J. W. Buchan and Rev. H. Paton. Published 1925-7.
The beautiful glen and burn of Hopcarton are on the right side of the Tweed, opposite Mossfennan. The left or south side of the glen is part of the lands of Stanhope, and the north side, to which the name of Hopcarton was given, is now part of Drumelzier.
The earliest proprietors of Hopcarton were the Frasers, but by the reign of Alexander II. (1214-49) the monks of Melrose were in possession, and for a convenient access acquired a wayleave through Mossfennan from the proprietor, William Purvis. The grant to the monks was confirmed between the years 1291 and 1306 by Sir Simon Fraser, and thereafter the monks held the lands, although probably only in superiority, until the Reformation.
On 2nd April, 1568, Michael Balfour, styled Commendator of Melrose, by authority of royal letters dated 3rd March, 1567, granted to Alexander Balfour of Denmylne various lands and properties, including Hopcarton and also Kingledoors, the feu-duty for Hopcarton being £3 6s. 8d. Two years later James Douglas, son of William Douglas of Lochleven, became Abbot and Commendator, and on 28th August, 1609, King James VI. granted to John, Viscount of Haddington, Lord Ramsay of Barnis, lands which had formed part of the temporalities of Melrose Abbey, and this grant included Hopcarton. On the resignation of the Viscount of Haddington, the King on 25th August, 1618, granted the lordship of Melrose to Sir George Ramsay of Dalhousie, who was created Lord Ramsay of Melrose. He resigned part of his possessions, including those in Peeblesshire, and the King on 30th September, 1613, confirmed them to Thomas Hamilton, Lord Binning, President of the College of Justice.
Lord Binning, known as 'Tam o' the Cowgate,' was created Earl of Melrose in 1613, and a few years afterwards became Earl of Haddington. He and his son Thomas, Lord Binning, had a Crown charter embracing Hopcarton, on 1st March, 1634, for which the feu-duty was still £3 6s. 8d. Thereafter the Earls of Haddington kept up their title to Hopcarton for some time, but it could only have been a title to a nominal superiority, which is now dormant.
It would appear that the Tweedies possessed Hopcarton from an early date, although no trace of their title to it has been found. When John Tweedie, on the marriage of his son James in 1511, gave to him the lands of the west town of Drumelzier, one of the boundaries is stated to be Hopcarton burn, from which it is a natural inference, as Hopcarton is now part of Drumelzier and the burn is still the boundary, that the lands then belonged in property to the Tweedie family. If this is so, then the monks of Melrose were only holding at that time a superiority. In 1620, Hopcarton was wadset by James Tweedie to John Murray, of Halmyre, and on 1st March, 1643, along with the Barony of Drumelzier, it was confirmed to Lord Hay of Yester and his wife, Lady Margaret Montgomerie, by Crown charter. Hopcarton has since remained part of Drumelzier.
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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