Ashkirk: Bishop’s Palace, the Last Crusade, and hidden tower-houses
Ashkirk parish, with the exception of North and South Synton, once belonged to the Diocese of Glasgow, among whose possessions it was first mentioned in 1116 at the inquisition of Prince David. In the 12th century this diocese stretched from Lennox through Rutherglen, Lanark and Peebles, to Ashkirk and Teviotdale – including all the parishes on the Teviot and its tributaries (such as the Ale).
Ashkirk is thought to be the church of the Ashmen. They were given land just south of the Clyde River from Hael Rydderch, in approximately 480 AD. They were also given the name Carruthers, meaning Tall Fair men, who walk on water and are blessed.
The church or preaching station has existed here for a century or two prior, and, although there is no direct evidence that Ninian was the patron saint of the parish, St Ninian’s Well sat on steep slope above the church. Occasional baptisms were held there before it was drained, and a successor retained the name from its proximity to the old well.
Ashkirk Parish Church
Prior to the Reformation, the Church of Rome held sway in Selkirkshire. From 1170 to 1216, Ashkirk was confirmed to the bishops of Glasgow by successive popes. James IV confirmed the privileges of a free regality on the Barony of Ashkirk in 1490, to be held by the bishops.
The auld kirk was a low structure with a heather-thatched roof. The present floorboards cover the earthen floor on which earlier generations of parishioners sat, and in which they were buried, until the burial ground spread out with the walls of the church in the 16th or 17th century.
From the 12th to 14th centuries, a family by the name of Ashkirk held the lands as vassals of the bishop. Their first ancestor was Acolf, while in 1179 a charter was granted “to the church of Glasgow and Orm of Askirke and his heirs”, outlining place names which are still familiar almost nine centuries later e.g. Staniford, Huntleie, Todholerig, Langhop, Lepes (Leap Linns), Whitslade, and Alne (Ale Water). The charter afforded locals the liberty of ploughing, sowing and waynage (tillage) within the boundaries of the deer park.
In 1292, Alexander of Synton was appointed as Sheriff of Selkirkshire, and in 1296 his widow Mary was ordered to give his lands to Edward I of England, indicating that some of the earliest lairds were involved in cross-border struggles. Henry was referred to as ‘of Ashkirk’ in 1362 when David II granted him lands in the town of Roxburgh, while one of the last Ashkirks of that ilk was William, who is recorded on a marriage contract of 1526 in the Selkirk Protocol Books.
In 1448, Bishop William annexed for the benefit of the clergy of Glasgow Cathedral “the fruits, revenues and profits of the vicarage, viz: the lambs, wool, calves, cheese, the whole tithes and offerings and all other emoluments whatsoever pertaining to the church of Ashkirk”, leaving only a “competent maintenance” to the chaplain at Ashkirk. That same year, a record complains of the vicar of the choir not being payed, and, as a result, “divine worship remained incompletely performed”.
When not being robbed of its riches, Ashkirk was valued as a place of rest and recuperation for the bishops. A country retreat, palatium or ‘palace’, located at the north-east corner of what is now the golf course, has been invisible since the early 1800s when the new hill road to Roberton cut through the site.
Alexander Scott ‘called of Paliss’ is recorded in Selkirk documents in the period 1532-35; he was the son of David Scott, Vicar of Ashkirk, who may have previously held these lands. Robert Scott ‘of Paleis’ was deceased in 1579 when his widow Isabel Donald’s inventory was recorded. It was ‘Paleis Wallis’ in 1580. And ‘Johnne Scott of the Palice’ is recorded in 1587, suggesting the place name (but presumably no longer the palace) existed at that time.
The Bishop’s Stone, which lies under a dyke near the cattle-grid at Woll Rig, is another reminder of Ashkirk’s ecclesiastical past. It once lay on the ridge of the nearby hill but was built into a wall that formed the historical boundary between Ashkirk and Selkirk parishes. Inscribed in the stone are the initials ‘GH’, a nod to the lands owned on one side by the Grieves of Hartwoodmyres, and the Huntlys of Woll Rig on the other.
Legend states that local Jacobites used to meet at the Bishop’s Stone, while a murdered bishop’s ghost is allegedly said to wander Wollrig Heights, although no definitive records exist of this claim. One purported appearance of the ghost sent a worker from Ashkirk Corn Mill into shock and Dr Anderson of Selkirk had to be sent for.
Another religious site, the Bishop’s Well, is situated on the east side of the pond below the church. A fine medieval ewer (jug) was recovered nearby in about 1840 while the glebe was being ploughed.
At Burnfoot Ale Farm, in 2011, an even more remarkable find was made by local stonemason and metal detectorist George Burns: a 13th century sword pommel, cast from copper alloy around a fired clay core. Although damaged, it is engraved with a series of floral motifs and fantastical creatures. An inscription around its edge reads: ‘IHESUS NAZARENUS REX IUDEORUM’ or ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’. This inscription was popularly believed to protect the carrier from violent death and in this case was applied after the pommel was finished, most likely by the owner.
Selkirk historian and author Walter Elliot believes the sword may have been in the possession of one of the Norman barons installed by David I, as feudal lord, and used in one of the last Crusades to the Holy Land. George, by that reasoning, must be Ashkirk’s answer to Indiana Jones!
The parish was ransacked in 1514 by Lord Dacre’s men, specifically “the watter of Ale, from Askrige to Elmartour in the said Middilmarchies, whirupon was fifty pleughes, lyes all and every of them waist now” – in the lead up to the Battle of Hornshole (see The Hawick Paper, June 7, 2019). The bailiary of Ashkirk was later gifted to Walter Ker of Cessford in 1547, and in 1548 the Kers, along with English forces under Lord Grey, burnt many of the houses and crops in the Ale valley.
Ashkirk would thereafter fall under the influence of cadet families belonging to the Scotts of Buccleuch. The Scotts of Gala, Well, Raeburn and Synton are all descended from John of Buccleuch, who was sent to St Mungo’s in Glasgow for his education, but was lame and considered unfit for Border service. John’s grandson was a chamberlain to the Archbishop of Glasgow. These Scotts of the Ale valley were prominent in the rescue of Kinmont Willie (see The Hawick Paper, October 18/25 & November 2, 2019), and rose against the sheriff when he tried to dismantle Hassendean Kirk (see The Hawick Paper, March 16, 2018).
The reiving families of the parish made their homes in peel towers dotted throughout the valley – a few of which we’ll mention here.
There was once a tower at Salenside, and there is a suggestion that Salenside Cottage was built on the same site using the converted base of the tower. It was owned by a cadet branch of the Scotts. Andrew Scott ‘of Salynside’ was said to be part of the raid at Carlisle Castle in 1596. Robert Scott of Salenside was charged with murder in 1614. While the doors and window openings of the three-storey building are comparatively modern, the outer walls seem to be not later than the 17th century. To the north-east lies the Cold Well.
Todrig Tower was the home of the Scotts of Todrig, cadets of Whitslade, under the motto ‘pro aris et focis’ or ‘for home and hearth’. The family arms – featuring a star and two crescents – were cut into a seat in the old Ashkirk church in 1622. The west half of the tower dates from 1862, but the east portion incorporates a 17th century tower-house. There are two panels in the adjacent farm buildings: the upper one bears the date 1698 while the lower one contains the initials ‘GP’ (George Pott) at the top, a lozenge at the centre, and the inscription ‘Rebuilt 1833’ at the foot. A mill is marked nearby, on the opposite side of the burn, on Ainslie’s 1773 map.
Near to the tower, a three-legged, cast bronze cooking pot was dug up by Mr Easton, farmer, in 1956. It has two substantial angular lugs, muckle feet, and is one of largest in the collection of the National Museums of Scotland. Soot marks on its side suggest it was hung over a fire, and going by similar finds the pot can be dated to 1490-1503.
Whitslade Tower was recorded not only in the charter of William I, but another royal charter granting the lands to Andrew, son of Uviet, in about 1173. It was burned by Hector Lauder of Clerklands, along with a group of Armstrongs, sometime before 1502; they also stole sixteen cows, two horses and goods. The motto of this branch of the Scotts was ‘Amore Patriæ’ or ‘patriotism’. Essentially the same branch also owned Stirches estate for about two centuries, selling it to Walter Chisholme in about 1660.
The tower stood beside a small stream that runs into the Ale, close to the present-day farmhouse. The Ordnance Survey Name Book of 1858 says that the foundations were dug up ‘some years ago’ for the sake of the lime. In the first half of the 20th century they could still be traced under an ash tree in the garden. Today only a set of indistinct bankings and turf walls can be made out. A dormer pediment with fleur-de-lys finial (as well as perhaps a cross) from Whitslade is preserved in Hawick Museum.
North Synton Tower was granted to Barnaby Vach or Veitch of Dawyck in 1407. The oldest part may have been built for James Veitch, who succeeded to the lands in 1536. A vaulted basement, lit by four slit windows, is still well preserved. There is also a bun-shaped quern beside the east gable and a carved sandstone block built into the south gable.
In 1601 North Synton was described as having a ‘tower and fortalice’ and being an annexed part of the Barony of Dawyck. It was held by the Veitch family until 1641, when largely sold to Francis Scott of South Synton, except for Clerklands, in a charter granted by Charles I. The present T-shaped farmhouse was remodelled in 1689, but the oblong part possibly dates back another century.
There are two stories attached to Synton’s reiving families. The Scotts, for so long the sheriffs of Selkirkshire, could not prevent a murder on their doorstep when Robert Scott met his death violently at the hands of Andrew Cossar, at the beginning of the 16th century. A local legend states that the ghost of ‘the Cooper o’ the Loft’ can be seen fixing hoops to his phantom barrels; another version has him as the driver of a phantom coach.
During a dispute between the Tweedies and the Veitches at the end of the 16th century, nine men set upon Patrick Veitch and slayed him in a narrow defile by the Tweed. On hearing this, his brother James at North Synton set off to hunt the perpetrators down. Later he met one of them, John Tweedie, tutor of Drumelzier, walking in High Street of Edinburgh, and exacted revenge on June 20, 1590 – as recorded in Pitcarin’s Trials. The tutor’s wraith supposedly still haunts the Honey Knowe.
In 1641, feudal superiority of Ashkirk was granted to the Duke of Lennox, a third cousin of Charles I of England and key member of the Royalist party in the English Civil War. Parishioners John Cochran, James Laidlaw and Andrew Henderson chose to join the Scottish army to support the king against Oliver Cromwell, but were forced to repent their sins back home for ‘unlawful engagement’ into England. In 1644 the kirk session held a solemn fast in solidarity of the Royalist armies in England and Ireland.
During the turbulent Killing Time a few decades later, one minister fled the manse having failed to pray for Charles II, and sought sanctuary at North Synton farmhouse, living in an upper chamber that came to be known as the Minister’s Garret. The Parson’s Hole, just off the brae to Synton Mains, presumably took its name for similar reasons when Richard of Synton, Parson of Ashkirk, was flung by the congregation into a pit.
In June 1660 another fast was held in celebration of the restoration of Charles II. A further fast was observed in 1690 in the wake of the Glorious Revolution (two years earlier) that deposed his brother James. A right fickle bunch of fasters!
The Thief’s Road leading from Salenside over Woll Rig is another call back to this period, specifically the Mosstroopers, successors of the Border Reivers who were called to arms during the civil and religious unrest of the 17th century.
Prejudice was rife at the time. Parish records, for instance, contain an action against the travelling community, with an entry for 1643 noting “that no persons shall reset [harbour] any Egyptians [gypsies], and if they insist on staying then to come and tell the minister, and he, with the assistance of the gentlemen that he shall choose, shall go and put them out of the parish.”
Some time later, William Faa, aged 16, a son of the gypsy king of Kirk Yetholm, was summarily taken to the nearest tree and hanged for stealing a duck near the Merry Knowes. He is buried at Ashkirk churchyard. The tree on which he was executed slowly withered and died, while William’s spirit is said to roam the moor between Todrig and Whitslade’s “lying lea”.
Also in the session books are notes of collections for various causes. In 1643, parishioners were asked to give for English and Scots captives of the Turks at Algiers; in 1656, members were asked to support a distressed Waldensian minister; and in 1655, they collected for the poor of Edinburgh. In 1648, a new bell and bell house was ordered.
Blaeu’s 1654 map shows the village as ‘Askirck’ and on the south side of the Ale. A year later, on June 11- 25, there were no collections due to the spread of the plague, and preaching was done socially-distanced in the churchyard. Money was raised for individuals plagued by the plague, such as William Scott of Salenside, John Veitch of Clerklands, Francis Scott of South Synton, and Walter Veitch of North Synton. Much like Covid-19, it affected all ranks of society. The session was also responsible for the mortcloth (funeral cover) and a common coffin, to ensure that everyone could have a decent burial. In 1699, a time of national famine, the minutes report that the coffin was mended.
The church elders also enacted justice, giving the go-ahead to shackle parishioners in the jougs, or clothed them in white to be sat on a stool of repentance in front of the pulpit. This was often for trivial pursuits like selling ale after sunset; unmarried couples biding in each other’s houses after dark; and dastardly Sabbath-breakers!
In 1788, the feu-duty of Headshaw was still held by the College of Glasgow, this being the last piece of the centuries-old puzzle connecting Ashkirk with the city.
Preserving Our Past! Recording Our Present! Informing Our Future!
The Ancient and Honorable Carruthers Clan International Society CCIS
carruthersclan1@gmail.com carrothersclan@gmail.com
Dr Callum Watson – Knight of the Two L’s
CLAN CARRUTHERS INT SOCIETY CCIS HISTORIAN AND GENEALOGIST
You can find us on facebook at :
https://www.facebook.com/carrutherscarrothers.pat.9
https://www.facebook.com/CarruthersClan
https://www.facebook.com/CarruthersClanLLC
Disclaimer Ancient and Honorable Carruthers Clan International Societ
Credit: A Hawick Word Book (2021 ed.), Professor Douglas Scott; Hawick Archaeological Society Transactions (1939, 1956, 1964), Reverend James Reekie, Stuart Maxwell, J. Clark; The Story of Ashkirk, 1790-1990 (1990), Reverend Ian M. Strachan and Alasdair Allan
Bishop’s Stone boundary marker [Philip Mulholland]; the Burnfoot sword pommel [Hawick Museum]; A medieval cooking pot unearthed at Todrig [Airchie Oliver]; The oblong tower incorporated into North Synton [RCAHMS]; Todrig’s tower blended into later additions, c.1940 [RCAHMS]
CLAN CARRUTHERS - WARRIORS 