J. W. Buchan and Rev. H. Paton. Published 1925-7.
These lands, lying on the west side of the river Tweed, are bounded on the north by Glencotho and Mossfennan, on the east by Polmood, on the south by the lands of Crook, Oliver and Glenbreck) and on the east by Lanarkshire, the boundary there running along a high ridge between Glenwhappen Rig (2262 ft.) and Coomb Dod (2082 ft.).
Kingledoors formed part of the barony of Oliver Castle of which the earliest proprietors were the Frasers. When Sir Simon Fraser was killed in 1306, the barony was divided between the Hays and the Flemings, and the division in regard to Kingledoors seems to have been that the lands on the north side of the burn, known as Craig Kingledoors, became the property of the Hays, and the lands on the south side the property of the Flemings. These lands on the south side were divided, the part at the foot of the burn being called Chapel Kingledoors, and the other part Kingledoors Hope or Over Kingledoors.
(a) CHAPEL KINGLEDOORS
Christin hermit of Kingledoors, was a witness to the adjustment of the marches of Stobo (1208-1214). Later, but before the end of the thirteenth century, this hermit's cell became a chapel dedicated to St. Cuthbert, and along with the adjacent lands called then South Kingledoors, and also with Hopcarton, was granted to the monks of Melrose by Sir Simon Fraser. The original grant is not in existence, but it was confirmed between 1291and 1306 by the granter's son, the last Sir Simon Fraser of Oliver, and its nature may be gathered from an indenture entered into in 1395 between the Abbot of Melrose, Sir Thomas de la Hay and Sir Malcolm Fleming. According to that, it appears that Sir Simon Fraser had made the grant in return for the saying of masses in memory of his family at the altar in the monastery of Melrose, and also by the monks at Kingledoors. This reddendo had been more honoured in the breach than by the observance, and the indenture stipulated that the lands would be liable to distraint unless the prescribed services were duly rendered. But a controversy continued concerning the repairing and upholding of the chapel and the finding of a priest by the monks of Melrose to celebrate divine service, and by the year 1417 Sir Malcolm Fleming was thoroughly tired of it, as his claims were always contradicted or denied. Accordingly in that year, Malcolm 'for the good of peace and by the prompting of divine charity' abandoned any right which he had in the chapel 'from the beginning of the world to the end of time,' and left the monks to do as they would.
After that the position is rather obscure. The monks claimed the lands, but no clear distinction seems to have been drawn between Chapel Kingledoors and the adjoining lands of Over Kingledoors, which belonged to the Flemings. After the Reformation, Francis, Earl of Bothwell, had a charter from the Commendator of Melrose, and on 21st April, 1567, he granted Chapel Kingledoors to John Somerville of Cambusnethan, Katherine Murray his wife, and their son John, for the 'old rent' of 12 merks and 20s. of augmentation. The Tweedies of Drumelzier were then occupying the lands along with Over Kingledoors, and Somerville warned them to remove. On Bothwell's forfeiture, the superiority passed to Michael Balfour, Commendator of Melrose, who on 2nd April, 1558, granted a charter of lands which included Hopcarton and Kingledoors to Alexander Balfour of Denmylne, who in 1573-4 confirmed Somerville's right of possession. In 1585, Somerville made over the lands to John, sixth Lord Fleming, who became first Earl of Wigtown, and who acquired in 1620 the superiority on the resignation of Thomas, Earl of Melrose, the feu-duty being 13.5 merks (£9).
[Foot Note: In 1555 William Tweedie of Drumelzier had several transactions with John Swan, the miller of Drumelzier, relative to the occupation of Chapel Kingledoors.]
In the meantime the Tweedies had continued as tenants of the lands. Adam Tweedie was there in 1573 and later, and also his brothers, Walter, William, Thomas and John. In 1637 Alexander Tweedie, tenant of the west side of Hearthstane, acquired the property, and on 31st July received a Crown charter to himself in liferent, and his son John in fee, of Chapel Kingledoors and also the half of Over Kingledoors, on the resignation of John, Earl of Wigtown, and others, the feu-duty being 13.5 merks. John Tweedie, the son, in 1668 resigned the property to his brother David (who married Margaret Hunter, of the Polmood family) under burden of a debt of £5000 to Adam Murray of Cardon. David Tweedie during his time mortgaged the property to the Williamsons of Cardrona, but redeemed it again. He had several children, and was succeeded by Robert Tweedie (died 1711), whose son James was served as his heir in 1712
(b) OVER KINGLERDOORS OR KINGLEDOORS HOPE
This part, adjoining Chapel Kingledoors in the south and west, passed, as has been noticed, from the Frasers to the Flemings. By an excambion in 1470 one half became the property of the Hays of Yester, and apparently is now included in the lands of Crook. The Flemings continued as owners of the remaining half, and in a roll of the head court of Peebles, undated but probably compiled early in the sixteenth century, Lord Fleming is entered as owner of the half of Kingledoors, and in an infeftment of Malcolm, third Lord Fleming, and his wife Janet Stewart (a natural daughter of King James IV.) in 1537 the property is described as a three merk land. Malcolm, third Lord Fleming, was killed at Pinkie in 1547, and his son was infcft in 1549. For at least fifty years before this Over Kingledoors was occupied, along with Chapel Kingledoors, by the Tweedies, and there is record of a tack in 1498 for £10 yearly by William Fleming of the Bord to John Tweedie of Drumelzier.
In 1637, John (Fleming), Earl of Wigtown, resigned his half of Over Kingledoors, along with Chapel Kingledoors, to Alexander Tweedie and his son, after which the two properties, as before stated, were held by the Tweedies.
(C) CRAIG KINGLEDOORS
This was the north half of Kingledoors: it passed from the Frasers to the Hays of Yester, and from the main line of that family it passed to the Hays of Talla. In 1468 the lands of Talla and Kingledoors are mentioned as liable for payment of the terce of Annabel Boyd, mother of Sir William Hay of Talla, which terce had formerly been paid from Wester Happrew, resigned by Sir William to John, Master of Yester. The superiority of Talla and Craig Kingledoors had been reserved by the Hays of Yester, and in 1512 John, Lord Hay of Yester, granted a charter of them to William Hay of Talla, on the narrative that they had belonged to the said William but had been 'recognosced' in the King's hands as a tenandry of the barony of Oliver Castle, that the fines had been paid, William Hay contributing his share, and that the barony had thereafter been restored. In 1541 Andrew Hay, son of William Hay of Talla, was infeft in a quarter of Craig Kingledoors under reservation of the liferent of his father and the terce of his mother, Janet Spottiswoode. In July, 1552, Lord Hay allowed James Tweedie of Drumelzier and Patrick, his son, to occupy his Steding of Kingildurris, but this may have been the half of Over Kingledoors which the Hays acquired in 1470, as David Welsh appears as tenant of Craig Kingledoors from 1555 to 1573. This David Welsh acts as bailie on 15th May, 1567, when John Hay of Talla took infeftment at 5 a.m. as heir to his father William in Craig Kingledoors and Talla. In 1580 John Hay of Talla resigned his lands of Talla to William, Lord Hay of Yester, but retained his lands of Kingledoors, which passed in 1585 to his son William, who was then infeft therein; and among the witnesses to the infeftrnent were William Welsh in Craig Kingledoors, his son John Welsh in Over Menzion, and Walter Tweedie in Chapel Kingledoors. From this infeftment there was excepted a quarter of the lands possessed by Mr. Andrew Hay (brother of William), rector of Renfrew, and he about 1590 made it over to his brother, who was then styled William Hay of Wyndene, and who thus became proprietor of the whole. In 1596, on a precept by James, Lord Hay of Yester, William Hay, then designed 'of Linplum' was infeft in Craig Kingledoors as heir to his father, John Hay of Talla, a witness being William Welsh, the tenant.
In 1600 there appears as a witness to a deed John Tweedie of Craig Kingledoors, and in 1618 he is again referred to as 'of Kingledoors.' He may have been the father of Alexander Tweedie, who, as we have seen, obtained, with his son John, in 1637 a Crown charter of Chapel Kingledoors and the half of Over Kingledoors. But no deed has been traced showing that John Tweedie was ever infeft in Craig Kingledoors, and the designation 'of' may be a mistake for 'in.' It seems clear that the Hays continued as owners, and about 1670, in the time of John, ninth Lord Hay and second Earl of Tweeddale, instructions were given to have the marches between Craig Kingledoors and Chapel Kingledoors defined. In 1686 he transferred Craig Kingledoors to his brother, William Hay of Drumelzier.
(d) THE WHOLE PROPERTY
We have seen that the Tweedies were proprietors of Chapel Kingledoors and one half of Over Kingledoors in 1712, and that Craig Kingledoors was acquired by William Hay of Drumelzier in 1686. William Hay before his death acquired from the Tweedies their share, and his son Alexander in 1736 had a Crown charter of the whole property.
The Hays of Drumelzier were owners till 1814, when William Hay of Drumelzier and Whittinghame sold it for £15,500 to Alexander Campbell of Hallyards, whose trustees in 1821 sold it for £16,000 to George Gillespie of Biggar.
In 1831 George Gillespie sold Kingledoors for £15,000 to Sir George Montgomery of Macbiehill, Baronet, whose trustees in 1832 transferred it for the same sum to the Rev. John Isaac Beresford of Macbiehill. He, in 1845, sold for £17,400 to James Giles of Kailzie, who in 1860 sold to James Tweedie of Quarter for £25,000.
James Tweedie's trustees in 1897 sold Kingledoors for £16,150 to Walter Stuart, who had been in occupation for a time as tenant, and on his death in 1905 the property passed under entail to his eldest son, Captain John Stuart, of the Mercantile Marine. Captain Stuart died in 1910, and his youngest son, Walter Stuart, is the present laird.
The rental of Kingledoors is £595.
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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