Records of the Pringles of the Scottish Border, by Alex Pringle

Chapter 9

SMAILHOLM TOWN

In 1551 John Hoppringill got from John Cranston sasine of Boyd's lands in Smailholm, as son and heir of the late Christian Boyd his mother and of lawful age (P. B., Corbet). He died in December 1586. His effects were inventoried at £289; his debts to Hoppringill relatives at £441, so that the debts exceeded the goods by £152 (T. E.). He left two sons, Thomas his heir and Andrew. 2. Thomas married Marion Cranston, and had issue, Alexander his heir, and Elizabeth. In 1600 Elizabeth with a tocher of 500 merks contracted to marry George Pringill, younger, of Lempitlaw. 3. In 1610 Alexander is retoured heir of his father in Boyd's lands in Smailholm. He appears in various transactions ; and from his lands he was called the Laird of the Hill. In 1654 he was a witness to the marriage contract between George Pringle of Torwoodlee and Janet Brodie of Lethen.

NOTE

Something must be said about the famous drawbridge over the Tweed at Brigend, a mile above Melrose, called Pringill's bridge, which Sir Walter Scott makes use of to so much effect in The Monastery. It is said to have borne on the middle pillar the Pringill coat of arms and this inscription –

" I, Robert Pringill of Pilmore steid,

Gave a hundred nobles of the goud sae reid,

To big my brigg upon the Tweed."

A stone taken from the river is said to have borne a similar triplet, reading, however, " Sir John '' in place of Robert, and " markis " in place of nobles.

On 25th August 1526 when the Earl of Angus was returning from Jedburgh, with the boy King James V. in his retinue (whom he practically kept a prisoner, governing in his name), and was about to cross the bridge, he found an array of west Borderers under Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch barring the way, Buccleuch's object being, in response to a, secret message brought by James Hoppringill, to set the King free.

Patten, writing after the battle of Pinkie in 1547, says " there hath here been a great stone bridge with arches, the which the Scots in time past have allto broken because we should that way come to them."

In May 1621 the Earl of Melrose, writing to the Rev. John Knox with reference to the proposed rebuilding or repairing of Melrose church, adds, " as for the brig, I shall have care of it in due time and place."

In 1629 Christopher Lowther, in his Journal into Scotland, says, " a little below the junction of the Gala with the Tweed hath been a very strong fortified bridge, having the tower yet standing which was the gate to the bridge in old times.''

In 1726 Gordon, in his Iter Septentrionale, gives a drawing of the bridge, and says, " I saw the remains of a curious bridge over the Tweed., consisting of three octagonal pillars, or rather towers, standing within the water, without any arches to join them. The middle one, which is the most entire, has a door towards the north, and I suppose another opposite one towards the south. In the middle of the tower is a projection or cornice surrounding it; the whole is hollow from the door upwards, and now open at the top, near which was a small window."

In 1743 Milne in his Description of the Parish of Melrose, speaking of the bridge, says, “three of the pillars are still standing. It has been a timber bridge. In the middle pillar there have been chains for a, drawbridge, with a little house for the convenience of those who kept the bridge and received the tolls. On the same pillar are the arms of the Pringles of Galashiels; it is likely that family has contributed largely for the building of it. It is obvious to any that it has been a very considerable drawbridge, and very necessary at this place. There has been a plain way from the bridge through the moors to Soutra Hill, called the Girthgate; for Soutra was an hospital for the relief of pilgrims to the Border Abbeys, and had the privilege of a sanctuary."

In 1772 Pennant in his Tour of Scotland says, " at a place called Bridgend stood, till within these few years, a large pier, the remaining one of four., which formed here a bridge over the Tweed. In it was a gateway large enough for a carriage to pass through, and over that a room 27 ft. by 15 ft., the residence of the person who took the tolls. This bridge was not formed with arches, but with great planks laid from pier to pier. It is said that it was built by King David I. in order to afford a passage to his abbey of Melrose, which he had newly trans- planted from its ancient site."

Finally, Sir Walter Scott says that he had seen the foundations of the piers when fishing at night with a torchlight for salmon.

Now as to the Pringills quoted above as builders or renovators of the bridge: On the expulsion of the Black Douglases in 1455 Ettrick Forest was annexed to the Crown, and for purposes of management divided into the three Wards of Ettrick, Yarrow, and Tweed, at the head of each of which was a Master- Ranger and a Ranger. The first Master Ranger of Tweed, comprising eighteen farms on the north side of the river: was George Pringill, who was succeeded in 1459 by Robert Pringill of Pilmuir, Wrangholm, and Smailholm 1459 to 1470; while the first Ranger of the Ward was David Hoppringill of Pilmuir 1455 to 1466, followed by his son James who held the office till 1492, who again was succeeded by his son David 1492 to 1498, when both offices were discontinued.

On 28th August 1510, this David Hoppringill was granted a feu charter of Redhead (Whytbank) by the King, James IV, stipulating his building a sufficient mansion of stone and lime, with stables, orchard, etc., and bridges for the passage of the lieges (pontibus pro passagio liegeorum) ; and on the same day he was granted by the King another charter of annual rents from eleven places in Lauderdale, varying from 40s to 6s. 8d, and amounting to £9, 13s. 4d. yearly; one half of which he personally, and the other Fergus Kennedy of Drumnellan by procurators, resigned. As no reason is given for this grant, which was hereditary, we may infer from its allocation that it was for bridges for the lieges on the Girthgate or pilgrims' road that ran from Soutra Monastery to Melrose Abbey and crossed the Tweed at Bridgend.

On 1st November 1587 on letting Gladswood the Abbot of Dryburgh stipulated that 40s. feu duty (its quota) was payable to David Hoppringill's heirs ; and in August 1593 David's great grandson James Pringill of Smailholm and Galashiels was retoured as his heir in the annual rents; on whose death in 1635 they may, in the changed conditions of the time, have ceased.

The bridge across the Tweed at Berwick, preceding the stone one built by James VI., was somewhat similar to that at Bridgend, being made of wood with a tower, probably of stone, and a gateway midway across.