Edrington Castle (2 of 2))
Edrington was owned for centuries by the Lauders of the Bass. The family rose to prominence following the 1st War of Independence, during which they campaigned with both Sir William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, in recognition of which Bruce appointed 'Sir Robert de Laweder of the Bass', Justiciary of Scotland South of the Forth. In 1330 Sir Robert possessed the hereditary fishing rights of Edrington and was Keeper of nearby Berwick Castle and Sheriff there. It being fought practically in his front garden, Sir Robert was present at the battle of Halidon Hill in 1333, but did not take part due to the fact that he was unable to dismount from his horse in full armour owing to his advanced age (which probably saved his life!).
Following the Battle of Halidon Hill, as on other occasions throughout the wars between England and Scotland, the Lauders had Edrington and their other border estates forfeited and then granted by the English king to his own supporters, but upon their restoration to Scotland, the forfeiture was overturned and the lands regranted to the Lauders.
On 3rd February 1478 Robert Lauder was reappointed Keeper of the Castle at Berwick-upon-Tweed at a salary of £250 per annum, in which position he remained until the last year of the town's Scottish occupation. The castle was burnt by the Duke of Gloucester (the future King Richard III - recently discovered under a car park in Leicester!) in July 1482, during his expedition to capture Berwick, which fell the following month. While Berwick of course was to remain in English hands ever after, Edrington was soon rebuilt and re-taken in 1518 by the Homes of Wedderburn. In 1534 Henry VIII formally restored it to his nephew - King James V.
About 1540 the Lords of Council issued a summons against Ninian Trotter at the instance of Robert Lauder of the Bass, who claimed that Mr. Trotter had interfered with people using Robert Lauder's mill at Edrington in Berwickshire. Trotter had apparently abducted and imprisoned Mr. Rauf Cook from Berwick, who, with Lauder's consent, "had come to grind his corns at the said Robert's mylne forsaid."
About 1546 Edrington Castle was again captured by the English and in that year the Scots demanded that “their house of Edrington” should be immediately restored to them; and in accordance with a Treaty concluded in the church at Norham, Edward VI's appointees delivered it up.
When Sir George Lauder of Bass died in 1611 his moveable assets amounted to the considerable sum of £26,000. His extensive land holdings were in addition. His son and heir, who was only 14 when he died, should have been well provided for, however this was 'the century of absolute corruption in Scotland'! On his death his estate was placed in the hands of Curators, the principal being his mother. They handled matters badly and by 1626 young George and his mother were in some difficulties, with a forced sale of the Tynninghame Estate, which the Lauders had owned since the 12th century, imminent. It also heralded the approaching end of the family’s long ownership of Edrington. Not long after Edrington was resigned to Sir Patrick Hepburn of Waughton.
John Hepburn of Waughton was forced to resign Edrington, in a charter 1948 dated 1st March 1648, to James Scott, a merchant-burgess of Edinburgh. Mr. Scott was dead by June 1653, his wife, Jeanete Archibald, being described as his relict (widow) in a charter of that date. It then passed to another of his family, probably his son, Patrick Scott, who also became a merchant-burgess of Edinburgh, who was designated “of Edringtoune” in a charter dated 22nd February 1653, when he was confirmed in the lands of Langshaw in the barony of Melrose.
Patrick resigned the lands of Edrington, with the fishings etc., and “the manor-place” (in conjunction with a James Winraham, who may perhaps have been a creditor with a wadset*), on 16th June 1661 by sale, recorded in The Great Seal, to James Douglas, Master of Mordington, "eldest lawful son of William, Lord Mordington and his heirs male, whom failing, to William Douglas his next younger brother and his heirs male, whom failing to Francis Douglas his second brother”.
*A wadset was a private mortgage between individuals, with land as the collateral.)
The last Lord Mordington was a Jacobite and was forfeited. He died without an heir and as his uncles did not claim the title, it fell dormant. Edrington Castle it would appear was eventually superseded by Edrington House. The present mansion of that name, built about 1750 presumably by the descendants of Lord Mordington, stands on the site of the manor of Nether Mordington, about a mile north of here.
With the break-up of the ancient estate of Edrington, Mr. Edward Grey, the new owner, built a new country house a little to the south called Cawderstanes, along with with some farm cottages, one of which adjoins the castle and incorporates parts of it. Almost certainly his builders were responsible for quarrying the stone from the castle for the 'big house'. Someone wryly observed that Edrington "has suffered more from the attentions of local vandals than it ever did from the English."
These days, as Edrington slips deeper into obscurity, references to it usually dismiss it as little more than "a mere fragment of an ancient castle; a place of some importance in the Border wars."
Edrington Castle (2 of 2))
Edrington was owned for centuries by the Lauders of the Bass. The family rose to prominence following the 1st War of Independence, during which they campaigned with both Sir William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, in recognition of which Bruce appointed 'Sir Robert de Laweder of the Bass', Justiciary of Scotland South of the Forth. In 1330 Sir Robert possessed the hereditary fishing rights of Edrington and was Keeper of nearby Berwick Castle and Sheriff there. It being fought practically in his front garden, Sir Robert was present at the battle of Halidon Hill in 1333, but did not take part due to the fact that he was unable to dismount from his horse in full armour owing to his advanced age (which probably saved his life!).
Following the Battle of Halidon Hill, as on other occasions throughout the wars between England and Scotland, the Lauders had Edrington and their other border estates forfeited and then granted by the English king to his own supporters, but upon their restoration to Scotland, the forfeiture was overturned and the lands regranted to the Lauders.
On 3rd February 1478 Robert Lauder was reappointed Keeper of the Castle at Berwick-upon-Tweed at a salary of £250 per annum, in which position he remained until the last year of the town's Scottish occupation. The castle was burnt by the Duke of Gloucester (the future King Richard III - recently discovered under a car park in Leicester!) in July 1482, during his expedition to capture Berwick, which fell the following month. While Berwick of course was to remain in English hands ever after, Edrington was soon rebuilt and re-taken in 1518 by the Homes of Wedderburn. In 1534 Henry VIII formally restored it to his nephew - King James V.
About 1540 the Lords of Council issued a summons against Ninian Trotter at the instance of Robert Lauder of the Bass, who claimed that Mr. Trotter had interfered with people using Robert Lauder's mill at Edrington in Berwickshire. Trotter had apparently abducted and imprisoned Mr. Rauf Cook from Berwick, who, with Lauder's consent, "had come to grind his corns at the said Robert's mylne forsaid."
About 1546 Edrington Castle was again captured by the English and in that year the Scots demanded that “their house of Edrington” should be immediately restored to them; and in accordance with a Treaty concluded in the church at Norham, Edward VI's appointees delivered it up.
When Sir George Lauder of Bass died in 1611 his moveable assets amounted to the considerable sum of £26,000. His extensive land holdings were in addition. His son and heir, who was only 14 when he died, should have been well provided for, however this was 'the century of absolute corruption in Scotland'! On his death his estate was placed in the hands of Curators, the principal being his mother. They handled matters badly and by 1626 young George and his mother were in some difficulties, with a forced sale of the Tynninghame Estate, which the Lauders had owned since the 12th century, imminent. It also heralded the approaching end of the family’s long ownership of Edrington. Not long after Edrington was resigned to Sir Patrick Hepburn of Waughton.
John Hepburn of Waughton was forced to resign Edrington, in a charter 1948 dated 1st March 1648, to James Scott, a merchant-burgess of Edinburgh. Mr. Scott was dead by June 1653, his wife, Jeanete Archibald, being described as his relict (widow) in a charter of that date. It then passed to another of his family, probably his son, Patrick Scott, who also became a merchant-burgess of Edinburgh, who was designated “of Edringtoune” in a charter dated 22nd February 1653, when he was confirmed in the lands of Langshaw in the barony of Melrose.
Patrick resigned the lands of Edrington, with the fishings etc., and “the manor-place” (in conjunction with a James Winraham, who may perhaps have been a creditor with a wadset*), on 16th June 1661 by sale, recorded in The Great Seal, to James Douglas, Master of Mordington, "eldest lawful son of William, Lord Mordington and his heirs male, whom failing, to William Douglas his next younger brother and his heirs male, whom failing to Francis Douglas his second brother”.
*A wadset was a private mortgage between individuals, with land as the collateral.)
The last Lord Mordington was a Jacobite and was forfeited. He died without an heir and as his uncles did not claim the title, it fell dormant. Edrington Castle it would appear was eventually superseded by Edrington House. The present mansion of that name, built about 1750 presumably by the descendants of Lord Mordington, stands on the site of the manor of Nether Mordington, about a mile north of here.
With the break-up of the ancient estate of Edrington, Mr. Edward Grey, the new owner, built a new country house a little to the south called Cawderstanes, along with with some farm cottages, one of which adjoins the castle and incorporates parts of it. Almost certainly his builders were responsible for quarrying the stone from the castle for the 'big house'. Someone wryly observed that Edrington "has suffered more from the attentions of local vandals than it ever did from the English."
These days, as Edrington slips deeper into obscurity, references to it usually dismiss it as little more than "a mere fragment of an ancient castle; a place of some importance in the Border wars."