| Boon Farm | |
|---|---|
 Boon Farmhouse in 1924 | |
  Boon Farm Location within the Scottish Borders | |
| OS grid reference | NT574465 |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Postcode district | TD2 |
| Police | Scotland |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
Boon is a farm and former barony [1] located near Lauder, Scotland.
Boon (aka "Boune" or "Bounn"), derives from the Breton word bonn, meaning "boundary", or "limit". [2]
Boon Farm, a part of the former Legerwood parish, was carved out of lands that were originally covered in thick woodlands. The Picts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Britons, and Scots, successive possessors of this region, consumed the greater part of these woods through the ravages of war, in opening passages through the country, for domestic uses, and in clearing the ground for cultivation. [3]
The remains of an ancient wall, or earthen mound with a ditch on one side, known as The Black Dyke, or Heriot's Dyke, runs eastward from Boon towards Greenlaw and the coast at Berwick. It is not known by whom or at what time this wall was built, nor for what purpose it was intended. [4] [5] [6]
Up until the 12th century, the lands of Birkenside, Whitslaid, Legerwood, and the Morristons (near Earlston) were public lands. David I held these lands as his demesne, and in 1160, his grandson Malcolm IV granted the lands of Birkenside and Legerwood to Walter fitz Alan. The lands remained in the possession of the Stewart family until Robert II granted the lands of Birkenside, Legerwood, and Morriston to Alan de Lawedre (father of Robert de Lawedre of Edrington) on 13 June 1371. [7]
By the mid 17th century, the woodland had been almost completely cleared, except for a small remnant called Bounwoode which lay tucked up against the Boondreigh Water, a small burn that runs along the northern boundary of Legerwood before joining the Leader river to the west. [8]
After the widespread destruction of the native woods, the higher, hilly sections were overtaken by heath, and the lower and flat tracts became water-filled bogs and marshes. Small farm-steads with narrow fields were the norm for most of the 17th and early 18th centuries. [3]
The family of Lauder were still in possession of the lands until 1666 when Boon, and nearby Corsbie, were given as a dowry to Lady Mary Maitland, the daughter of John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, when she married John Hay, 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale. [4]
Boon Farm was continuously farmed by the Mirtle family from the late 1600s until 1810.
On 31 January 1810 John Mirtle of Boon Farm, uncle of William Mirtle, died at the advanced age of 95, leaving no heirs. [9] The farm passed through unknown hands until 1872, where Dr. Robert Shirra Gibb took over the lease and worked the lands for 50 years, until retiring in 1922. [4]
At 1070 feet above sea level, Boon Hill is a prominent eminence rising above the fields of Boon Farm and the surrounding countryside. During the reign of Queen Anne, there was a small fort on top of the hill which housed a Sergeant and two soldiers, stationed there to man the beacon hut. Portions of the fort remained standing until 1840, when they were blown down during a windstorm. The landowner, the Marquess of Tweeddale, ordered a small tower to be built upon the hill to commemorate the site of the old fort. [4]
Located near the base of Boon Hill, Dod's Corse Stone is an ancient shaft of sandstone sticking out of a block of the same material, inscribed with a cross on opposite sides. It was placed at the site of an old marketplace, according to local tradition. [10]
The stone commemorates a duel between Johnne Cranstoun, brother of Patrick Cranstoun of Corsbie, and Alexander Frenche on 13 March 1612. Frenche and his accomplice, James Wicht, were tried and sentenced to beheading. [11]
Boon Farm was the site of a proposed wind farm, which would have seen up to 21 wind turbines placed on Corsbie Moor. [12] [13] The proposal was ultimately rejected. [13] [14]
The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothian and, to the south-west, south and east, the English counties of Cumbria and Northumberland. The administrative centre of the area is Newtown St Boswells.
Berwickshire is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the time of the county's formation in the twelfth century, but became part of England in 1482 after several centuries of swapping back and forth between the two kingdoms. After the loss of Berwick, Duns and Greenlaw both served as county town at different periods.
The former Royal Burgh of Lauder is a town in the Scottish Borders in the historic county of Berwickshire. On the Southern Upland Way, the burgh lies 27 miles (43 km) southeast of Edinburgh, on the western edge of the Lammermuir Hills.
Duns is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was the county town of the historic county of Berwickshire.
Greenlaw is a town and civil parish situated in the foothills of the Lammermuir Hills on Blackadder Water at the junction of the A697 and the A6105 in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. At the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 661.
Ettrick and Lauderdale was one of four local government districts in the Borders region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996.
Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington and Thirlstane was a Senator of the College of Justice, an Ordinary Lord of Session from 1561 until 1584, and notable Scottish poet. He was served heir to his father, Sir William Maitland of Lethington, East Lothian, and Thirlestane, Berwickshire, on 15 October 1515, his father being one of the casualties at the Battle of Flodden. He held the political office of Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland and was also the Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland, from 1563 to 1567, and was succeeded in this post by his son Sir John Maitland, 1st Lord Maitland of Thirlestane.
Bruntsfield is a largely residential area around Bruntsfield Place in Southern Edinburgh, Scotland. In feudal times, it fell within the barony of Colinton.
Sir Robert Lauder of the Bass was a Scottish knight, armiger, and Governor of the Castle at Berwick-upon-Tweed. He was also a member of the old Scottish Parliament. The Lauders held the feudal barony of The Bass, East Lothian, Edrington Castle and lands in the parish of Mordington, Berwickshire, Tyninghame in Haddingtonshire, and numerous other estates and properties elsewhere in Scotland.
Thirlestane Castle is a castle set in extensive parklands near Lauder in the Borders of Scotland. The site is aptly named Castle Hill, as it stands upon raised ground. However, the raised land is within Lauderdale, the valley of the Leader Water. The land has been in the ownership of the Maitland family since 1587, and Thirlestane served as the seat of the Earls of Lauderdale. The castle was substantially extended in the 1670s by the first and only Duke of Lauderdale. Further additions were made in the 19th century. The castle is now cared for by a charitable trust, and is open to the public.
Blaikie is a Scottish surname.
Stenton is a parish and village in East Lothian, Scotland. It is bounded on the north by parts of the parishes of Prestonkirk and Dunbar, on the east by Spott and on the west by Whittingehame. The name is said to be of Saxon derivation. The village has a number of houses, a school, and a church.
Edrington is a medieval estate occupying the lower part of Mordington parish in Berwickshire, Scottish Borders, Scotland, five miles (8.0 km) west of Berwick-upon-Tweed. From probably the 14th century, if not earlier, a castle occupied the steep hill above the mill of the same name on the Whiteadder Water. The castle ruin is still marked on today's Ordnance Survey maps, and still appears in locality references in The Berwickshire News. The principal farm of the estate is Edrington Mains.
Sir Robert de Lawedre (Lauder), Knt., of Quarrelwood, Edrington, and the Bass was Justiciar of Scotia, a Scottish soldier of great prominence and Captain of Urquhart Castle. He is recorded by Fordun, in his Scotichronicon, and in Extracta ex variis Cronicis Scocie as "Robertus de Lavedir 'the good'"
Whitslaid Tower was an ancient Berwickshire seat of the Lauder family for over 300 years. It is today a ruin high above the eastern bank of the Leader Water, 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the burgh of Lauder, in the Scottish Borders. In feudal times it fell within a detached segment of the King's personal Barony of Renfrew.
Sir Robert de Lawedre (Lauder) of Edrington & The Bass, Knt., was a Burgess of Edinburgh and a confidant of King Robert III and sometime Guardian of his son, the future James I of Scotland.
Marchmont Estate lies near the village of Greenlaw in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, circa 45 miles (72 km) south east of Edinburgh. It is situated in the Merse, an area between the Lammermuirs to the north and the Cheviots to the south. It is part of what is commonly regarded as an exceptionally beautiful landscape, comprising a diverse range of land types from high and exposed grouse moor to rich alluvial agricultural land. The life of the estate has seen many stages, including rapid growth, shrinkage and stability, from its foundation in the fifteenth century under the first Hume owner, Patrick Hume, of Polwarth, through his successors and subsequent owners to the present day.
Gavinton is a small settlement in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south-west of Duns, the former county town of Berwickshire. The hamlet sits on a minor road off the A6105 Duns to Greenlaw road at grid reference NT767521.
Legerwood is a village by the Eden Water, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, near Lauder, near the Southern Upland Way.