COLDSTREAM, a parish and burgh (of barony) and market-town,
in the county of Berwick, 14 miles (S. W.)
from Berwick; containing 2857 inhabitants, of whom
19J3 are iu the town, and 150 in the village of New
Coldstream. The parish was originally called Leinhal,
or Lennel, a name of Saxon etymology, signifying " a
great hall ", and supposed to have been derived from the
foundation of a Cistercian nunnery by Cospatrick, Earl
of March, in the early part of the twelfth century. The
small village of Lennel, which soon afterwards arose
round the priory, being exposed from its situation to
hostile incursions during the wars of the Border, suffered
continual depredations, and was ultimately destroyed by
the English; not a vestige of it is left, nor can even
the site be distinctly pointed out. The monastery flourished
till the general dissolution, when its revenues
amounted to £201 in money, three chalders, eleven bolls,
two firlots, three and a half pecks of wheat, the same
quantity of bear, and also of meal. It was beautifully
situated near the confluence of the river Leet with the
Tweed, and was of considerable importance, but only
one solitary vault is now remaining. During the interregnum.
General Monk, who had fixed his head-quarters
at this place, raised a regiment of infantry here, which
accompanied him on his return to England for the restoration
of the exiled monarch, and which is still distinguished
as the Coldstream regiment of guards. After
the decay of the village of Lennel, a new church was
erected, in 17 16, at Coldstream, in the more populous
district of the parish; and to this circumstance may be
attributed the increase of the town.
The TOWN is pleasantly situated on the river Tweed,
over which is a handsome stone bridge of five arches,
that connects it with England; and affording an approach
to it on the west, is a bridge of one arch over the
river Leet. It is neatly built; the streets are lighted
and cleansed, and the inhabitants are supplied with
water, under the regulations of the Police act. A public
library is supported by subscription, containing a good
collection of works on general literature; and there are
two other subscription libraries, for the use of mechanics
and the working classes. No manufactures are carried
on in the town: the principal trade of the place consists
in furnishing coal and various other articles for the
neighbourhood. The market, which is well supplied
with grain, is on Thursday; and there is also a monthly
market, for the sale of cattle and sheep, which is numerously
attended. A salmon-fishery on the Tweed here
was formerly extensive; but the fish have within the last
few years very much diminished, and the whole rental
at present is scarcely £100 per annum. The town is
governed by a baron-bailie, appointed by the superiors
of the two baronies of Coldstream and Hirsel, in which
it is situated. His jurisdiction extends to civil and
criminal cases, for the determination of which he holds
courts at stated periods: the average annual number of
civil causes determined is about thirty, and of criminal
cases, about six; but the latter are chiefly offences
against the police of the town, to which the bailie confines
himself, referring important matters to the procuratorfiscal
for the county. There is a small prison for the confinement
of persons previously to their committal.
The PARISH, which is situated nearly at an equal distance
between the Cheviot and the Lammermoor hills,
is from seven to eight miles in length, and rather more
than four in average breadth. Its surface is generally
level, diversified only by some gentle elevations; the
scenery is pleasingly varied, and richly embellished with
woods and plantations. The only streams that have
their source here, are the Gradenburn and Shiellsburn,
which, after traversing the parish, fall into the river
Tweed, its southern boundary; the only lake is one of
artificial construction, in the pleasure-grounds of Hirsel.
In this parish the soil is mostly rich, especially near the
rivers, in proportion to the distance from which is its
tendency to clay. The number of acres in tillage is 8000,
and the chief crops are, grain of all kinds, for which the
soil is well adapted; potatoes; and turnips, which last
are extensively cultivated. The system of agriculture is
in a highly advanced state; bone-dust is applied as
manure, and all the more recent improvements in husbandry
are in use. Great attention is paid to live stock;
the cattle, with the exception of a few of the Highland
breed, are all the Teeswater or short-horned, and the
sheep are of the Cheviot and Leicestershire breeds. The
annual value of real property in the parish is £15,31".
The woods are chiefly of oak, birch, beech, ash, and elm;
and the plantations, Scotch and spruce firs, intermixed
with the usual forest-trees: larch is not found to thrive
in the soil, and consequently very few trees of that sort
are planted; but all the other kinds seem well adapted
to the land, and are iu a prosperous state. The substrata
are white sandstone, clay-marl, reddish sandstone,
limestone, and gypsum. Of these, the white sandstone
or freestone is of very excelleat quality for building, and
is extensively quarried in several parts of the parish.
The red sandstone is also quarried, but not to any great
extent; the limestone is of inferior quality, and, though
quarried in some places for the roads, is not burnt into
lime. The gypsum is found chiefly on the banks of the
Leet, where it occurs in nodules of a reddish hue, and
at Milne-Graden, where, in boring for coal some years
since, it was discovered in thin veins of a whitish colour.
Among the minerals are crystals of quartz, calcareous
spar, phrenite, and sulphate of lime; and the strata of
the district contain various fossil remains. Of the seats
in the parish are, Lennel House, the property of the Earl
of Haddington, lord of the barony of Coldstream, a handsome
mansion of modern character; and Hirsel, the seat
of the Earl of Home, lord of the barony of Hirsel, an
elegant mansion of white stone, erected with materials
from a quarry iu the parish. In the grounds of the
latter is a lake of considerable dimensions; and at the
base of an acclivity rising from the bank of the Leet, and
richly wooded, a monument was erected by a late Lord
Home to the memory of his eldest son, who died in
America, of his wounds in the battle of Camden; the
design is a reduced imitation of the obelisk of Mattheus at
Rome. The seats of the Lees, Milne-Graden, and Castlelaw
are also mansions of white freestone.
For ECCLESIASTICAL purposcs the parish is within the
bounds of the presbytery of Cbirnside, synod of Merse
and Teviotdale; patron, the Earl of Haddington. The
stipend of the incumbent is £'233; the manse is a comfortable
residence, erected in 1830, and the glebe comprises
eleven acres of land, valued at £40 per annum.
The chunh, erected in the year 179^. 's a substantial
edifice, adapted for a congregation of 1100 persons.
There are places of worship for the United Presbyterian
Synod. The parochial school affords instruction to about
120 children; the master has a salary of £34, with a
house and garden, and the fees average £'5 per annum.
The late John Bell, Esq., bequeathed £.500 for the instruction
of poor children of the town, and also £300 for
supplying them with clothing on their leaving school.
Stone coffins have been found, and quantities of human
bones, in the grounds of Hirsel, and near the junction of
the Leet and Tweed,where the ancient abbey was situated.
The bones thus found are supposed to be the remains of
warriors slain in the battle of Flodden-Field, the most
illustrious of whom were conveyed to Coldstream by
order of the abbess, and interred in the abbey cemetery.
Several ancient coins also, of the reigns of the Jameses,
have been discovered in the grounds of Milne-Graden.
Patrick Brydone, Esq., author of a Tout in Sicily and
Malta, and for many years resident in the old mansion
of Lennel House, was buried in the ancient church of
Lennel, of which there are still some vestiges.