had
brought up from tne dean, died behinci him, which occasioned
no small witticism. Mr. Stephens mentioned, that from several
observations he had recently made, believed that after the young
were reared the blackbird and thrush acquired quite a different
sort of note; one cried "to you, to you", (I did not gather the
other). Mr. Selby was disposed to attribute this to the general
failing of its notes after that season, and instanced the chaffinch;
but this did not satisfy Mr. Stephens. The esteem in which
chaffinches are held in Germany was mentioned by Dr. Wilson;
on being taught to imitate other birds they scarcely could part
from them. Some of them worth seven euineas. The Bullfinches .

. .? chief ely and best in the dark, and mostly by shoemakers,

I tailors, and those who have much time. The general scarcity of
I cuckoo in cultivated districts was referred to. Mr. Selby said only
j a few now found in the outskirts of his woods. Dr. Wilson
j mentioned keeping a young one till gooseberry grubs failed, got

66

KELSO ABBEY

in hedge-sparrows nest. Mr. Selby stated that mostly find in nest
of grey cheeper, and that he had managed to keep one till April by
feeding it with slices of mutton. Mr. Selby adverted to the biting
effects of midges, e^ecially the Simuliar the small Ceratopogon
does not occur in (Cambridgeshire to any extent. Near Ben
Lomond, people mentioned mowing with gauze over face, as
very ridiculous looking. Mr. Milne mentioned in the morning
that he had been able to trace the existence of a lake all along the
Eye, and that Mr. Coulson had mentioned shells in the mud
there; this he doubted from fragile nature; and I attributed it to
exaggeration of the workmen. With regard to British pearls, only
found in some rivers, I was inclined to attribute it to injuries the
creature has received in their rocky beds, but was tola it was in
deep slime pools they were found. Common mussel walking on
its edge very pretty. At Dinner Dr. Johnston referred to holes in
rocks made by common limpet; this Mr. Hancock finds to be
caused by spiculae imbedded in the belly, which are renewed
when others wear out. It was then started whence fluid derived;
some said food, as for instance the small infusoria which mostly
siliceous, or from sea-water; some denied that any silica in water,
unless contained potashes. The merits of different kinds of shav-
ing soap, and razors were discussed with all formality and gravi-
ty; the size of large melons, enlarged on; and the beauties of the
southern scenery of Scotland described. Amony other things Dr.
Johnston said in reference to one author borrowing from another
"depend upon it, you fellows cabage very much" and Mr.
Stephens confessed there was no other way for it. Dr. Balfour's
treatise on Botany was referred to, in which a great number of the
woodcuts are from Jussieu, and foreign authorities. Several
plates in Denny's work on ? are said to be copied from older
sources.

Curtis now said to be old and infirm and rather crabbed in his
age. Walker described as a tall and thin-faced man, and E.
Doubleday also very tall. Few wasps this year, and late in com-
ing, and those chiefly tree wasps.

At the close three invitations were given me by Mr. Milne, Mr.
Selby, and Sir Thomas Tancred to visit them. I accompanied Dr.
Johnston to the train at the close, and so they passed on their
way."

KELSO ABBEY

Dr. J. L. Trainer

The Club visited Kelso on 11th September, 1985.

The date of the first church in Kelso is not exactly known but one
was in existence before the abbey was built on the site where the
ruins now stand.

KELSO ABBEY

67

Our story begins in 1113 during the reign of Alexander I when
his brother David was Earl of Northumberland. David, who had
adopted the religious zeal of his mother Queen Margaret,
brought a colony of thirteen monks under Abbot Herbert from
the Abbey of Tiron near Chartres to found a monastery at Selkirk.
They did not consider the area suitable for all their purposes so
moved to Roxburgh Castle. From there they surveyed the locali-
ty, finally electing to build on the left bank of the Tweed just
below and opposite the castle. The abbey was granted its founda-
tion charter on 3 May 1128 by which time David had become the
kin^. At jfirst known as Roxburgh Abbey the name was changed
to Calco in deference to the village beside the site. The seal of the
Abbey of Calco, still in good condition, can be seen at the
Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh.

One can only speculate why the monks moved from Selkirk.
Presumably they would prefer to be under the protection of the
castle, to be nearer the king who resided there, and to be in the
proximity of the flourishing town of Roxburgh, one of the four
Royal Burghs of Scotland. There are other possible reasons. The
building of an abbey was not merely erecting a house of worship.
It had to cater for interests spiritual and temporal. A large acreage
of ground with a good water supply was essential. Many build-
ings were required apart from the church. Associated with it were
the cloister, sacristy, chapter-house, dormitories, refectory,
infirmary etc. Alongside these were storehouses, workshops,
brewhouse, bakehouse etc. In addition there was a physic garden
and orchard, the whole complex surrounded by a wall. At Kelso
the buildings stretched almost to the river, the gardens to the
north occupying the space now thoueht to be Kelso square.

Abbeys varied in their orders. Jedburgh was Augustinian,
Melrose Cistercian, Dryburgh Premonstratensian, yet in outlay
the planning of monastic buildings, with a few exceptions,
tended to follow a standard pattern. A monk moving from one
religious house to another would have little difficulty in finding
his way around. Naturally this can be very helpful to
archaeolomsts when excavating a ruined site.

We are fortunate to have a full account of Kelso Abbey build-
ings before they were destroyed. This was found in the archives
of the Vatican where it had been lying unnoticed for centuries. It
was compiled in 1517 by John Duncan a cleric from Glasgow.
From it we are able with some confidence to visualise the position
and much of the architectural details of the buildings.

The church was in the shape of a greek cross, unique for the
period. It had three doorways and a wooden roof with an outer
covering of lead slates. Inside it was partly paved in stone and
partly with bare earth. There were two lantern towers crowned
with pyramidal roofs. The tower at the west end contained the
bells. The church was divided by a transverse wall, the outer part
open to all parishioners, the rear solely for the monks. The
sacristy was to the right of the choir, the cloister garth to the

68

KELSO ABBEY

south. The chapter house was at the north east corner of the
cloister. The other conventual buildings ranged south of the
relmious houses.

Tnere was a community of some forty monks, and a large
number of lay brothers, with the abbot at the head. The abbot was
the lord paramount of Kelso within, and without, the abbey, e.g.
the town market could only be held with his permission. He was
the father and leader but also an administrator as he had to
supervise the collection of rents, tithes, etc. as well as attending
to the internal management. He ruled with strong authority
living in state in fine apartments. He had hawks and hounds and
entertained his guests at a private table. The Prior acted for him in
his absence, then came the Sub-Prior and other officers such as
Almoner and Cellarer.

The Kelso Abbey complex took about one hundred years to
complete; consequently, changes in design during its erection are
evident. These are still noticeable today. As the east end was
sufficiently complete for David's son Henry to be buried there
when he died in 1152, it appears that this must have been one of
the earliest structures. The buildings were completed by 1212.
The abbey was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. John by
David de Bernham, Bishop of St. Andrews in March 1243. It was
in active existence for over four hundred years but unfortunately
three hundred of these were in troubled times.

Kelso abbey was the first Tironensian house in Britain and from
its inception gradually increased in importance to become the
largest, wealthiest, and arguably, the finest of the Scottish
abfcys. It also became the most powerful. By 1165 it had become
so important that the privilege of wearing the mitre and pontifical
robes was granted to the Kelso abbot by tne pope thus giving him
precedence over all other abbots in Scotland. This entitled him to
attend and assist at all general councils and to be at the head of all
royal processions. The wearing of the mitre remained with Kelso
for over two hundred and fifty years until it was transferred by
James I to St. Andrews in 1420.

The abbey not being a garrison was a frequent choice for
treaties between England and Scotland. Royalty was buried
there. James III was crowned there in 1460 at a ceremony
described as one of the most colourful in the abbey's history. The
Bishop of Rochester stayed for some time from 1209 when Eng-
land was under interdict by the Pope. When the Bishop of St.
Andrews died on returning from York in 1238, after solemnizing
the marriage of Alexander III to Henry Ill's daughter, he was
buried in Kelso abbey; as was David de Bernham in 1253 when he
died at Nathansthirn (Nenthorn) but probably the most impres-
sive occasion, apart from the coronation, was a royal banquet in
1255 when Alexander III entertained Henry III.

The revenue of the abbey was immense. It received money and
supplies from thirtyseven parishes as far west as Lesmahagow
and as far north as eults near Aberdeen. It also received supplies

KELSO ABBEY

69

from several manors, mills, and breweries. It was richly endowed
by its royal patron. One tenth of all royal cattle, one tenth of all
cheese out of Nithsdale & Tweeddale, and half the fat and tallow
of royal cattle slaughtered south of the Forth (as well as the grease
of wnales come in to the Forth) were bequeathed to the monas-
tery. Over seven thousand sheep were owned and maintained by
the abbey, the wool being transported down river to Berwick-
upon-Tweed.

Monks let land on their holdings by a system known as Steel-
bow, whereby landlords advanced stock and plant in return for
certain services from their tenants. These included manpower in
the event of attack. A document referring to Redden (in medieval
times a villa of some importance) is of interest. This states "Those
at Redden are bound each to give carriage with one horse from
Berwick weekly during summer and a day's work on return, or if
thw did not go to Berwick, two days tillage."

The abbey possessed one of the finest libraries. Its caligraphers
were renowned for the excellence of their art. It was also a
seminary for education to which Scottish nobles sent their sons
for knowledge and culture. Local orphans were also educated
until they came of age. Unfortunately the death of Alexander III
in 1286 ended what is often termed the golden age of Scottish
history which had started with the reign of Malcolm Canmore in
1058. The wars of independance which followed continued for
over two hundred years.

During this period the abbey's proximity to the border laid it
open to frequent attack. In the sixteenth century in particular it
was severely damaged on several occasions and was constantly
under repair. Finally in 1545 it was completely destroyed by
Henry VlITs troops under Hertford and what survived was
further damaged by the Reformers in 1567.

The first commendator after the dissolution was Sir John Mait-
land of Thirlestane. By 1580 the west end of the ruined nave
became the locus for the Parish church, the school, and the town
prison.

The Earl of Bothwell annexed the ruins for the crown in 1592
and in 1602 Robert Ker of Cessford, by then the Duke of Rox-
burghe, received the ahhey and its properties.

In 1919 the 8th Duke of Roxburghe presented the abbey to the
nation. His widow in 1933 erected a memorial cloister acijoining
the west abbey entrance which is now the burial vault of the
family. It is a modern version of the Abbey's Romianesque style
including a 13th. century doorway at its entrance thought to have
come originally from the chapter-house.

The abbey itself now a fragmentary pile, which hardly engen-
ders a spark of interest to the average passer by, nevertheless
leaves behind it a story in stone which should be remembered by
all who have an interest in Scottish history and its ecclesiastical
origins.

REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN 1985-1986

It was the wish of the late Rev. H. S. Ross, a past president, that his
extensive library of books on the Border Counties of England and
Scotland should bo given to the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club,
and a suitable homo for the collection has been found at Berwick
Museum, thanks to the generosity of the Berwick Borough Council.
The room is secure and temperature and humidity are controlled,
providing a good atmosphere for the preservation of books.

The Club is most grateful to Mrs Ross for her kindness and co-op-
eration during the transfer of this valuable bequest to the Library.
We would also thank Northumberland County Libraries for hous-
ing our collection until the space available at Berwick Library be-
came inadequate and Mr Richard Doughty and the staff of Berwick
Museum for much hard work on our behalf.

ACQUISITIONS

Gordon, A. Hearts upon the Highway.

Gordon, L. Berwick upon Tweed and the East March.

Hardy, ]. The session book of Bunkle and Preston, 1665-1690.

Hay, D. Between the muckle Cheviot cind the sea.

Home, D. M. High water marks on the River Tweed.

Johnston, G. Flora of Berwick upon Tweed.

Moffat, A. Kelsae.

Income Expenditure

Opening balance

£640.78

Postage

£4.30

Sales of History

18.49

Stationery

.84

Interest

80.91

Printing

21.28

Total

740.18

Balance fwd

713.76

£740.18

70

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Balance on Deposit Ale at 21/9/85 £1893.92.

9 October 1985

Audited and found to be correct and in order. "E. J. KELLIE"

HISTORY OF THE

BERWICKSHIRE NATURALISTS' CLUB

CONTENTS OF VOL. XLIII
PART 3, 1986

1. Field Secretaries' Report 1986 ii

2. Presidential Address — Captain Sir Samuel Brown of Netherbyres 73

3. Whitekirk Revisited 80

4. Grace Agnes Elliot, M.B.E 81

5. 150 Years Plus of Paddock Stools 82

6. William Crow of Netherbyres 90

7. Financial Statement, September 1986 93

FIELD SECRETARIES' REPORT 1986

The following places were visited during the Season:-

1st Meeting EDINBURGH.

14th May The Royal Botanic Garden. Introductory talk by

Dr. Ian Edwards, Ph.D., a member of the staff.

2i^d Meeting DALKEITH.

12th June (a) Church of St. Nicholas by courtesy of the mini-
ster, the Rev. W. Brown.

(b) Butterfly Earm. Mr. Simcox, the curator,
guided the Members.

(c) Melville Castle. Messrs Ian Young & Ian
McDougall outlined the history and architec-
ture of this celebrated castle.

(d) Elginhaugh. Excavation (1986) of a Roman
Camp.

3rd Meeting JEDBURGH.

17th July (a) Jedburgh Abbey excavations (1984) explained
by Dr. Richard Grove.

(b) Monteviot House. The Club was welcomed by
the Marquess of Lothian and The Countess of
Ancram. The House and the Woodland Centre
were much appreciated. Approximately 140
Members attended.

4th Meeting
13th August

5th Meeting
17th Sep.

STOBO and DAWYCK.

(■a) Stobo Kirk. The Minister, the Rev. Ian Rennie,
greeted the Members and the history & archi-
tecture of the Kirk were described by Eric Hall,
Esq., R.I.B.A.

(b) Dawyck House. Lt. Col. A. N. Balfour wel-
comed the Club. A tour of Dawyck Botanic
Garden was conducted by David Binnie, Esq.,
Dip.Hort.

(c) Stobo Japanese Water Garden by kind permis-
sion of L. R. Seymour, Esq.

HADRIAN'S WALL.

(a) Chesters Roman Fort (Cilurnum).

(b) Housesteads Roman Fort (Vercovicium).
Messrs Peter Haldane and William Rutherford
expertly guided the Members.

AGM

16th October Berwick Museum

EXTRA

16th August The Hirsei, Coldstream. Fungus Foray in conjunc-
tion with the Botanical Society of Edinburgh.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

BERWICKSHIRE
NATURALISTS' CLUB

CAPTAIN SIR SAMUEL BROWN OF
NETHERBYRES

being the Anniversary Address delivered by Lieutenant Colonel
Simon Furness, President of the Club, on Thursday,

16th October, 1986

Samuel Brown was born the eldest son of William Brown of
Borland, Galloway, in London in 1776. At the age of nineteen he
joined the Navy as an able bodied seaman in HMS Assistance, and
worked his way up to acting Lieutenant, serving with distinction
during the Napoleonic Wars. Returning to peaceful waters. Brown
turned his mind to improving the efficiency of the Navy, taking
rigging and mooring cables as a starting point. Merchant and naval
vessels of the day all used hemp cable, which, for a ship like the
Victory, could be twenty inches in diameter. Hemp cable had a
short life due to rotting and cutting. It also took up valuable space
on board ship, having to be stored in cable tiers by the most able
men onboard, so that it could be run out quickly without jamming.
This was probably one of the tasks to which Brown was put early
in his career.

In 1808 Brown formed a partnership with his cousin Samuel
Lenox to manufacture chain cable, and chartered a 400 ton sailing
vessel. The Penelope, at his own expense, to conduct trials of
mooring and rigging cables. Brown captained the Penelope on a 4
month voyage to the West Indies. This voyage was a complete
success in proving the merits of chain cable, and by 181 1 chain cable
were in general use on His Majesty's ships. They lasted at least 3
times as long, and took up half the storage space of hemp cables.

Brown was promoted to Commander in recognition of his work,
and the Patents he took out gave him exclusive rights as the sole
supplier of chain cables to the Navy. With regular naval contracts
assured and merchant fleet orders coming in. Brown looked for a
site to establish a purpose built chainworks. He found one at

73

74

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1986

Millwall on the Thames, convenient to Deptford Naval yard, and
the India and London docks.

As the Millwall works were soon fully engaged in the produc-
tion of marine chain cables. Brown decided to manufacture chain-
work for other uses at Newbridge in Glamorgan, near Pontypridd.
This works was established under the Brown-Lenox partnership
and still exists today, although no longer as a chainworks. The last
major chain cable order fulfilled by the Newbridge works was the
anchor chain for the Queen Elizabeth II. It is also worth mentioning
that the well known photograph of Isambard Kingdom Brunei, in
his top hat, was taken against a background of Brown Lenox chains.

In addition to chain cable production, the Newbridge works also
produced the major part of the chainwork for Samuel Brown's
suspension bridges. Brown's innovation was for chains of flat eye
bar links and pins, a design he patented in 1817. The first large
suspension bridge erected by Brown still stands today — the Union
Bridge over the Tweed. This was designed and constructed by
Brown at a cost of £7,700 on behalf of the Berwick and North
Durham Turnpike Trust. Tlie foundation stone was laid on 2nd
August, 1819, by William Molle, Chairman of the Trustees, and the
bridge was opened on 26th July 1820.

Now William Molle was a grandson of William Crow of Neth-
erbyres, his mother being one of William Crow's daughters, Eliza-
beth. William's only son George died intestate in 1813, and the
estate passed to his nephew William Molle. It is therefore reason-
able to suppose that Samuel Brown's first connection with Nether-
byres was as a guest of William Molle. What would be more natural
than that the Chairman of Trustees should entertain the distin-
guished designer of his bridge at his nearby home?

In all Brown was associated with about forty suspension bridges
and piers, the most famous of the latter being the Brighton chain
pier, opened in November 1823. Brown conceived the idea of
building a chain pier at Brighton after constructing a similar one in
Leith. During the opening, Mrs Brown joined in the celebrations
and gave a ball with 'a correct representation of the pier in chalk'
decorating the dance floor. The Brighton pier survived until 1896,
when it was blown down in a violent storm. A portrait of Brown
with the chain pier in the background is in the possession of East
Sussex County Council. Brown is described as 'being of medium
height, not stoutly built, had a ruddy complexion, and his hair was
iron grey. Owing to some injury or defect he walks somewhat
limping with the assistance of a stick'.

Mrs Brown who led the celebration to open the Brighton pier was
Mary, daughter of John Home, WS of Edinburgh and they had
married in 1822. Perhaps they met while Brown was building the
pier at Leith. John Home, who had an office at 10, Charlotte Street,
Edinburgh, was Brown's legal agent in his dealings with Nether-

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1986

75

byres. Later he dealt with John's son, William, who was, of course,
his brother-in-law. Strangely the bridge which Brown built over the
River Eye at Netherbyres was not a suspen^ionbridge, but a tension
bridge, on which the carriageway was carried on the chains, rather
than being suspended from them. This survived until 1929, when
it was demolished by my Father as it was by then in a dangerous
state.

Brown purchased Netherbyres estate in 1833 from William
Molle. The estate was deeply in debt when he bought it. Mr Joseph
Gunsen of Whitehaven held notes against the estate of £17,000.
Apart from continuing one of Gunsen's notes for £5000, Brown
purchased the estate out of capital. By then the royalties for his
monopoly supply of chain cables would have been considerable.

Brown engaged George Angus as his architect. He is described
as 'a competent but eclectic architect, who adapted his style to
circumstances'. He is mainly known for work on public buildings,
chiefly in Dundee. ®

In March 1834, Angus wrote to William Home, concerning the
alterations — 'whether in all the circumstances of the case I would
recommend the repairing and adding to the present house, to the
extent of £2100, or that of an entirely new one to the extent of £2600,
the plane and elevation of which to be similar and to afford the same
accommodation as the alternate plan of the old. I am of the opinion
that the change of situation would be the only material advantage
gained for an outlay of £500, and I do not suppose although it was
brought to the market that it would bring this amount of additional
value in consequence of a new house; nor is this all, for were it
further forward in the lawn, the site would require to be scooped
out so as to afford an easy access to the main door. As the present
building along with the proposed additions can be made perfectly
substantial, commodious and comfortable, I would not in this case
recommend any greater outlay than what is positively necessary
for obtaining those objects'. ®

In a deed box in the Scottish Record Office there is a drawing of
a square Georgian house, with two wings, each of which has a
greenhouse attached in front, with a note in Brown's hand 'green-
houses separate controls'.

There is nothing to show in this plan whether this is the old
Netherbyres house, or a possible new one, but there are also plans,
with amendments and additions in Brown's writing showing al-
terations to the internal layout of a house with this ground plan, so
it may be that this was the old house at Netherbyres. The only
evidence contrary to this is an estate plan dated 1818, which showes
the house as a square building without wings. There is also a
detailed estimate headed'Estimate for adding a centre part to the
presen t wings of the house of Netherbyres'. Clearly these refer to
alterations to the old house. There are no plans or estimates for a

76

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1986

completely new house, although there are many similarities be-
tween the present house, and the embryo plans which we have. A
parlour and a library were placed either side of the main entrance
hall, which is the present layout, although the existing front door
now opens into the old parlour. There was to be a gallery at first
floor level, and over this a skylight. This would have been much
smaller than that which now exists, and the stairs were hidden in
separate stairwells. We do not know what brought about the
decision to build a completely new house. I wonder if Mrs Brown
had a hand in this and Angus did indeed adapt his style to circum-
stances for a client or a client's wife wanting a larger more imposing
house.

On the subject of wives, as a bachelor, I do not know if it is the
custom of wives to scribble notes on the bottom of their husband's
business letters, but Mary Brown certainly did so. In a letter written
by Brown to her brother, his lawyer, she added:

'I have delayed writing to you since the arrival of the ponies until
we had been out with them in the phaeton. We had them both out
in single harness in the gig and they went like lambs. Cpt. B is much
pleased, as I am with them. We have two sets of double harness
otherwise we would have been glad to take advantage of your offer
to buy one. Our old carriage and harness we have just had repaired
at Ayton, and it is quite fresh. The other we have in London'.

Samuel Brown was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1838, being
created a Knight of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order. It is not
clear what the knighthood was awarded specifically for, but by
then he had taken out a number of patents, all of which involved the
use of chains, for which he had the monopoly. These included one
for 'an improvement in the means of drawing or moving carriages
and other machinery along inclined planes, railways and other
roads, and for drawing or propelling vessels on canals, rivers or
other navigable waters.' This patent was taken out in 1841 and
applied to England, Wales and the town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed.'^

He died at Blackheath in 1851 aged 75. He had moved south
sometime before this, as we have a letter from Vanburgh Lodge,
Blackheath dated 25th March, 1847, in which he mentions the
possibility of conveyancing Netherbyres to Lady Brown. I suspect
that he did not do so, but decided to sell the property himself. The
house was advertised for sale in The Times of 8th January, 1850:®

'The mansion house is an elegant modem structure built by the
present proprietor, fitted with hot, cold and shower baths, plenti-
fully supplied by pipes from a high level. It is beautifully situated
on the River Eye, and it is surrounded by old trees. The garden is
surrounded by high brick walls and it is in full bearing.

The mansion house, offices and lodges and the garden and park
walls were recently erected at a cost above £7000.'

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1986

77

The estate was sold to John Ramsey L'Amy, Younger, of Dunk-
enny, who in 1845 married Mary, daughter of William Mitchell-
Innes of Ayton Castle.

So much for the house, but my main interest in the history of
Netherbyres has always been to unravel the history of the garden.
The reference in the advertisement to the recent errection of the
garden walls must cast some doubt on the age of the present
elliptical walled garden, which we have always attributed to Wil-
liam Crow, that man of great engineering and mathematical gen-
ius, who died in 1 750. The 'ovaTis clearly marked on the estate plan
of 1818 by John Blackadder. This has a line of trees bisecting it, and
trees, possibly fruit trees lining the inside of the oval. There is no
indication of the height of the outside wall. The same plan shows a
rectangular enclosure running north-south in front of the house at
Netherbyres. This is marked as Netherbyres Garden and Orchard.
In Brown's sketches for his development of the park, this garden
has disappeared and a rectangle somewhat to the west h^ been
marked as 'Garden ' embodying the south facing wall of the stable
block. Clearly the oval was not laid out as a garden at this time, nor
was it obviously the site for one. Brown wrote: 'Weshould begin at
once to pull down all the garden walls, and prop up the wall trees,
first pruning them very close ready to transplant them in March, by
which time the new garden walls will be ready'. Soon afterwards he
changed his mind as he wrote: 'It has occurred to me that the best
place for the garden would be the oblong park east of the oval.

I did intend to build a wall extending from the bridge to the
corner of the old road. Thus if the garden were here all that would
be saved. The land is fair and could be easily drained into the river
if necessary. There would be no wall wanted next the oval, onlv a
good buck hedge'.'’® ^

Mr Niven his factor at Netherbyres wrote to Wm. Home looking
for some guidance in Brown's absence: 'I by no means wish to
contradict the Captain's wishes, but I should like very much to have
it in my power to discuss the matters personally before going
further . I think however he is quite right in respect to the garden not
being behind the stables, but I am afraid that the field next to the
road is not perhaps the best place it might be put, as it is so exposed
on the east side'.’’”

We don t know when Brown decided to make the oval into his
formal garden, but it is certain that he did so, for the ordnance
survey map of 1856 shows the garden laid out very much as it is
today, except that there is a fountain in the centre of the garden. The
estimate for forming and levelling grounds and garden about
Netherbyres House' prepared for Brown reads:

pond in centre of oval 40 by 20ft. £1.13s.4d

Also 500 hardwood trees from Mr. Robertson @2/- £50.00s.0d
3000 shrubs & flowers of different sorts @ 4d £50.00s.0d

78

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1986

Brown also gave detailed down to earth instructions about the
layout of his property: '1 wish a fence to be carried along the bank
of the river to keep people from trespassing' . Some of his ideas were
not so practical. He thought it would be nice to have a canal round
the oval. Niven wrote: 'I have taken levels of the oval with a view
to making a pond round it, but I find that the south west end is 7ft
4ins higher than the north east end, and therefore I doubt whether
it would do for ponds as shown on the plan and described by
Captain Brown without a very great quantity of cutting and bank-
ing'

All this indicates that the oval was not a garden at this time, but
some sort of walled enclosure, possibly containing fruit trees and
used as an orchard or pleasance. Such a wall can be seen on the
south and west side of the garden, where a stone wall about 3ft high
has been heightened to a uniform 12ft all around the garden. The
walls on the north and east sides, that is, those facing the sun,
appear to be of a uniform brick, somewhat older and built all at one
time. My theory is that these were William Crow's fruit walls, some
3(X)ft long, which he mentions in a letter to Dr Alstone, Professor of
Botany at Edinburgh in 1740.*’^* There is no doubt in my mind that
Crow devised the oval, which is a perfect elipse, complete with the
external directrix. Possibly in his time it was more of, a formal
garden, but had deteriorated with the passing of the years since
Crow's death, and the burden of debt on the estate.

My own theory is that William Crow used the idea of a round
walled garden, illustrated by John Worlidge in his 'Art of Garden-
ing' published in 1677. Worlidge says that 'the walls about such a
garden are very good for fruit, the winds not being so severe against
a round wall as against a straight wall.'’®* Being a man of mathe-
matical and engineering genius. Crow went a stage further and laid
out an elliptical garden, with a fruit wall along one side of it.

Be that as it may, it is clear that the existing wall of the garden at
Netherbyres was completed by Brown. Mention is made in his
letters of the garden wall to be made 12ft in height, and there is a
sketch showing that he wanted the coping stones to be 18 inches
wide, overlapping the wall and sloping outwards. This is as we find
them today.

Thus the main author of the garden, grounds and house at Neth-
erbyres was Samuel Brown. A wing was built on to the house by
Ramsey L' Amy to house his two maiden sisters. There was only one
door through to their wing, and he kept the key on his side.

The garden has lost its pond, which became a fountain, and is
now a mound with an ornamental urn. Sometime after 1867 the
greenhouses were built. The O.S. Map of 1867 does not show them,
but an advertisement in The Times of June 16th 1875, when the
house was again for sale, states that: 'The policies, garden vineries
and greenhouses are in excellent condition".”®* The vines and

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1986

79

greenhouses are still there and are therefore over 100 years old.

There is more to be found out about William Crow, and much
more research could be done on the contents of the deed box of
Samuel Brown's papers, but there, for the time being we will let the
matter rest.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am most grateful to Stephen K. Jones and the publishers of the "'Glamorgan His-
torian" for allowing me to quote from his article on Samuel Brown and the Brown
Lenox Chain works.

1 am indebted to Dr Thomas Day, of the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture,
Aberdeen, for alerting me about the existence of the Brown papers in the Scottish
Record Office, and to the SRO for permission to quote from them.

1 would like to thank Dr Stella Mills for her help, advice and research into William
Crow.

REFERENCES

(1) "A Link with the past: The History of the Newbridge Works of Brown Lenox
& Co., Pontypridd", by Stephen K. Jones. The Glamorgan Historian, Volume
12 edited by Roy Denning. Published by Stewart Williams Publishers, Bryn
Awel, Buttrills Road, Barry, South Glamorgan.

(2) Colvin, H., "A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840", 1978.

(3) Scottish Record Office TD 78/7.

(4) Ibid.

(5) Ibid.

(6) Ibid.

(7) Patent Office: AD 1841 No 8994.

(8) The Times, 8 January 1850.

(9) SRO TD 78/7.

(10) Ibid.

(11) Ibid.

(12) Ibid.

(13) Ms La. III. 375 in Edinburgh University Library.

04) Systema Horticultural or tne Art of Gardening, John Worlidge 1677.

05) The Times 16 June 1875.

WHITEKIRK REVISITED

Hamer stands, a Heavenly sign.

Many, as the ancients tell.

Came to kneel at Mary's shrine.

Drank at Mary's holy well.

Sought, and found in their distress.
Healing or forgiveness.

Cradled in an oaken wood.

Strong the tower of Hamer stood.
Columbine and ivy wound
Wilder fancies, and the ground
Nourished life, as only where
Earth if kindly, skies are fair.

In the nights of Christmas-tide,

Hamer's ever-open doors
Saw her folk from Lothian wide
Gather, and the burning stars
Hung their symbols in the sky.

All for ships to reckon by.

So the long year, circling round.

Laid its pattern on the sea.

White sails billowing, homeward bound.
Rich with freighted industry.

And the light of sunset hour
Gilded Hamer's holy tower.

Lovelier than a symphony.

Sacred and sublime.

Shall thy name and memory be,

Down the trail of time.

So I dedicate to thee
This untutored rhyme.

This poem is printed in memory of George Baillie Hamilton, the
1 2th Earl of Haddington, K.T., M.C.., T.D., President of the Berwick-
shire Naturalists' Club 1956, who died 17th April, 1986.

He was a humble, approachable and conscientious man with a
great sense of the ridiculous and a deep knowledge of the Borders
of whose history he and his forebears had long been a part.

The poem is taken from his book of poems 'I Love Mountains'
with family permission. Ed.

80

GRACE AGNES ELLIOT, m.b.e.

President, 1976/1977

Grace Elliot who died on 30th June, 1986 was a Borderer bom (at
Birgham House) and almost a Naturalist bom, for her father
William Elliot, J.P., joined the Club in 1909 when she was six, and
took her to meetings from an early age, as she recalled with some
pride. She herself became a member in 1936 and an Honorary Life
Member in 1985. Her formal education was at St Michael's School
for Girls at Malton in Yorkshire, and she later qualified as a
Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle-makers. How-
ever, Grace's real education went much further than that. As a small
girl her uncle, the Reverend Matthew Ryle, who was an eminent
lepidopterist, engaged her interest in natural history and started
the collection of butterflies and moths which she maintained for the
rest of her life. Her father was a great friend of Sir George Douglas,
the Border historian and man of letters, and he taught her much
Border lore, on which she built widely. Her enquiring mind led her
into almost every feature of the Club's activities, from fossils to
ferns, in fact from archaeology to zoology, as may be judged from
the 1 7 entries covering 110 pages under her name in the Index to our
History for the period 1932 to 1980. She was always ready to help
with other people's problems and often came up with the answer
straight away, whether it was the transcription of a seventeenth
century letter or the extent to which the Cheviot area was liable to
earthquakes. In consequence Grace was much in demand as a lec-
turer on local and Border history. Perhaps to her the summit of her
work in this line was when she was called upon in 1973 to deliver
the Oration during the Coldstreamer's annual pilgrimage to Hod-
den (her father had proposed the inscription "To the Brave of Both
Nations" which is on the monument erected by the Club there).
Nevertheless she found time for other things, one of which was the
Guide Movement, in which she worked as a Brown Owl, a Guide
Captain and eventually a District Commissioner. Her abounding
energy still sufficed for such things as fishing and dressmaking.
Grace has left two particular monuments. One is the Berwickshire
Documents, now housed in the Library at Duns, on which she did
tremendous work. The other is her reconstruction of the pottery
found at Coldingham Priory, in the excavation of which she took a
leading part. Her meticulous record of this, illustrated by her
beautiful drawings of the finds, is, as it fully deserves, in the Royal
Museum of Scotland in Queen Street, Edinburgh. It was not sur-
prising to those who knew her that all her varied work was
recognised in 1971 by her appointment as a Member of the Most
Excellent Order of the British Empire, a rare distinction for a
woman amateur in the fields in which she laboured.

She was a good friend.

T.D.T.

81

150 YEARS PLUS OF PADDOCK STOOLS

A history of agaric ecology and floristics in the
Borders of Scotland’^

DR ROY WATLING Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
who led the Fungus Foray, Hirsel, 16th August, 1986

By the time the founder members of the Berwickshire Naturalists'
Club had first met in 1831 and those of the Botanical Society of
Edinburgh had met in 1836 for their inaugural meeting, Elias Mag-
nus Fries, the 'king' of mycology had published his Systema
Mycologicum (1821) and Charles Hendrick Persoon, the 'prince' his
Synopsis methodica fungorum (1801). Indeed the Edinburgh based
Robert Kaye Greville had already published his Scottish Crypto-
gamic Flora (1822-28) in which amongst other species he described
the montane agaric Amanita nivalis, a species with which Scottish
agaricology has almost become synonymous.

But even before Greville's beautifully illustrated publication
appeared there had been some earlier activity in the study of the
Scottish larger fungi. The first record of a Scottish mushroom
appeared in Sibbald's Scotia Historia (1684) apparently referring to
an Agaricus sp. from Kings Park, Edinburgh. This same group of
cryptogams was recorded by chroniclers in Orkney and by John
Lightfoot in F/or<35co;/a (1777); indeed the third edition of Hudson's
famous Flora Anglica (1798) relies heavily on Lightfoot's Scottish
finds. Although James Edward Smith, founder of the Linnean
Society of London, and Robert Brown, follow of the Royal Society
of London and librarian to Sir Joseph Banks in 1810. and keeper of
botanical collections in the British Museum, both collected in
Scotland no records came from the Border counties.

However, soon after the publication of Thomas Hopkirk's Flora
Glottiana (1813) which dealt with the fungi of a well-defined area of
Scotland viz. Clydesdale, George Johnston, a medical practitioner
in the Borders and founder member of the Naturalists, drew up his
findings. He wrote the Flora of Berwick (1829-31) in which he
records 52 agarics in the second volume. He believed that this
number only scratched the surface, and his cautionary note was
borne out later for in his The Natural History of the Eastern Borders
(1853) he listed 96 agarics and boletes. Whereas Hopkirk produced
the first list for a specific area, Johnston in his 1853 publication was
the first to use ecological groupings. In his work he also drew
attention to the preparation of catsup from edible fungi and used
the word paddockstool, spelt int he same way as Lightfoot seventy-
five years earlier. Paddockstool was an early Scottish name for the
Chanterelle (Agaricus = Cantharellus cibarius Fr.) but it is widely
applied in its more recent spelling, puddockstool, for generally ill-
favoured gill-bearing and poroid fungi.

82

150 YEARS OF PADDOCK STOOLS

83

Johnston, with the help of the Reverend Miles Joseph Berkeley,
the Father of British Mycology, described many agarics, some rare
and some new to science. One species included in Johnston's earlier
publication was Agaricus DuBoisii now known to be the same as
Delicatula integrella (Pers.:Fr.) Fayod a small, delicate white 'mush-
room'. In The Natural History two plates are included one in colour
depicting Agaricus caperatus executed by Johnston's wife and the
other in black and white by M. J. Berkeley illustrating Agaricus
belliae Berk, a rare fungus of marsh land. He also discussed at length
in this publication the differences and misunderstanding between
his A. caperatus (= Phaeolepiota aurea (Matts.;Fr.) Maire) and what
others call A. aureus, a mix-up echoed over 100 years later by Reid
(1975). Agaricus or as it is now called Rozites caperata (Pers.:Fr.)
Karst., is found in the Scottish Highlands amongst Vaccinium vitis-
idaea and V. myrtillus under Pinus sylvestris. A. belliae had not been
seen for many years, until Orton (1960) was able to place the fungus
in the genus Mycena based on collections found in 1956 at Surling-
ham, Norfolk. It was found in both Denmark and Germany during
the 1930s.

But after Johnston's death agaricology in the Eastern Border
lands was forgotten. However in Jedburgh, Archibald Jerdon,
another correspondent of the Rev. Berkeley, was beavering away
and in 1857 published in the Phytologist, his first account on the
fungi in the neighbourhood of Jedburgh, later updated in this very
journal in 1868. Present day mycologists will remember this worker
by the epithet of the rather uncommon annulate mushroom called
Psathyrella jerdonnii (Berk. & Br.) Konrad & Maublanc which em-
bodies his name. However, Jerdon added several records to the
British flora based on material from the Border counties, and was
astute enough to question the significance of such finds in a
national context and felt records really depended on the collector
and the intensity of collecting in a particular area! Jerdon published
many short papers in the Phytologist under the general title 'Chap-
ters on Fungi'. These contributions after a general introduction to
the diversity and classification of fungi consisted of a commentary
on the main divisions of this group of cryptogams (1858-63). His
early training in agriculture is obviously expressed therein, al-
though his later employment was as a collector of Inland Revenue
and of Rates. Jerdon corresponded with Bloxam (as in the genus
Bloxamia) and Currey (as in Inocybe curreyi) and a few letters from
him to M. C. Cooke and Worthington J. Smith, two of Britain's great
mycologists, still exist.

Emphasis in the study of mycology about this time shifted from
the South and Central areas of Scotland to the North East through
the studies of George Dickie in Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine,
Rev. J. Keith in Moray, Rev. M. L. Anderson in Menmuir, Rev. J.
Ferguson in Angus, Dr F. Buchanan White in Perthshire and the
Rev. J. Stevenson at Glamis. But a spark was still kept alight by the

84

150 YEARS OF PADDOCK STOOLS

very Rev. D. Paul who latterly paid particular interest to the fungi i
of Roxburgh.

In 1875 the Scottish Cryptogamic Society was founded (Noble,
1978) with Dr F. B. White as Secretary later followed by the Rev.
John Stevenson well-known for his Mycologia Scotica (1879), a
publication in which fungi were recorded for the first time in fairly
natural divisions of Scotland using watersheds as boundaries; Paul
was treasurer at this time. Later the last two mycologists produced
a joint publication on the fungi of Inveraray (1889) and on
Stevenson's retirement Paul took over in 1903 as Secretary of the
Society. He had already published a scries of papers on the fungi of
Roxburgh (1882-90) in the pages of this journal, and was relied on
by many for determinations. For example a collection of paintings
of fungi by John H. Wilson and housed in the University of St
Andrews have been anno ta ted by Paul who then had his address at
Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. It was quite some time later that
another publication appeared on Border fungi viz. Taylor (1937)
who published an account on the fungi he observed in the neigh-
bourhood of Cockburnspath. However, despite Paul's interest in
the area few cryptogamic forays were held there. This continued
unfortunately even after the Society in 1935 amalgamated with the
Botanical Society of Edinburgh. Forays were held in Kelso in 1884
(Anon, 1884), Selkirk in 1901, Moffat in 1911 (Anon, 1911), Peebles
in 1922 and 1946 (Anon, 1923 & 1946) and it is only latterly that the
Botanical Society has paid further visits to Peeblesshire viz. Glen
Tress, and Dawyck in 1956, 1974, 1975 & 1981 and joint with the
Scottish Wildlife Trust in 1978 & 1981.

A1 though the Cryptogamic Society visi ted the South West proba-
bly more times than the Eastern Borders that same area also lacked
the attention demanded of it, and never spawned a mycological
expert; five agarics appear for instance in Scott-Elliot's list of fungi
for Galloway (1924). Thus the whole of the Southern area of
Scotland is rather sparsely recorded. Recent calculations show that
compared with the 1316, 1044 and 625 agarics and boletic recorded
for Tay, Moray and Dee respectively, T weed has 451 and the South
West 404 (Watling, 1986). Local Society meetings are often a rich
source of records and it is on such data that F. R. S. Balfour was able
to publish over 100 names of agarics and boleti in his account in
History of Peeblesshire Vol. 1 'from collections on various society
meetings' (Balfour, 1925). But records require sound identification
nand it is hoped the Border area will again attract qualified mycolo-
gists in the future for there is little doubt there are rich 'pickings'.
Hopefully the present catalyst is the 150th anniversary of the
foundation of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh and that the foray
based on Newton Stewart in May and that at Coldstream in August
[1986, undertaken in conjunction with the Berwickshire Natural-
ists' Club. Ed] will be the beginning of a new era.

What of my own finds in the area? With an interest in arctic-

150 YEARS OF PADDOCK STOOLS

85

alpine agarics the author has tended to visit some of the higher
areas of the Borders with interesting results. Thus the Gray Mare's
Tail and White Goombe have offered Pholiota myositis (Fr.;Fr.) Sing.,
Collybia palustris (Peck) Smith and Galerina paludosa (Fr.) Kuhn, all
fungi of wet boggy areas and commoner as one goes north and
west, and on the peaty tops the small brightly coloured Omphalina
luteovitellina (Pilat & Nannf.) M. Lge. (= O. alpina Britz.) so typical of
mountains int he Cairngorms, Breadalbanes etc.

A very interesting series of communities are to be found int he
grasslands around and in the willow-carrs of Blackpool and Mur-
der Mosses. The former have a flora of sixteen or so hygrophori
equivalent almost to the rich areas of the coastal north west,
accompanied by a whole host of agarics with pink spores and
placed in the Entolomataceae, six species of Leptonia alone. One of
the former group from the pastures around Moffat is Hygrophorus
calyptraeformis Berk. & Br., a striking and beautiful agaric with
conical pink cap and similarly coloured stem. The wet woodland
and fen are characterised by such agarics as Hebeloma leucosarx P.
D. Orton, //. pusillum ]. Lge, Crepidotus luteolus (Lamb.) Sacc. and
Naucoria salicis P. D. Orton. One of the most exciting finds has been
of the rare and very intriguing Collybia racemosa (Pers.:Fr.) Quelet.
This tiny fungus has small processes all up the stipe each producing
a head of secondary spores; it was found at Bean Rig Moss.

Characteristic of the Borders are the enormous estates with rich
pastureland and woodland policies. Indeed some of the latter now
have been converted, along with higher pastures, into conifer
plantations. All these managed lands have their own agaric floras.
Thus both Dawyck and Bowhill have attracted the eye of the
mycologist, indeed Stewart Roberts has been keenly seeking out
fungi in the area for many years now. One of his recent finds was
Johnston's Agaricus caperalus, i.e. Phaeolepiota aurea.

As indicated earlier the Botanical Society of Edinburgh has
visited Glen Tress on several occasions over the past thirty years,
indeed at one meeting a small demonstration of the finds was laid
out at the picnic area by kind permission of the Forestry Commis-
sion. These included Pholiota flammans (Fr.) Kummer and Pleurocy-
bella porrigens (Pers.:Fr.) Sing, both fungi found more commonly in
northern Scotland on stumps oiPinus sylvestris but obviously just as
much at home on Spruce stumps. Others were: — the terrestrial
Hygrophorus pustulatus (Pers.:Fr.) Fr., with black spots ornamenting
the stem and Psathyrella conopilea (Fr.) Pearson & Dennis with its
long brown spines embedded in its cap; and mushroom allies of
note included the jelly hedgehog Pseudohydnum gelatinosum
(Scop.:Fr.) Karst. A similar group of fungi have been found in the
forests of Dumfries & Galloway, eg. Forest of Ae, which the author
visited in connection with the forthcoming Sitka Spruce
Symposium. Ischnoderma resinosum (Schrad.:Fr.) Karst., a rather
infrequently seen polypore has also been found at Moffat. About

86

150 YEARS OF PADDOCK STOOLS

100 different mushrooms and allies can be found on a single foray
in such a community.

Of the smaller agarics Mycena oortiana Hora with its smell of
iodoform is common on twigs but surprisingly rarely recognised,
M. citrinomarginata Gillet with yellow gill-margin, M. tenerrima
(Berk.) Sacc. with its cap as if dusted with sugar, and M. longiseta
von Hohnel with hairs in the cap resembling splinters of glass have
all been found. Other small taxa are the fishy smelling Macrocystidia
cucumis (Pers.:Fr.) Heim which some people describe as with the
odour of cucumbers, Marasmius hudsonii (Pers.:Fr.) Fr. confined to
old holly leaves but with a cap adorned with long black hairs and
Omphalina wynniae (Berk. & Br.) Orton of a beautiful chartreuse
colour, growing on rotten wood. The last two species have been
recorded from Dawyck. Pholiota scamba (Fr.:Fr.) Moser grows scat-
tered amongst needles and twigs in Glen Tress, and other similar
conifer forests.

Amongst the moss at Dawyck the cryptic-coloured, grey Leptog-
lossum muscigenum (Fr.) Karst, has been found, as it has at Thornhill,
and Blackpool Moss, and at Bowhill the interesting but
insi^niiica.n\. Flarrmidastersubincarnata (Joss. & Kuhn.) Watl. was an
interesting find.

The larger mushrooms and toadstools include: true mushrooms
Agaricus sylvaticus Schaeff. ex Seer, and Ag. variegans F. H. Moeller
at Glen Tress and Ag. semotus Fr. and Ag. placomyces Peck at
Bowhill; Hygrophorus agathosmus (Fr.:Secr.) Fr. with its smell of
bitter almonds, from both Moffat and Glen Tress; the majestic
sticky capped, purple-staining Cortinarius purpurascens Fr. from
Moffat; Phylloporus rhodoxanlhus (Schw.) Bres. with bright yellow
gills but general appearance of a bolete and Inocybe pudica Kuhn.,
which reddens immedi ately if handled or damag^ . Also the bolete
Leccinwn variicolor Watl., only recently described from Mull, is
found in the wet birch woods of the Borders. There is, in addition
a whole range of members of the Russulaceae, in both the genus
Russula, and the milk-caps Lafctaniiy, eg. the white/?, albo-nigra Krbh.
which turns black on handling, and R.farinipes Rom. with a farina-
ceous powdered stem; and the very hot tasting Lactarius blennius Fr.
with oily spots on the cap rim, and the pale pinkish brown L. pallidus
Pers.:Fr. both found under beech, and L. pyrogalus -pyro fire; gains
milk!

On twigs, branches and other woody debris of conifers Panellus
mitis (Pers.:Fr. ) Singer grows in swarms of small fruiting bodies and
the aniseed smelling Lentinellus cochleatus (Pers.cFr.) Karst, forms
characteristic leather brown, horn-like structures on old stumps.
Also on stumps is Ptychogaster albus Corda, the asexual stage of a
polypore, which although thought generally to be rare is very very
common in the Borders. Its fruiting body breaks up into a powdery
mass similar to some of the larger slime-moulds. In contrast on old
leaves Mycena pelianthina (Fr.) Quel, surprisingly has been found at

150 YEARS OF PADDOCK STOOLS

87

Dawyck for in continental Europe it is restricted to the beech zone;
perhaps at Dawyck it has been introduced with the exotic plantings
there. Collybia conflucns (Pers.:Fr.) Kummer is on the other hand
widespread in Europe and in Scotland it ranges from mature
woodland to creeping willow stands; it smells of unopened, damp
rooms.

Some of the very exciting records of mushroom-allies from the
Borders are: Trogia or Plicaturiopsis crispa (Fr.) Reid at one time
classified with the chantarelle despite its lignicolous habit, Aleu-
rodiscus amorphus (Fr.) Schroet., a fungus studied and illustrated by
Beatrix Potter the author of so many children's stories (Noble &
Watling, 1986), Platygloea peniophorae Bourd. & Galz. parasitising
the fungus Hypoderma praetermissum (Karst.) Erik. & Strid which
itself only looks like a streak of paint on wood, and Tremella
encephala Pers., a jelly fungus. In addition T.foliacea Pers., found in
Scotland on both conifers and hardwoods, is known from South
Park Wood, Peebles on Sorbus aucuparia, the mountain ash.

One interesting stomach fungus (Gasteromycetes) which has
been collected is the dog stinkhorn (Mutinus caninus (Huds.:Pers.)
Fr.) but generally on forays in the Borders only the common
widespread taxa are found. The finding at Haddington of the
truffle Tuber aestivum Vitt. has been given much publicity recently
(see the Observer newspaper and supplements) but it is an ascomy-
cete and although it may grow to the size of a small potato it is
related to the morels and even the blue-mould of choice cheeses.
The false truffles, as they are known, are basidiomycetes and
related to the puff-balls and earth-balls, forming a distinct group
within the Gasteromycetes. Very recently Hymenogaster albus
(Klotzsch) Berk. & Br. and Hydnangium carneum Wallr., both mem-
bers of this group, have been found under eucalypts at Logan
Botanic Garden, undoubtedly introduced to the south west from
abroad. The rich plantings of exotics in the Borders should support
similar fungi and tru ffling there would be rewarding I am sure. One
early record of Melanogaster albus (Vitt.) Tub, a false truffle rare in
northern British Isles, comes from Tweed, viz. Jedburgh, its only
Scottish site. Earth-stars, Geastrum spp., can be expected in the
eastern Border counties as they are well represented in the old
county of Haddingtonshire.

Further details of all these finds and many more, and of many
microscopic fungi collected in the Borders can be found in the
archives of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh housed at the Royal
Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. In these same archives there are some
of Johnston's notes and in the herbarium at the Royal Botanic
Garden several of his specimens.

* Adapted from the Presidential address to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh on the
occasion of its scsquicentennial celebrations.

* At the same site the rare truffle Balsamia platyspora Berk. & Br. was also found
indubitably the most northerly record for this species in the British Isles.

88

150 YEARS OF PADDOCK STOOLS

15 AUGUST 1986, HIRSEL, COLDSTREAM

Agaricus arvensis

margin of path E

A. campestris

margin of path E

A. langei

mixed woodland C

Agrocybe praecox

B

Amanita vaginata

mixed woodland C & D

Armillaria sp.

(poss. A. hulbosa - only bootlaces present on
Quercus ) C

Bolbitius vitellinus

margin of path A

Boletus chrysenteron

under Quercus D

B. porosporus

2 collections under Fagus D

Collybia confluens

under Quercus C

C. dryophila

widespread in groups throughout property B-E

Coprinus lagopus

widespread in groups throughout property B-E

C. micaceus

on old stump B

C. plicatilis

widespread margin of wood B-D

Conocybe appendiculata

wood margin C

C. rugosa

wood margin C

C. subovalis

on grass remains E

Laccaria laccata

widespread margin of wood B-D

Lactarius britanicus

several localities under Quercus C

L. quietus

under Quercus C

L. rubrocinctus

under Quercus C

L. serifluus

under Quercus B

Marasmius oreades

part-ring by roadside A

Mycena galericulata

old stump C

M. speirea

on twigs, margin of loch B

M. vitilis

margin of loch etc. woodland margin B-C

Psathyrella gracilis

margin of loch B

P. pennata

burnt path under Quercus C

Russula atropurpurea

under Quercus C

R. censobrina

mixed area C

R. cyanoxantha

under Quercus C

R. farinipes

mixed area C

R. heterophylla

under Quercus D

R. laurocerasi

under Quercus C

R. puellaris

under Quercus C

R. vesca

under Quercus D

Tricholoma ionides

field edge B

Tubaria conspersa
Polyporales

under Urtica, Circaea etc. C

Clavulina cristata

bare-ground C

Heterobasidion annosum

killing Pinus C

Inonotus radiatus

on Corylus C

Inonotus sp.

on Quercus C

Laetiporus sulphureus

on Quercus B

Meripilus giganteus

on old stump Fagus? E

Phellinus f. punctatus

on Corylus C

Stereum hirsutum

on Quercus B & D

S. rugosum

on Corylus C

Exidia glandulosa
Gasteromycetales

on Quercus C

Ly coper don perl a turn

pathside, under trees C

Scleroderma verrucosum
Uredinales

pathside D

Coleosporium tussilaginis

on Tussilago C

Melampsora allii-fragilis
Ascomycetes

on Salix fragilis giving shoot death A

Bulgaria inquinans

on Quercus C

150 YEARS OF PADDOCK STOOLS

89

Diatrypella querdna
Epichloe typhina
Erysiphe drcaeae
E. heradei
E. graminis
Hypoxylon fuscum
MoUisia dnerea
Mycosphaerella rumids
Deuteromycetes
Gloeosporium rhododendri

on Quercus C
choke-grass B

on Circaea lutetiana
on Heracleum sphondylium C
on Arrhenatherum A

on Corylus C
on twig C

on Rumex A

B On Rhododendron leaves B-E

LETTERS REFER TO ESTATE AREAS

A Road verges > loch side track
B Lochside track to Arboretum (north)
C ditto, (west)

D Dundock Wood
E Track > Museum

REFERENCES

Anon. (1 884; 1911; 1923; 1 946). Foray records of the Cryptogamic Society of Scotland.
Balfour, F. R. S. (1925), in History of Peeblesshire Vol. 1, chapter 10, Botany 1-89.
Fries, E. M. (1821). Systema Mycologicum, Gryphiswald.

Greville, R. K. (1822-28). Scottish Cryptogamic Flora, Edinburgh.

Hopkirk, T. (1813). Flora Glottiana, Glasgow.

Hudson, W. (1798). Flora Anglica 3rd Edition. 609-647 and Appendix, London.
Jerdon, A. (1857-8). List of Fungi observed in the neighbourhood of Jedburgh,
Roxburghshire. Phytologist 2: 49-55.

(1858-63). Chapters on Fungi. Phytologist 3: 225-229, 295-299, 369-374. 4: 67-78, 177-
181, 296-301. 5: 265-268. 6: 193-200.

(1868). List of Fungi observed in the neighbourhood of Jedburgh, Roxburghshire.
Hist. Berwick. Nat. Club 5: 23-41, 270-271.

Johnston, G. (1829-31). Flora of Berwick. Two vols., Edinburgh.

(1853). The Natural History of the Eastern Borders, London.

Lightfoot, J. (1777). Flora Scotica. Vol. 2. pp. 1008-1074, London.

Noble, M. (1978). The Cryptogamic Society of Scotland 1875-1935-1975. Tran.?. Bot.
Soc. Edinb. 42. Suppl. 11-17.

Noble, M. (ScWatling, R. (1986). Cup fungus- or Basidiomycete, and Potterism.Bw//.
Brit. My col. Soc.

Orton, P. D. (1960). New Checklist of Agarics and Boleti Part 111. Notes on genera and
species in the list. Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc. 43: 159-439.

Paul, D. (1882-90). Fungi of the neighbourhood of Roxburgh (not hitherto recorded
for the Border district). Hist. Berwick. Nat. Club 10: 83, 339, 530-1. 11: 129-130. 12:
115.13:210-220.

(1888). Fungi found near Roxburgh in 1886. Scott. Nat. 7.

Persoon, C. W. (1801). Synopsis Methodica Fungorum, Gottingae.

Reid, D. A. (1975). Rozites caperatus (Pers. ex Fr.) Karst, in southern England. Trans.
Brit. Mycol. Soc. 65: 146-148.

Scott-Elliot, G. F. (1924). Fungus records for Galloway. Trans. Dumfries & Galloway
Nat. Hist. Antiq. Soc. 11: 84-87.

Sibbald, R. (1684). Scotia Historia sive Prodr omus Historiae Naturalis, Edinburgh.
Stevenson, J. (1879). Mycologia Scotica, Edinburgh.

Stevenson, J. & Paul, D. (1889). Fungi of Inverary I. Hymenomycetesrra«.y. Crypto.
Soc. Scotland 25-29.

Taylor, G. (1937). List of fungi observed in the neighbourhood of Cockburnspath.
Hist. Berwick. Nat. Hist. Club 29: 303-313.

Watling, R. (1986). 150 years plus of Paddockstools. A history of agaric ecology and
floristics in Scotland. Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinb. 45(1).

WILLIAM CROW

William Crow (c. 1704-1750) succeeded to the property of Nether-
byres while still a minor. His tombstone in the churchyard of
Coldingham Priory (recently restored by the generosity of Lt.
Colonel Furness) which was erected by 'his deeply affected wife
Margaret Allan' speaks of him in glowing (Latin) terms which
being translated read:

('Here is buried William Crow Netherbyres, Esquire, who,
alike in acquiring and cultivating every science worthy of an
ingenious man, exalted by a most noble genius which he
assiduously exercised beyond others. By music, mechanics,
the culture of letters and skill in these and other cognate arts,
combined with thorough integrity and elegant manners, he
became known and was deservedly dear to not a few of the
chief men of the state and of literature. Sparingly cultivating
the friendship of the great, he rather showed himself to be the
friend of the human race. He always cheerfully devoted
himself to the benefit of his acquaintances of the whole
neighbourhood, by prudent counsel and by indefatigable
exertion, he spent his life on his paternal estate, wisely ad-
ministering his moderate means and at the same time ele-
gantly enjoying them. He was a despiser of lucre, and a most
ardent friend of liberty. Superior to ambition, whilst he eager
gave himself to every noble study not considering his own
health or strength, in the mid-time of his days, seized with
palsy, he was suddenly cut off.

This is taken from the paper by Dr Stella Mills entitled 'William
Crow of Netherbyres a Sketch of his Life & Work'; the following
letter being furnished by Lt. Colonel Furness of Netherbyres from
the Scottish Record Office.

From Mr. Crow.

On ye Effects of Cold on Plants

Dr. Alstone, Professor Botany at Edinburgh

To be left at the gardener's house of the physick garden in the

Abbey near the Water gate.

Dear Sir,

Tho' I have been long indisuse of my old favourite study. Botany,
yet my passion for it still remaining, I have often wished to have had
some correspondence with you, upon this most entertaining part of
natural phylosophy; and tho' 1 should rather have chosen to have
answered a letter from you (especially if it were in my power to be
any way Serviceable) yet 1 shall for once venture to be the agressor,
and trouble you with the present situation of my gardens, which
you may believe is not very cheerful.

90

WILLIAM CROW OF NETHERBYRES

91

I deal only in the hardy flowering shrubs, and yet they have
suffered extremely by the long intense frost; the Lauristinus has lost
all its leaves, the pomegranate, Bignonia, and althea frutex seem to
be quite dead and my Glastonbury thorn and even the Mezerion
have forgot to flower in their usual season; and the best of all
flowering shrubs, my peaches (of which I have a wall 300 feet long)
have lost the greatest part of their small wood. Now although this
has been the severest winter that ever I remember, yet I don't blame
it altogether for the above disasters, but rather impute them to the
terrible blasting north winds, which raged a fortnight together in
April last, and hardly left anything green in my garden, or in the
neighbouring fields; so tha t the very nettles and other hardly plants
became as black as ink. Since that time my trees and plants have
been in a sickly condition, and this severe frost has only given them
the finishing blow. 1 should be glad to know what you suffered by
these blasting winds, and your opinion of this blighting quality: —
The gardeners are surely in the wrong when they talk of wild fire
and scorching of the leaves and sprouts of plants in a morning after
a cold north air. Indeed the effects of excessive heat and cold upon
both plants and animals is somewhat resembling but as far as I have
observed, a blight seems to be only the effect of a sudden cold wind,
which immediately congeals the juices in the capillary vessels of the
tender sprouts and blossoms of plants, upon which follows a
sudden mortification, and a tree seems to lose its leaves and tender
buds, after the same manner that people in Lapland and Nova
Zembla have sometimes lost their noses or finger ends; yet in my
particular situation, which is close upon the German Ocean, I
suspect that the sharp pointed saline particles, that accompany
these north winds, by piercing and tearing the tender vessels,
contribute a great deal to the affore said mortification, or blight; for
1 observed that in April last the tender branches of forrest trees in
my wilderness, were sensibly salt to the taste, and that the destruc-
tive north winds did less harm in proportion as the places were
distant from the sea coast; I had likewise a letter from a Gentleman
near Glasgow, about tha t time, who informed me that tho' the north
winds were very high there, yet they did not blast the last blossom
of any of his trees. I happened to prune two or three of my peach
trees in November last, and find that they have suffered much less
damage from the frost, than those which were not plyd close to the
walls, from which it seems adviseable to give the tenderest wall
trees a rough dressing at Martinmass, tho' it should be again
corrected at the Spring.

1 shall now give you two or three accidental experiments that
have occurred to me during the frost, hoping you'll send me some
more curious of your own, which no doubt you have made on
purpose. There was a barrel of small beer that happened to freeze
in my outer cellar; I caused to draw it off and it ran about half the

92

WILLIAM CROW OF NETl ICRBYRES

quantity, which was extremely fine, and a good deal stronger than
the first of that browing; I caused thaw the ice in the barrel, but the
Solution was altogether insipid. At night I set a tea Saucer full of
brandy on the outsicie of a north window, and next morning it was
frozen into solid ice; The solution of this had an aserb disagreeable
taste, but nothing spirituous, neither would it flame in the fire: from
those observations it seems that congoalation annulls the effects of
fermentation, and that the spirit in the small beer fled from the ice
(as from an enemy) and lodged itself in the centre of the barrel. If I
had been in an humour for trying each experiment, I would have
enquired accurately whether the brandy lost any part of its weight
by freezing; for it may bo a question whether the inflamable spirit
evaporated, or whether the congelation returned it to its original
mass, such as it was before fermentation.

I try'd to thaw some lommons (which were very hard frozen)
among cold water; they very soon acquired a strong crust of ice, and
when that was taken off, the.fruit remained perfectly sound, and
full of good juice; I try'd the same experiment upon potatoes, but
without success, for tho' they acquired the icy crust below vv^ater,
which extracted the frost out of them, yet it had so intimately
disordered their whole substance, that they soon turned all to a
watery pulp, and became quite useless; so that I have lost 7 or 8
bushels of seed potatoes for good and all —

1 hope you will be so kind as to let me hear from you with your
leisure. There are two of the plants Indigena, which grow on our sea
coast, and which 1 have adopted into my garden, where they make
no ignoble figure, viz, papaver corniculatum luteum,^'^ and im-
peratoeia affinis umbcllifera, maritima Scotica.^If you happen not
to have these, or any other that grow here about, in your collection,
let me know and I shall send them next month, and wherein I can
possibly serve you in any respect, pray do me the favour to
command.

Dear Sir

your most obedient humble Servant
William Crow

Netherbyres Febr 9th
1740

When you write to me direct for
Mr. Crow of Netherbyres by Berwick

Identified by Professor Douglas Henderson, The Queens Botanist
in Scotland as (1) Glaucum flavum, the Horned Poppy and (2)
Ligusticum Scoticum, Scotch Lovage.

TREASURER'S HNANCIAL STATEMENT FOR YEAR ENDED 20th SEPTEMBER, 1986

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Balance on Savings Account for Barbara Fleming Memorial Fund £260.00

#

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