NUMBER. VIII.

PARISH OF POLWARTH.

(COUNTY OF MERSE. PRESBYTERY OF DUNSE.SYNOD OF MERSE AND TIVIOT DALE).

By the Rev. Mr ROBERT HOME, Minister.

Form, Situation, and Extent.

HIS parish is of a triangular torn, and terminates in

THIS

a point in the caft, where the four parishes o rolwarth, Fogo, Edrom, and Langton, all meet. It is about 3 miles long, and its utmost breadth about 2.

Soil and Cultivation. The foil is various; the greatest part clay, and fome of that on a tilly bed, which is beft adapted for grafs; other parts of it are gravellish, and fome fandy. On the north-weft there is a confiderable extent of muir.— The whole of the parish is inclosed, excepting a fmall farm, and the muir allotted by the proprietor to the use of the village, for pafture and fuel. Above 1500 acres are in inclofures of from 10 to 30

old grafs, and fubdivided into acres, all of them fufficiently watered. Theie are let annually by public roup, and bring very high rents, for the accommodation of thofe farmers, who breed more flock than they can maintain at home,

Produce

Produce, Proprietor, and Rents.-The principal crops in the parish are oats and barley, a few pease, and sometimes a little wheat. Turnips have of late years become a more general crop, and fucceed well. There is a confiderable quan

tity of old timber, of good fize, befides much young planting, which are, in general, very thriving.—Great attention has been paid by the Earl of MARCHMONT (fole proprietor of the parish) to the dreffing of the hedges; many of them are allowed to be the finest in the country. The valued rent of the parish is 16241. Scotch. The real rent is about 1000 1. Sterling. Grafs land lets at from 10 s. to 30 s. per acre; arable land from 17 s. to 20 s.

Population.-The village of Polwarth is the most populous part of the parith. The population has, on the whole, increafed within thefe 40 years, as will appear from the following table:

Number of fouls in the whole parish, as re

turned to Dr Webtter in 1755

Increase

PROFESSIONS IN THE VILLAGE.

251

37

Village, Climate, and Diseases.-The village of Polwarth is fituated on very wet, and even fwampy ground, fo that almoft in every houfe they have a hole dug to collect the under water, which requires to be often emptied in wet weather; and yet the inhabitants are very healthy, being neither fubject to rheumatic nor aguifh complaints. The prefent incumbent, who has been minifter of the parish 24 years, does not remember any epidemical diftemper prevailing in the village. The houfes are very much scattered, not above 2 or 3 at most being fituated close to each other. It is probably owing to this circumftance, that epidemic diftempers do not spread.-In the middle of the village there are two thorn trees, at about 6 yards diftance from each other, around which, it was formerly the cuftom, for every new married pair, with their company, to dance in a ring; from hence the fong of Polwarth on the Green. But this custom has fallen much into difufe, there not having been above 2 inftances of it thefe 20 years.

Manner of Living.-Almost every householder, along with his house, rents a fmall portion of land, called an acre, but which is often nearer two. With the produce thereof, together with what they can fpare from their gardens, and the use of a confiderable extent of muir, which they enjoy by the indulgence of the proprietor, they are enabled to keep one cow each, and most of them what is called a follower. As the rents of their fmall poffeffions are very moderate, they live comfortably, an feldom remove, moft of the families having been in the village for feveral generations

back;

In autumn 1790, an epidemic fever and fore throat, which was very prevalent in Dunfe and in every village round about, made its appearance in two different houfes in Polwarth at the fame time, but fpread no farther.

back; and, for every houfe that becomes empty, there are always feveral competitors. The 3 carters above mentioned have a larger portion of land, and keep 2 horfes, with which they plough the people's acres; and bring home their turf, which is their principal fuel.

Church-On the front of the church there is the following infcription:-Templum hoc Dei cultui in ecclefia de Polwarth, a fundi dominis ejufdem prius defignationis, dein cognominis, aedificatum et dicatum ante annum falutis 900, rectorioque beneficio dotatum Sed temporis curfu labefactum, a Dno. JOHANNE de SANCTO CLARO† de Herdmanfton genero Dni. Patricii de Polwarth de eodem, circa annum 1378, reparatum, tandem vero vetuftate ad ruinam vergens, fumptibus utriufque profapiae haeredis, Dni. PATRICII HUME, Comitis de MARCHMONT, &c. fummi Scotiae Chancellarii, et Dnae. GRISSELLE KAR, Comitiffae, ejus fponfae, fepulchri facello arcuato recens constructum, et campanarum obelissio adauctum fuit. Anno Domini 1703. The living confifts of 64 bolls of oats, 32 of barley, 241. 17 s. Sterling in money, with a manse, and a glebe of about 14 English acres.

Poor. The number of poor upon the roll of the parish amounts to twelve, and they receive in all, according to their different fituations, 261. 13s. 4d. which is raised by affeffment, whereof one half is paid by the proprietor, the other half by the tenants. Befides the inrolled poor, there are feveral who receive

from the kirk-feffion in

terim

ADAM HUME, as appears from his tomb.ftone, was the first minifter after the Reformation The three laft ministers, as well as the pretent incumbent, were all HUMES.

That is, Lord JOHN SINCLAIR.

terim fupplies; and others, particularly the widows of fuch as have been servants or day-labourers to the Earl of Marchmont, are allowed, by his Lordship, fome a stone, others half a stone of oat meal per week, which, with the produce of their own labour, enables them to live comfortably. It may also be obferved, that there are many old and infirm men, to whom his Lordship, (who has always been reinarkable for his humanity and attention to the poor people in this parith, as well as upon other parts of his estates), gives work, or rather wages for what they are unable to perform.

VOL. XVII.

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