Tweedsmuir and the Covenanters
1) The following is a snippet from the book Andrew Lorimer's Life and Times in the Upper Tweed Valley. About a mile up Badlieu Burn a tributary called Polskene is known by old herding families as Powskene, the burn of the bushes. I remember a stell (shelter) there with sheep buchts (folds) and a small stone-built kebhouse (used for ewes and abandoned lambs) which at one time must have been an inhabited dwelling. Around the ruins were signs of enclosures made with sods. It was here that a group of fugitives from the battle of Rullion Green 1666 made a fire to cook a stirk (bullock) lifted or bought from Hawkshaw. At first light all had vanished towards their distant galloway homes. Forestry ploughs and smothering pines have now permanently hidden whatever may have remained of the dwelling.
I enquired from the Scottish Covenanter Memorials Association if anyone could verify this story of the Covenanting fugitives fleeing from Rullion Green. This was published as a "Query" in issue No 79 - June 2002 of their Newsletter. As of today, December 2007, there has neen no response to this query.
There has been timber harvesting and replanting around the site and the woodmen have refrained from driving the timber harvesters and associated follower vehicles through the actual site hence preserving what little remains. There is very little to see - from the amateur vewpoint - and a lot of imagination is required in order to visulise what could have been there. The site is in the Badlieu Foretst (NT 043186). The site is recognised by Historic Scotland as a Unscheduled Site of Mediaeval or Later Rural Settlement - MOLRS.
2) The following is an article that I wrote for the Scottish Covenanter Memorials Association and appeared in their Newsletter, Issue No 91 - September 2006.
"In the year 1995 Andrew Lorimer a long time resident of Upper Tweed and respected shepherd was laid to rest, aged 90, in Tweedsmuir Kirkyard. He would have been pleased with his chosen spot as he was lying only a short distance from the Martyr's grave site of John Hunter who was killed in 1685.
Andrew's notes and diaries compiled during his lifetime were edited into a book titled Andrew Lorimer's Life and Times in the Upper Tweed Valley by Margaret Railton and published in 1998.
In this book are several anecdotes about the Covenanters in Upper Tweed including a couple pf references to John Hunter. The first of these was at Tweedsmuir Primary School that Andrew attended where the local Minister - The Rev. W. S. Crocket - when he came to the school made the pupils recite from memory the words from the headstone of Hunter's grave. Andrew only remembered the first two lines as the remainder made him too unhappy.
The second reference was regarding an earthworks in the hills near Polmood known as Hunter's Holes. Andrew's notes intimated that Hunter's Holes were named such because John Hunter the Martyr was John Hunter of Polmood and that he hid there to avoid capture. The pedigree of the Hunters of Polmood is fairly well documented and although there was a John Hunter of Polmood about that time he died in 1672. However this John Hunter had a son named James Hunter of Polmood and the records say this of him. "He was a Cameronian and attended field meetings, that during the persecution he had to leave Tweedsmuir, that he then lived in a place called Shank, and afterwards returned to Tweedsmuir, where he built himself a house between Carterhope and Fruid and died there in 1721"
In May 1684 a royal proclamation was issued denouncing those charged with rebellion who had fled from justice and in cluded a list of persons from Peeblesshire. This list sounded more like a muster of Upper Tweed and included two by the name of Hunter one George and one Adam. John the Martyr who was killed the following year and James the Cameronian were not on the wanted list.
It would appear that perhaps Andrew Lorimer had confused John Hunter the Martyr with James Hunter the Cameronian. Never the less, it is possible that James did hide in the Hunter Holes before he left Tweedsmuir and possibly other Hunters hiding from persecution. However it is my belief that the Hunter's Holes had been a bolt hole for the Hunters of Polmood for some time - with feuding neighbours such as the Tweedies, Geddes', Veitches and Burnets - a hideaway would be essential. One would not like to be about when the Tweedies called enquiring about stolen cattle.
An interesting aspect is that James the Cameronian having returned to Tweedsmuir possibly actually died there. Hence it is possible that James is also buried in Tweedsmuir Kirkyard. However there is no monumental inscription to verify this but further research may unearth something.
A poem about Tweedsmuir Kirkyard by the Rev. John Buchan appeared in Issue no 77 - September 2001, of the S.C.M.A. Newsletter. "
Notes.
Further information regarding James Hunter's - The Cameronian - possible residence in the Fruid Valley can be found on the site page Lost Farm Names of Tweedsmuir - Paragraph 7.2 on Blairsheep Farm.
The inscription on John Hunter's headstone in Tweedsmuir Kirkyard can be found on the site page Listed Building in Tweedsmuir Parish Paragraph 2. Tweedsmuir Kirkyard.