J. W. Buchan and Rev. H. Paton. Published 1925-7.
The early history of the lands in Tweedsmuir is fragmentary and what there is of it is far from clear. Undoubtedly the earliest proprietors were the Frasers, who were notable people in Peeblesshire long before the War of Independence, and they owned the greater part of the parish.
Oliver Fraser is the first of the name that we know of in the county: he built Oliver Castle in the latter part of the twelfth century, which may have taken the place of an earlier castle built by him or his predecessors at Fruid. Neither of these castles is now in existence. The site of the one at Fruid can only be guessed at, but the site of the other is beyond doubt - above the road, on the lands of Nether Oliver (now part of the farm of Crook) immediately adjoining the lands of Oliver. It was a strong fortress in its day, but about a century later the principal residence of the Frasers was at Neidpath Castle, above Peebles. The mythical origin of the Fraser family has already been referred to. Nisbet in his 'Heraldry' places the family in Scotland as early as the eighth century, a statement which cannot be taken seriously. They came from France, but whether with William of Normandy, or later is not known. The name does not appear in the Roll of Battle Abbey, and, in fact, is not found in England until 1188. Oliver Fraser, who seems to have been a son of Kylvert Fraser, married a lady named Beatrice and had a daughter who married Udard Fraser, of which marriage there were three sons, Bernard, Gilbert and Adam. Sir Gilbert, the second son, is the direct ancestor of the family of Fraser of Philorth (Lord Saltoun); he was Sheriff of Traquair in 1233, and also, in 1259, designated Sheriff of Peebles. At that time it is apparent that the name of the sheriffdom or county had not been definitely fixed, and it was called indiscriminately Peebles or Traquair or Tweeddale.
Sir Gilbert Fraser, whose wife's name was Christian, died about 1263 leaving a family of four sons, John, Simon, Andrew and William. The eldest, John, predeceased his father; Andrew did homage to King Edward I at Dunfermline in 1291, and died before 1308; William was a famous man in his day: he took holy orders, became Dean of Glasgow, was Chancellor of Scotland (1274), and Bishop of St. Andrews (1279). After the death of King Alexander III. (1285-6) he was elected one of' the three regents for the North, along with Duncan, Earl of Fife, and Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan. He was also one of the King's executors. He died abroad in the year 1297.
Sir Simon Fraser, the second son of Sir Gilbert, was styled of Oliver Castle, and succeeded his father in the office of Sheriff of Peebles and Traquair, between 1264 and 1266. He died probably about 1280, and was succeeded by Simon, his son, who was knighted about 1288, appointed Keeper of the Forests of Traquair and Selkirk, swore fealty to King Edward I. at Norham in 1291, and was appointed, on the part of Baliol, one of the auditors to hear the pleadings of the Competitors for the Crown. He died in 1291, survived by his widow Maria, and at least two sons, Simon and Thomas.
Simon Fraser, the elder son, succeeded his father, but the office of Keeper of the Forests was granted by King Edward to William Comyn. His residence was principally at Neidpath Castle. He fought at the battle of Dunbar (1296), and the same year swore fealty to the English King, and was taken captive into England. His wife Marion, on 2nd January, 1296-7, got an allowance of 50 merks out of his lands in Peebleshire and elsewhere, which were valued at 200 merkes. He fought in France for the English, receiving £13 12s, being his pay as a Knight Banneret for 68 days service at 4s. per day: his lands were restored to him, and the King presented him with 'a ferrand pomele' horse. In 1300, at the siege of Carlaverock, he served under the English flag:
'Symon Fresele de cele gent,
Le ot noir a rosettes de argent.'
and was made Keeper of the Forest of Traquair. Then he joined the National party, and along with Comyn defeated the English at Roslin in 1303. His estates were forfeited in 1305, but restored on payment of three years' rental. He fought for Bruce at Methven in 1306, where he greatly distinguished himself, for he was a man of valour. In the same year he was captured and a barbarous death on the scaffold in London closed his life of hazard and adventure.
Sir Simon Fraser left two daughters, Mary, who married Sir Gilbert Hay of Locherworth, and Joanna, who married Sir Patrick Fleming of Biggar. And so the male line of the Frasers of Oliver and Neidpath Castle came to an end. Branches of the family lingered for a time in the county: there were Frasers in Fruid who held these lands in feu from the Oliver Frasers, and died out in the male line in the beginning of the sixteenth century; there were Frasers in Drumelzier who disappeared during the reign of King Robert the Bruce; and there were Frasers in Glenholm.
The lands in Peeblesshire which belonged to Sir Simon Fraser passed to his two daughters, and from them to their husbands, but there is no record as to the method of division. Neidpath Castle undoubtedly became the property of Sir Gilbert Hay, and it is possible that Sir Patrick Fleming got the greater part of the lands in the barony of Oliver Castle. This barony, judging from later writs, was of considerable extent, and comprised in the parish of Tweedsmuir the lands of Crook, Oliver Hearthstane, Talla Menzion, Fruid and Gameshope; in the parish of Drumelzier the lands of Kingledoors and Polmood; in the parish of Glenholm the lands of Glencotho; and in the parish of Megget (Selkirkshire) the lands of Todrig. Of the remaining lands in the parish, Hawkshaw, Carterhope and Fingland were apparently royal demesne, and perhaps also Glenbreck, Badlieu, Tweedhopefoot and Earlshaugh, which were later part of the barony of Drumelzier.
Sir Patrick Fleming, who thus acquired lands in Tweedsmuir, was a son of the famous Robert Fleming of Cumbernauld, who in 1306 with Kirkpatrick of Closeburn and others despatched the wounded Comyn after he had been stabbed by Bruce in the church in Dumfries. 'Let the deid shaw,' said Fleming, showing Bruce the head of his rival, and that saying became the family motto. Space does not permit an account of this great family who became Lords Fleming and Earls of Wigtown, and played a distinguished part in Scottish history. There was Sir David Fleming who fought at Otterburn (d. 1405-6), of whom Wyntoun records:
'Schire Davy Flemyng of Cumbirnald,
Lord, a Knight stout and bald,
Trowit and luvit wel with the King:
This ilke gud and gentyl Knycht
That was baith manful, lele and wycht.'
His son, Sir Malcolm Fleming, who was a hostage for King James I. on his release from captivity (1423) and who was beheaded in the Castle of Edinburgh in 1440, after a mock trial, along with William, the young Earl of Douglas and his brother; John, second Lord Fleming, who when hawking in Glenholm was assassinated by John Tweedie of Drumelzier (1524); his son Malcolm, the third Lord, who fell in the battle of Pinkie (1547), and whose daughter Mary was one of the Queen's Maries, and married William Maitland of Lethington (1567-68); John, the fifth Lord, who fought for Queen Mary at Carberry Hill and Langside, and accompanied her to England; John, the sixth Lord, who was created Earl of Wigtown (1606) and rendered many services to the King and State; John, the third Earl, who fought for Montrose at Philiphaugh (1645) and John, the sixth Earl and eleventh Lord Fleming, an ardent Jacobite, who opposed the treaty of Union in the Parliament of 1706, voting against every article, and was imprisoned in the Castle of Edinburgh as a suspect on the outbreak of the rising of 1715. The male line failed with Charles, the seventh Earl, and twelfth Lord Fleming, who died unmarried in 1747, and the title became extinct.
This information is reproduced from A History of Peeblesshire by J. W. Buchan and Rev. H. Paton, published in three volumes between 1925-7 by Jackson, Wylie and Co. of Glasgow. The original book includes many refences to the sources of the information, pedigrees and plates.
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