LILLIESLEAF, a village and parish, in the district
of Melrose, county of Roxburgh; containing 771
inhabitants, of whom 355 are in the village, 6 miles
(E. S. E.) from Selkirk. This parish, the name of which
has in various records been written Lillesclive and Lillesclif,
is seated on the river Ale, which, after forming its
boundary for about four miles, intersects the parish of
Ancrum, and then falls into the Teviot. In common
with other places similarly situated, it was thickly studded
with fortresses, as a defence against the incursions
of the enemy during the border warfare, in which it
largely participated. Of these there were not less than
fourteen, the most considerable being one on the highest
part of the eminence whereon the village is built. It
was two stories high, and rendered strong by its position,
having a gradual ascent from the Ale on the north,
and a large pool and morass on the south; the fortress
was of rectangular form, and capable of maintaining 100
men within its walls. There were numerous smaller
towers, called peels, in the village, in which the inhabitants
commonly resided, their houses at that jjeriod being
necessarily constructed for defence against incessant attacks:
the remains of two of these towers are still to be
seen. On the suppression of conventicles in the reign
of Charles II., the moors in this parish were, from their
secluded situation, selected for holding meetings; and
some of the inhabitants were visited with imprisonment,
exile, and death for attending them.
The PARISH is nearly six miles in length and about
two miles and a half in breadth, comprising 7000 acres,
of which 2800 are arable, 3500 meadow and pasture,
650 woodland and plantations, and fifty acres waste.
Its surface is intersected from east to west by several
ridgy heights, and is agreeably varied with rich valleys
and well-cultivated declivities, interspersed with flourishing
plantations, and presenting altogether an aspect of
cheerfulness and fertility. In some places the soil is a
loam, but generally it is a heavy clay with a substratum
of whinstone. During the last five and twenty years,
there have been great improvements in agriculture; a
large proportion of the land bears good crops, and is
now in a high state of cultivation. The pool and morass
which during the border warfare served as a defence to
the principal fortress, and which was formerly a resort
of sea-gulls, has been partially drained; cattle now pasture
on some parts of it, and on others the grass is cut
for hay. The system of agriculture called the four- shift
course is prevalent. The want of lime, which is to be
procured only from a distance of nearly thirty miles,
and at a very considerable expense, is deeply felt; but
on some farms where it has been used, the increase of
the crops, and the melioration of the soil, have been
found commensurate with the cost. The plantations
are larch and Scotch fir, with a portion of oak, ash, elm,
and beech; and being well managed, they are generally
thriving. A saw-mill, for the purpose of cutting and
preparing timber for paling, fire-wood, and other purposes,
has been erected some years on the Riddell estate;
it is worked by water, and has been found of extensive
use. Many of the farm-houses have been lately rebuilt,
in the construction of which, there is much more attention
to comfort and convenience than formerly; the
fences are well kept, and add greatly to the beauty of
the landscape. The principal fuel is coal, which, being
brought from a distance of about thirty miles, is of rather
high price; but peat of inferior quality, brushwood, and
the thinnings of the plantations, are very generally used,
though, from the scarcity of the peat, which is nearly
exhausted, and the dearness of brushwood, coal is little
more expensive. The annual value of real property in
the parish is £56S4. The principal gentleman's seat is
Riddell, for many generations the property and residence
of the Riddell family, but which, on the death of Sir
John B. Riddell, Bart., in 1819, was purchased by Mark Sprot, Esq. . .
The village is pleasantly situated, and such of the "V iJL-O
houses as have been lately built are neat and comfortable; (
the old ones are the very reverse. A few of its inhabitants
are employed in weaving stockings for the manufacturers
of Hawick, but the majority are engaged in trades dependent
upon agriculture, and a few in agriculture itself. \
A subscription hbrary has been formed within the last
thirty or forty years, which consists of a large collection
of volumes; and a post-office has been established in
the village. Facility of communication with the neighbouring
towns is maintained by roads kept in repair at
the expense of the landowners, their tenants and householders.
Ecclesiastically the parish is in the presbytery
of Selkirk, synod of Merse and Teviotdale, and in the
patronage of the Duke of Roxburghe: the minister's
stipend is £243. 8. 5., with a manse, and a glebe valued
at £17 per annum. Lilliesleaf church, built in 1*71, is
in good repair, and conveniently situated for the resort
of the parishioners, but, from the lowness of the site, is
subject to damp; in the eastern aisle is a stone with the
date 1110, removed from the old church, which must
have been of great antiquity. There is a place of worship
for the United Presbyterian Church. The parochial
school, for which a very commodious building has been
erected by the heritors, affords a useful education; the
master has a salary of £30, with £17 fees, and a house
and garden. There is a private school, for which a
schoolroom has been provided rent-free; and the ladies
in the neighbourhood patronize and encourage a school
for girls, who are taught sewing, reading, and the elements
of arithmetic. The sum of £100 was bequeathed
to the Kirk Session above a century since; the interest
is appropriated by the heritors in lessening the assessment
for poor's rates. Two stone coffins, one containing
an earthen pot filled with ashes and arms, and inscribed
with the date 7-7, and the other containing the bones
of a skeleton of gigantic stature, and bearing the date
936, were discovered in the ancient chapel on the Riddell
estate, which has long ceased to exist. These are
supposed to have been the remains of ancestors of the
Riddell family, to one of whom, Walter Rydale, sheriff
of Roxburgh, a charter was granted by David I., confirming
to him the estate of Lilliesclive, and others which
his father, Gervasius de Rydale, possessed at the time of
his death.