MAXTON, a parish (rural), in the district of Melrose,
county of Roxburgh; containing, with the village of
Rutherford, 459 inhabitants, of whom 110 are in the
village of Maxton: the centre of the parish is about
seven miles distant from each of the three market-towns
of Melrose, Jedburgh, and Kelso. This place appears to
have derived its name from its proprietor, Maccus, who
in the early part of the twelfth century possessed the
manor, which in ancient records is called Maccuston and
Mackiston. A carucate of land in the parish was granted
to Melrose abbey, about the beginning of the thirteenth
century, by Robert de Berkely, whose daughter Alice
was married to Hugh de Normanville; but the barony,
being subsequently forfeited by William de Soulis, was
granted by Robert I. to Walter, Lord Steward of Scotland,
who gave the patronage of the church, with some
contiguous lands, to the abbey of Dryburgh, to which
the church seems to have been an appendage till the
Reformation. The ancient village of Maxton is said by
some to have been very populous, and to have been able
to furnish many armed men; but with greater probability
it is supposed to have been only the occasional
rendezvous of the numerous troops which subsisted on
the borders by continual depredations on their southern
neighbours. That it was, however, of much more importance
than it is at present, is evident from the foundations
of buildings which are frequently discovered in the
progress of cultivation; and the shaft of the ancient
cross still marks the site of what was perhaps the principal
street, though now containing only a few miserable cabins.
The PARISH is pleasantly situated on the banks of the
river Tweed, which forms its northern boundary for
more than three miles. It is four miles in length, and
nearly three in breadth in the broadest part, diminishing
in other parts to about one half; and comprises 4514
acres, of which 3836 are arable, 668 woodland and plantations,
and ten acres an irreclaimable bog. The surface
is undulated, and rises in a gentle acclivity from the
river; it is diversiBed with numerous flourishing trees,
and the country around embraces much interesting
scenery. In the southern and higher parts the soil is
thin and wet, but in the north of better quality, consisting
of a light and dry earth resting on freestone and
gravel, and a rich loam on a substratum of clay, and
bearing heavy crops of wheat, barley, and oats, with
peas, beans, turnips, and clover. The bed of the Tweed
is a reddish sandstone, which is quarried, also, in the
steepest of its banks, and is of good quality for building.
Masses of whinstone are likewise found on the banks of
the river, and in other parts of the parish, of great
hardness, and well adapted to the formation and repair
of roads. The four, five, and six shift courses of husbandry
prevail, according to the several qualities of the
soil; and agriculture in general is in a very improved
state. The plantations consist principally of ash, elm,
larch, and oak, which thrive exceedingly well, and Scotch
fir, which thrives for a short time, but seldom forms
profitable timber. Great improvements have taken
place in draining, inclosing, and fencing the lands; lime
and bone-dust are much used, and considerable facilities
for obtaining the former have been afforded by the improvement
of the roads. The farm houses and offices,
also, are substantially built and commodious. Considerable
advantage is derived to Maxton from its proximity
to the several markets of Jedburgh, Kelso, and
Melrose, and from the facility of intercourse which it
enjoys. The cattle are chiefly the short-horned breed;
and the sheep the Leicestershire, with a few of the Cheviot,
and a cross between both: much attention is paid
to their management, and to the improvement of the
stock. The annual value of real property in the parish is £45.^6.
Maxton is ecclesiastically in the presbytery of Selkirk,
synod of Merse and Teviotdale, and in the patronage of
Sir W. H. Don, Bart.; the minister's stipend is £211.
1.5. 10., with a manse, and a glebe valued at £10 per
annum. The church, romantically overhanging the
Tweed, is part of a very ancient structure dedicated to
St. Cuthbert; the time of its original foundation is unknown,
but it was modernised and repaired in 1812, and
gives accommodation to a congregation of 150 persons.
The parochial school affords a useful education, but the
children of the peasantry, from the early age at which
they are employed in agriculture, derive but partial benefit
from it; the master has a salary of £30 a year,
with a house and garden. The poor receive the interest
of a sum bequeathed for charitable uses, amounting to
about 32.V. per annum. In the north-east of the parish
are the remains of an ancient fortification of semicircular
form, nearly 160 feet in diameter, and situated on
the summit of a cliff impending over the Tweed, by
which it is defended on that side, being secured on the
others by deep trenches and ramparts. It is called
Ringly Hall, but the origin of the name is unknown,
neither has it been ascertained by whom the fortification
was made. C)n its east side was an entrance; and at
no great distance, but in the parish of Kr)xburgh, is a
tumulu.s with which it appears to have been connected.
The English, in one of the border skirmishes, are said
to have occupied this station, while the Scots took up
their position in a deep ravine on the other side of the
Tweed; and the former, having forded the river to
attack the latter, sustained a signal defeat, and many of
them were slain. The spot where they were buried was
the cemetery of the church of Rutherford, a small parish
which, after the dissolution of its church, was annexed
to Maxton. There was an hospital connected with the
church ot Rutherford, for the reception of strangers and
the maintenance of infirm poor. It was dedicated to
St. Mary Magdalene, and was granted by Robert I. to
the canons of Jedburgh, which grant was confirmed to
that body by Robert II. No remains exist of any of
the buildings; the site has been ploughed up, and the
gravestones in the cemetery have been broken, and used
as materials in the construction of drains. Vestiges of
a Roman camp, on the west side of which are the remains
of a Roman road, are still to be traced on the
declivity of a hill near Lilliards Edge: the road, in some
parts tolerably perfect, passes by the western boundary
of the parish, and crosses the river Teviot near the
mouth of the Jed, and the river Tweed near Melrose.
About a mile westward of the site of the ancient village
of Rutherford are the ruins of Littledean Tower, once a
place of great strength, and the residence of the Kerrs,
of Littledean, by whom it was finally deserted during
the last century; they occupy an elevated site on the
bank of the Tweed, but are rapidly disappearing.