J. W. Buchan and Rev. H. Paton. Published 1925-7.
The parish of Drumelzier consists of a long narrow strip of territory lying for the most part along the east bank of the upper Tweed, but taking a sharp turn across the river at the south end where it includes the lands and glen of Kingledoors. It is thus roughly in the shape of a boot, of which Kingledoors forms the toe, Polmood the heel, and the three estates of Stanhope, Drumelzier, and Dawyck, the leg. From the top of the leg, or the Stobo boundary, in the north to the point of the toe, or Tweedsmuir boundary in the south is roughly twelve miles, while the average width is about three miles. The area was given by Armstrong (1775) as 23,750 acres, but the correct measurement now is 17,970 acres. Considerable though this area is, the bulk of it is taken up with hills and ridges dividing the parish from Manor and Megget on the east and from Lanarkshire on the west, the result being that the only part suitable for cultivation and habitation lies along the riverside, where at the north end there is a wide and fertile haugh.
There are two suggested derivations of the name. One, that it is from the Gaelic Druim-(s)hoeller, meaning the bright or glancing ridge. Anyone who has seen the cold mid-winter sun steal down the glen and along the ridge, which, with the village as its base, is flung right out into the midst of the main valley, to where the church hangs steeply over the Powsail burn and looks down the more gradual slope to Tweed, will appreciate the appropriateness of this derivation. On the other hand, the fact that all the earliest documents relating to the parish show the spelling of the name with two m's is against it. The other theory, suggested by Professor Veitch, is that the name is a development of Drum Meldred, or the ridge of Meldred, who was supposed to be a princeling of the district, and therefore the earliest owner of the lands whose name has been handed down. This interpretation of the name is built upon the traditional account of the death of Merlin at the hands of certain shepherds of Meldred.
There seems to be no reason to question the existence of a historical character Merlin, but the facts of his life are confused by the accretions of later myths and romances associated with his name. Professor Veitch distinguishes two persons of that name, one living in the middle of the fifth century, the other in the latter half of the sixth century and even surviving into the seventh. This latter person, known as Merlin Caledonius, or Merlin the Wild, is the one associated with Tweeddale, and is to be distinguished from that Merlin whom tradition associates with the Arthurian legends.
Merlin Caledonius was a friend of Gwendollen, the leader of the Cymri in the fatal battle of Ardderyd in the forest of Caledon in 573, in which battle Gwendollen was slain, as was also a nephew of Merlin, the son of his sister Gwendydd. To quote the words of Professor Veitch:
'After this disastrous battle and the loss of his friend ... Merlin fled to the upper district of the Tweed (i.e. to the hills above Drumelzier) ... and passed the remainder of his life, reputed insane, among the glens of the broad hills. . . . There is no wilder or more solitary mountain land in the south of Scotland than these high spreading moors:. there is no scene which could be more fitly assigned to a heart-broken and despairing representative of the old Druidic nature worship, at once poet and priest of the fading faith, yet torn and distracted by secret doubts as to its truth and not knowing well where his beloved dead had gone, or what was their fate in that mysterious spirit-world he felt was above and around him.'So much appears to be pretty sound historical ground. We begin to pass more into the borderland of tradition and romance when we come to the account of the meeting of Merlin and Kentigern in the wild uplands overhanging the Powsail burn. According to this account, the Tweeddale apostle of Christianity was one day suddenly confronted by a weird, wild creature, unearthly to behold, and, boldly challenging the terrible figure, he received the reply, 'Once was I the prophet of Vortigern (Gwendollen), Merlin by name, now in this solitude enduring privations.' The legend goes on to tell of the success of Kentigern in winning the pagan seer to Christianity, followed by the tragic death of Merlin at the hands of the shepherds of Meldred. The site of his death and burial is indicated by tradition on the banks of Tweed where it is joined by the Powsail burn, and is marked by a very old thorn tree.
Such are the more credible historical facts and traditions regarding Merlin which associate him with this parish. The legends and romances of his wizardry are innumerable, and many of them quite evidently created by transferring to Merlin Caledonius tales which really belong to the earlier Arthurian Merlin. There is a well-known prophecy associated with Merlin of Drumelzier, which is embodied in the familiar couplet:
England and Scotland shall one monarch have.'
One can still discern evidences of prehistoric habitation in the parish. On Tinnies and on Henry's Brae are the outlines of very early earthwork fortifications. The former is a position of extraordinary natural defensive strength in the conditions of primitive warfare. It is a precipitous knoll rising some 200 feet above the haugh, and situated close up under the shadow of the equally precipitous Scawd Law, which towers hundreds of feet above it and is separated from it by a narrow bare ravine. No artificial defences appear or were needed on this side. On the haugh side is the roadway up, forming the lower line of defence and having entrances on the north and south corners. The north-east and south-west faces are defended by three earth ramparts at convenient distances apart, and with level places behind them for the defenders. Henry's Brae, immediately to the south-west of Tinnies, rises higher but more gradually, the summit being a large parallelogram round which may be still seen the debris of a wall enclosing it.
Between these two knolls a good spring rises, dividing almost immediately, one portion passing right under Tinnies and emerging on the other side. This, doubtless, served as a safe and valuable supply to the old castle. At the present day, when it emerges from Tinnies it enters a reservoir which supplies the Haugh farmhouse and cottages. The other branch runs down between the two knolls, and is now used as a water supply for some of the houses in the village. In feudal times a castle was built on the summit of Tinnies, and was a stronghold of the Tweedies.
Below Wester Dawyck the earthworks of Dawyck fort are still quite clearly defined, though they have been partly destroyed . by the plough. The remains are now protected by planting. On the edge of a little ravine near the 'Deid Wife' hill road to Manor may also be traced the remains of the Lour fort. The same site appears to have been occupied later by a feudal tower. The curved lines of the ancient earthworks are clearly traceable, and in the centre are remains of stone-work. A further evidence of Prehistoric habitation is indicated by the discovery of kists in the lower part of Dawyck deer park.
The general history of the parish will appear in the account given of the families and the lands. Until the year 1643 the parish included Tweedsmuir, or Upper Drumelzier as it was then called. To Lower Drumelzier, or Drumelzier proper, was added in 1742 the western portion of Dawyck. There were two early chapels within the district. One, which after the Reformation became the parish church, stood with its cemetery close by Merlin's grave, and beside it is the village of Drumelzier. By whom this chapel was originally founded there is no record to show; probably it owed its origin to the lords of the manor. The other chapel stood by the side of Kingledoors burn. There may also have been an ecclesiastical building at Hopcarton.
During the nineteenth century Drumelzier, like all rural parishes in Scotland, has seen a very great change in the conditions of life by the amalgamation of small farms into large ones; the rise in wages and improvement of the standard of living; the migration of the population; the freer intercourse both within the parish and with other districts with the advent of the bicycle and the motor-car. The principal farm, now known as Drumelzier Haugh, formerly consisted of three farms. The nucleus of the present farm was then known as Thanes Mains, and there were two small crofts called the Barnyard and the Ward, which are now represented by a ploughman's and a shepherd' s cottage, belonging to the Haugh.
During the latter half of the nineteenth century no less than thirteen cottages have disappeared from the village, the stones being mostly used for improving the dykes. The different standard of wages seems to us now almost ludicrous. According to the first Statistical Account, at the end of the eighteenth century servants' wages were regarded as high, the figures quoted being: for a man-servant, £6 per year; and for a maid-servant, £2 for the summer half year and 25s. for the winter. According to the same authority there were then in Drumelzier seven weavers, four tailors and apprentices, two masons and two smiths. All these trades have now entirely disappeared, and rural trades are represented in the parish by one joiner.
The population has steadily decreased. In 1755 it was 305; in 1790, 270. In 1831 it was 223; in 1861, 209; in 1891, 187; and at the last census of 1921 it was 186. The valuation of the parish was £4668 in 1815, £3477 in 1863, and is now (1926) £6326 15s.10d., in which £2852 is included for the water pipes from Talla Reservoir.
Electric light has been introduced into the mansion-house of Dawyck and into the farmhouse, buildings and cottages of Stanhope by harnessing the water power of the burns, the fall and flow of which are adequate for the purpose. And the last amenity of the social life of the community was added in 1923, when an army hut was erected in the village and opened as a recreation hall.
There are five estates in the parish: Drumelzier (which includes Hopcarton), Dawyck, Stanhope, Polmood, Kingledoors. Of these an account will be given, and of the families connected with them.
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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