CRANSHAWS, a parish, in the county of Berwick,
9 miles (N. W.) from Dunse; containing 1'20
inhabitants. The derivation of the name of this place
is doubtful, some supposing it to have been applied in
consequence of the number of cranes or herons by
which the district was originally visited, while others
trace it to the cranberry bush, which is a native of the
hills and mosses. In the fourteenth century the barony
was possessed by the family of Douglas; and in 1401,
Archibald, the. fourth Earl of Douglas, assigned the
estates to Sir John Swinton, of Swiuton, whom he calls
in the deed dilectus consanguineus noster. The family of
Swinton held the property for a considerable period;
and in June 1640 an act was passed by the parliament,
confirming to them the baronies of Swinton and Cranshaws,
with the teinds, and the patronage of the church.
In the times of the border warfare, the district was involved
in the general commotions, and Cranshaws Castle
appears to have been a place of refuge from the sudden
incursions of the English, as well as the old castle of
Scarlaw, which was used by the inhabitants of another
division of the parish.
The PARISH, which is pastoral, is divided into two
distinct portions by the intervention of the parish of
Longfonnacus. The part in which the church stands is
a pentagon in form, containing about six square miles,
and bounded by the Whitadder river on the north and
east: the other part of the parish is about five miles
long, two in mean breadth, and is bounded on the north
and north-east by the Dye Water, a tributary of the
Whitadder. The surface consists chiefly of lofty hills,
covered to a great extent with heath, and best suited to
pasture, although most of the farms have each a portion
of arable land. The highest ground is JManslaughter-
Law, so called, as tradition reports, from a bloody engagement
which took place near it, in 140*2, between
the Earl of Dunbar and Hepburn of Hailes. There are
numerous springs in the parish, one of which is chalybeate.
About 350 acres only are under tillage, the
produce consisting of oats, barley, peas, turnips, potatoes,
and sown grasses; the grain is sent to Haddington and
Dunbar. There are about 4400 sheep kept; they are
all Cheviots, and are sent to Gilford, Dunse, and Edinburgh:
the black-cattle are a mixture of several kinds.
The annual value of real property in the parish is £1132.
The principal substrata are greywacke and greywackeslate.
Boulders of granite, sienite, and porphyry are
washed down from rocks of conglomerate in the parishes
of Stenton and Whittingham; and in Cranshaws Hill is
a fine conglomerated rock, with an intermixture of ironore.
Near this occurs sandstone of the secondary formation,
coloured by grains of iron, and of good quality
for building; and from the same hill wherein this is
found, large quantities of yellow-ochre issue, which are
used by the people in colouring the walls of houses.
Ecclesiastically the parish is within the bounds of the
presbytery of Dunse, synod of Merse and Teviotdale.
The minister's stipend is £158. 6. 8., of which more
than three-fourths are received from the exchequer, and
there is a manse, with a glebe valued at £17 per annum;
patroness, Lady Aberdour. Cranshaws church, a very
plain edifice, was built in 1/39, and will contain 120
persons. A parochial school is supported, in which all
the usual branches of education are taught; the master's
salary is £34, with about £10 fees, and the allowance of
house and garden. There is also a parochial library,
consisting of 200 volumes. The chief relic of antiquity
is the Castle of Cranshaws, an oblong structure of forty
feet by twenty-four, with walls forty-five feet high, and
a modern battlement. Upon a hill on the south-west
side of the parish are two immense heaps of stones, said
to have been collected to commemorate the death of
twin-brothers of the name of Edgar, who fell while commanding
different portions of an army which had mutinied:
these stones are called the Twin-law Cairns.
(See the article on Wesfruther.) In the back wall of
the church, and opposite the pulpit, are figures, cut in
stone, of two unicorns supporting a crown, with a lion
between them. The traditional tale with respect to
these figures is, that a king of Scotland, returning from
a hunt on Saturday, arrived at Cranshaws Castle, and
went next day to the then existing church; that, when
the congregation was dismissed, he complimented the
clergyman on his performance, but reminded him of one
omission, the not praying for the king; and that, to
prevent similar neglects in future, his majesty ordered
the above arms to be placed before the pulpit.