EARLS AND

DUKES OF

See also:

• EARLS AND DUKES OF ROXBURGHE

ROXBURGHE  . ROBERT KER, 1st earl of Roxburghe (c . 1570-1650), was the eldest son of William Ker of Cessford (d . 1606) and the grandson of Sir Walter Ker (d. c . 1584), who fought against Mary queen of Scots both at Carberry Hill and at Langside . He was descended from Sir Andrew Ker of Cessford (d . 1526) who fought at Flodden and was killed near Melrose in January 1526 by the Scotts of Buccleuch . The deed was avenged when the Kers under Sir Walter killed Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch in Edinburgh in 1552 . Robert Ker was also descended, on the maternal side, from Andrew Ker of Ferniehurst (c . 1471-1545), a celebrated border chieftain . Another famous member of the family was Andrew's grandson, Sir Thomas Ker of Ferniehurst (d . 1586), who, Camden says, was " of an immovable fidelity to the queen of Scots and the king her son." He was the father of Robert Carr, earl of Somerset, the favourite of James I .

After a turbulent

life on the border Robert Ker became a Scottish privy councillor in 1599 and was made Lord Roxburghe about the same time; he accompanied King James to London in 1603, and was created earl of Roxburghe in ,616 . He was lord privy seal for Scotland from 1637 to 1649, and in the Scottish parliament he showed his sympathy with Charles I.; but he took no part in the Civil War, although he signed the " engagement " for the king's release in 1648 . He died at Floors, his residence near Kelso, on the 18th of January 1650 . His son Harry, Lord Ker, had died in January 1643; consequently his titles and estates passed by special arrangement to his grandson, WILLIAM DRUMMOND (d . 1675), the youngest son of his daughter Jean and her husband John Drummond, 2nd earl of Perth . William took the name of Ker, became 2nd earl of Roxburghe, and married his cousin Lord Ker's daughter Jean . The second earl's son was ROBERT, 3rd earl (c . 1658-1682), whose son was JOHN, 1st duke of Roxburghe (c . 168o-1741) . John became 5th earl on the death of his brother Robert, the 4th earl, in 1696, and is described by George Lockhart of Carnwath as " perhaps the best accomplished young man of quality in Europe." In 1704 he was made a secretary of state of and small, the largest being Yetholm or Primside Loch and Horselaw, both in the parish of Linton among outlying hills of the Cheviots . Teviotdale, Liddesdale, Tweedside and Jedvale are the principal valleys . Geology.—This county contains a considerable range of sedimentary rocks from the Ordovician to the Carboniferous systems, and with these are associated large tracts of volcanic rocks .

The Ordovician and

Silurian rocks occupy the N.W. and, W. part of the county; they have been thrown into numerous sharp folds . It is on the crests of the anticlines that the strata of the former system appear flanked on either side by those of the latter . The oldest rocks are the mudstones and radiolarian cherts with contemporaneous and intrusive igneous rocks of Arenig age; these are followed by shales and greywackes of Llandeilo age and similar rocks of Caradoc age . Then comes the Silurian with the Birkhill shales and massive grits and greywackes of the Gala or Queensberry group with the Hawick rocks; these are all of Llandovery age and they occupy the greater part of the Silurian area . Wenlock and Ludlow rocks are found S. of Hawick rocks from Wisp Hill N.E. by Stobs Castle; other inlying masses occur in the Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous areas, the largest of these being that which appears in a belt some 14 in. in length from near Riccarton in the direction of Hobkirk . Two divisions of the Old Red Sandstone occur; the lower, which consists of subordinate sandstones and conglomerates in sheets of contemporaneous lavas with some tuffs, is confined to the Cheviots; the strata are unconformable upon the upturned Silurian beds . The upper division, which in its turn is unconformable upon the lower, occupies about one-third of the county . It consists of coarse conglomerates at the base followed by sandstones and marls . It is well developed in the N., where volcanic rocks come in; the Trow Crags of Makerstown which cross the Tweed are due to these lavas . It extends from Newtown and Kelso to Kirkton with extensions in the valleys S.W . Carboniferous rocks are represented by the Calciferous sandstone series; in the S.W. in Liddesdale and on the uplands of Carter Fell, Larriston Fell, &c., they are sandstones with shales, some calcareous beds and coal and volcanic beds . In the N.E. corner of the county the outer part of the Berwickshire Carboniferous basin just comes within the boundary .

An interesting series of volcanic " necks " belonging to this

period is exemplified in Dunain Law, Black Law, Maiden Paps, Ruberslaw and other hills . Glacial deposits are represented by boulder clay and beds and ridges of sand and gravel . Climate and Industries.—The average annual rainfall is about 37 in., higher in the hilly regions and somewhat lower towards the N. and E . The mean temperature for the year is 48° F., for January 38° F. and for July 6o° F . The soil is chiefly loam in the level tracts along the banks of the larger streams, where it is also very fertile . In other districts a mixture of clay and gravel is mostly found, but there is besides a considerable extent of mossy land . Of the area under grain about two-thirds are occupied by oats, the remainder being principally devoted to barley . Among green crops turnips and swedes are most generally cultivated, potatoes covering a comparatively small acreage . In different parts of Tweedside and Jedvale several kinds of fruit are successfully grown . Both in the pastoral and arable localities agriculture is in an advanced condition . The hill country is everywhere covered with a thick green pasturage admirably suited for sheep, which occupy the walks in increasingly large quantities . The herds of cattle are also heavy, horses are kept mostly for farming operations, and pigs are raised in moderate numbers .

.Fairly large holdings predominate, farms of between

ioo and 300 acres being general, and only in Berwick-shire ;s the proportion of farms of more than I000 acres exceeded . Many districts on the Tweed and Teviot are beautifully wooded, but having regard to the great area once occupied by forest, the acreage under wood is now relatively small . The county is the principal seat of the tweed and hosiery manufactures in Scotland . Engineering, ironfounding, dyeing and tanning are also carried on at Hawick and Jedburgh, and agricultural implements and machinery, chemical manures and especially fishing tackle are made at Kelso . The salmon fisheries on the Tweed are of considerable value . The Waverley route of the North British railway runs through the county from near Melrose in the N. to Kershopefoot in the S . At St Boswells branches are sent off to Duns and Reston, and to Jedburgh and Kelso via Roxburgh . The North-Eastern railway, an English company, has a line from Berwick to Kelso, via Coldstream and Carham . Population and Administration.—The population in Tool was 48,804, or 73 persons to the sq. m . In 1901 there were 132 persons who spoke Gaelic and English, but none Gaelic only . The principal towns are Hawick (pop . 17,303), Kelso (4008), Jedburgh (3136), Melrose (2195) .

The county returns a member to parliament, and Hawick' belongs to the Border group of

parliamentary burghs . Jedburgh, the county town, is a royal burgh, and Hawick, Kelso and Melrose are policeburghs . The shires of Roxburgh, Berwick and Selkirk form a sheriffdom, and a resident sheriff-substitute sits at Jedburgh and Hawick . The county is under school-board jurisdiction, and there are secondary schools at Hawick and Kelso, while the board schools at Jedburgh and Melrose have secondary departments . Most of the " residue " grant is expended in assisting teachers to attend science and art classes at Edinburgh University and Hawick, and in subsidizing science and art and technical classes at Hawick, Kelso and elsewhere . History and Antiquities.—Among the more important re-mains of the original inhabitants are the so-called " Druidical " stones and circles at Plenderleath between the Kale and Oxnam; on Hownam Steeple, a few miles to the N.W . (where they are locally known as the Shearers and the Bandster); and at Midshiels on the Teviot . The stones on Ninestane Rig, near Hermitage Castle, and on Whisgill are supposed to commemorate the Britons of Strathclyde who, under Aidan, were defeated with great slaughter by Ethelfrith, king of Bernicia, at the battle of Degsanstane or Dawstane in 603 . There are hill forts in Liddesdale on the Allan, in the parish of Oxnam, and on the most easterly of the three Eildons . This last is said to be the largest example of its kind in Scotland . The fortress was defended by palisades around the three circular terraces which form the hill-top . Within the enclosure there was a town of huts, judging from certain marks that indicate the site of such dwellings, and the relics of early British pottery that have been found, while the fact that springs exist renders the theory of a settlement all the more probable .

One of the most important and most mysterious of British remains is the Catrail, or Picts'

Work Dyke . In its original condition it is supposed to have consisted of a line of double mounds or ramparts, averaging about 30 ft. in width, with an intervening ditch 6 ft. broad, the slope from the centre of the mound to the middle of the bottom of the trench being Io ft . Owing to weather and other causes, however, it is now far from perfect and in places has disappeared for miles . Beginning at Torwoodlee, N.W. of Galashiels, it ran S.W. to Yarrow church, whence it turned first S. and then S.E., following a meandering course to Peel Fell in the Cheviots, a distance of 48 miles . Though it must have been difficult to defend so long a line, the bulk of opinion is in favour of its being a defence work . Roman remains are also of exceptional interest . Watling Street crossed the Border N. of Brownhart Law (1664 ft.) in the Cheviots, then took a mainly N.W. direction' across the Kale, Oxnam, Jed and Teviot to Newstead, near Melrose, where it is conjectured to have crossed the Tweed and run up Lauderdale into Haddingtonshire . The chief stations were Ad Fines on the Cheviots, Gadanica (Bonjedward) near Jedfoot and Eildon Hill ( ? Trimontium) . Another so-called Roman road is the Wheel Causeway or Causey, a supposed continuation of the Maiden Way which ran from Overburgh in Lancashire to Bewcastle in Cumberland, and so to the Border . It entered Roxburghshire N. of Deadwater and went (roughly) N. as far as Wolflee, whence its direction becomes a matter of surmise . Of Roman camps the principal appear to have been situated at Cappuck, to the S.E. of Jedburgh, and near New-stead, at the base of the Eildons, the alleged site of Trimontium .

After the

retreat of the Romans the country was occupied by the Britons of Strathclyde in the W. and the Bernicians in the E . It was then annexed to Northurnbria for over four centuries until it was ceded, along with Lothian, to Scotland in 1018 . David I. constituted it a shire, its ancient county town of Roxburgh (see KEI.so) forming one of the Court of Four Burghs . The castle of Roxburgh, after changing hands more than once, was captured from the English in 146o and dismantled . Other towns were repeatedly burned down, and the abbeys of Dryburgh, Jedburgh, Kelso and Melrose ultimately ruined in the expedition of the earl of Hertford (the Protector Somerset) in 1544-45 . The Border freebooters—of whom the Armstrongs and Elliots were the chief—conducted many a bloody fray on their own account . On the union of the crowns the county gradually settled into what was comparatively a state of repose, disturbed to some extent during the Covenanting troubles and, to a much slighter degree. by the Jacobite rebellions .