SPROUSTON, a parish, in the district of Kelso,
county of Roxburgh; containing, with the village of
Lempitlaw, 1439 inhabitants, of whom 420 are in the village
of Sprouston, 2 miles (E. N. E.) from Kelso. This
place, the name of which is of uncertain derivation, is of
considerable antiquity, and appears to have formed part
of the endowment of the Abbey of Kelso in the year 1 128.
From its situation near the border, it participated in the
hostilities of the border warfare, and was destroyed
about the year 1540 by the invading army under the
Duke of Norfolk, which laid waste many villages on the
river Tweed. The village seems to have been anciently
of much greater extent than it is at present, and foundations
of old houses are said to have been discovered by
the plough in the lands above the Scurry rock, to which
plate it f)riginally extended in that direction. The parish
is bounded on the nortii by the river Tweed, and
on the east by the county of Northumberland. It is
about four miles in length and nearly of equal breadth,
comprising 8207 acres, of which 7130 are arable, 130
woodland and plantations, and the remainder rough pasture
and waste. The surface is broken by the heights
of Haddenrig, which traverse the parish nearly in the
centre, in a direction from north-east to south-west, and
by those of Lempitlaw, which extend along the southern
extremity. Both ridges are of gradual ascent, and
between them is an extensive valley, which, though generally
fertile, contains some portion of marshy land.
On the banks of the river the soil is a rich black
loam, and in a very good state of cultivation; in the
higher parts of the parish it is generally of a clayey
nature, but on some portions of Haddenrig poor and unproductive.
The crops are oats, barley, wheat, potatoes,
and turnips. Agriculture is highly improved: the lands
have been well drained, and inclosed; the farm-buildings
are mostly substantial and commodious, many of
them of a superior order; and all the more recent improvements
in the construction of implements have been
adopted. The plantations are chiefly of fir, and are
judiciously managed. The sheep fed in the parish are
usually of the Leicester breed, and great attention is
paid to live-stock generally. Freestone of excellent quality
was formerly abundant, and about half a mile from
the village a quarry was largely wrought; the stone was
much esteemed for building, and was used in the erection
of Kelso bridge, and of Abbotsford. On its being
exhausted, a new quarry was opened, but the stone is of
inferior quality, and is not extensively worked. Upon
the Tweed is a salmon-fishery, the rent of which, including
also a ferry, produces a little more than £70 per
annum to the proprietors. The annual value of real property
in the parish is £11561.
The village of Sprouston is pleasantly situated on the
river, and contains about 100 cottages, inhabited chiefly
by persons employed in agriculture, and in the several
trades which are carried on for the supply of the inhabitants
of the parish. It possesses facility of communication
with Kelso, the nearest market-town, and with
other places in the district, by roads kept in order by
statute labour, and by the turnpike-roads from Carham
to Cornhill and to Wooler. Great facility of intercourse
is also now afforded by the Kelso and Berwick-on-Tweed
railway, lately opened. Ecclesiastically the parish is in
the presbytery of Kelso, synod of Merse and Teviotdale,
and in the patronage of the Duke of Roxburghe: the
minister's stipend is £243. 3. 8., with a manse, and a
glebe valued at £25 per annum. Sprouston church,
erected in I78I, and repaired in 1845, is a substantial
edifice, situated on an eminence nearly in the centre of
the village, and adapted for a congregation of 500 persons.
The parochial school affords a useful education;
the master has a salary of £30, with £40 fees, a house,
and garden. There is a school at Iladden, which has a
small endowment given by Lady Ker, and an allowance
of £10 a year from the heritors; the remainder of the
income is derived from fees. There is also a school at
Lempitlaw, the muster of which receives £10 a year from
the heritors. Iladden-Stank and Rcddcn-burn are frequently
noticed in the histories of the border warfare,
as places t)f meeting of the commissioners on both sides
appointed for adjusting the boundaries of the two kingdoms,
and for the settlement of the various disputes
which arose during those unsettled times. Haddenrig
is distinguished as the site of a sanguinary conflict between
the Scottish forces and a body of English cavalry
consisting of 3000 troops, in which the latter were defeated.
Part of the ancient church of Lempitlaw, which
was originally a separate parish, was remaining till within
the last few years; but the ruins have been removed
at different times, to furnish materials for building and
for other uses. The churchyard, however, is still used
as a burying-place by the inhabitants of that district of
the parish.