Parish of Crailing

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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1791-99: Crailing
1834-45: Crailing

Crailing, a village and a parish of Teviotdale, in Roxburghshire. The village stands on Oxnam Water, 1¼ mile ESE of Nisbet station on the Jedburgh branch of the North British, 4½ miles NE of Jedburgh, and 7 SSW of Kelso, under which it has a post office. The parish, containing also the village and station of Nisbet, comprises the ancient parishes of Crailing, Nisbet, and Spittal. It is bounded NW and NE by Roxburgh, E by Eckford, SE by Oxnam, SW by Jedburgh, and W by Ancrum. Its greatest length, from N by W to S by E, is 4½ miles; its greatest breadth, from E to W, is 4 miles; and its area is 6043½ acres, of which 78 are water. The Teviot, winding 4¼ miles east-north-eastward on the Jedburgh border and through the interior, here from the S receives Oxnam Water, whose last 2¾ miles belong to Crailing. The surface, where the Teviot quits the parish, sinks to 150 feet above sea-level, thence rising to 619 feet near Littlelonley, on the S side of the river; on the N, to 774 at Peniel Heugh and 527 near Blackrig plantation. On Peniel Heugh is the Waterloo Column, 150 feet high, whose top is gained by a spiral staircase, and which bears inscription, ` To the Duke of Wellington and the British Army, William Kerr, sixth Marquis of Lothian, and his tenantry, dedicate this monument, 30 June 1815., These heights excepted, most of the parish consists of parts of the lowest, warmest, richest, and most lovely region of the Teviot's basin. The rocks of the hills are eruptive, those of the valley Devonian; and sandstone, of fine building quality, has been quarried in two places. The soil in general is a light loam. About 300 acres are under wood, less than 1000 are in permanent pasture, and nearly all the rest is under the plough. A Roman road may still be traced in the west; and two camps, supposed to be Roman, have left some vestiges on Peniel Heugh. David Calderwood, the Church historian, here entered on the ministry about 1604; and Samuel Rutherford (1600-61), the eminent Covenanting divine, was the son of a Nisbet farmer. Mounteviot, a seat of the Marquis of Lothian, is one of the three chief mansions, the others being Palace and Crailing House, a plain modern mansion, which crowns a gentle eminence above the wooded banks of Oxnam Water. Its owner, Jn. Paton, Esq. of Crailing (b. 1805; suc. 1826), holds 1493 acres in the shire, valued at £2323 per annum, and shares nearly all this parish with the Marquis, the latter owning its northern, and the former its southern, division. Crailing is in the presbytery of Jedburgh and synod of Merse and Teviotdale; the living is worth £370. The church, rebuilt about the middle of last century, is a very plain structure containing 300 sittings. A Free church contains 262 sittings; and a public school, with accommodation for 81 children, had(1880)an average attendance of 63, and a grant of £49,9s. 6d. Valuation (1882) £9374, 19s. 6d. Pop. (1801) 669, (1831) 733, (1861) 673, (1871) 657, (1881) 638.—Ord. Sur., shs. 17, 25, 1864-65.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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