1753.—A YARN MARKET ESTABLISHED
IN DUNFERMLINE.—The following is taken from the
Burgh Records of this year:--
“3rd March, 1753: This day the
Council took under their consideration the
Proposals Sometime agoe Made out by a Committee
of Council and others anent Establishing a Yearn
Mercate, Weekly in the Burgh. And which
proposals have been for sometime Lying under the
Council consideration, and also Recommended by
the Council to the Consideration of the Gildrie
and Crofts of the said Burgh—And after a full
Reasoning thereanent this day The Council
concluded thereupon as follows, viz.:--
1
They Appoint that on Every Friday (being the
ordinary Weekly Mercate day of this Burgh(,
Bewixt Nine and Eleven of the Clock forenoon,
There shall be a public Mercate for Settling and
Buying Yearn, To be held at and about the Trone
of the Said burgh.
2
That No Yearn shall be Sold before Ringing of
the Council Bell at Nine of the Clock forenoon,
nor any after the bell is Rung a Second time at
Eleven of the Clock forenoon.
3
That all Yearn shall be Sold for Ready Money,
And the Price agreed upon To be paid directly
Without oblidging the Seller To go into a house
to Received the money.
4
That all Bargains for Yearn Shall be void Except
the price be immediately paid if the Seller
pleases, allennarly, if not, he or she who sells
may pursue to make the Bargain good.
5
That upon the first Friday of every Moneth All
sorts of Linnen Cloath, Broun and Whitened be
sold in the public Mercate at the same hours and
place that the Yearn is sold, And the Price to
be paid in the Same way.
6
That one of the Magistrates of the Burgh or one
appointed by the Toun Council shall attend and
Summarly Determine all Contraversies anent Whats
Sold and Bought.
7
That for the Encouragement of persons To bring
Green Cloath from the Country to Sell in Said
Mercate, The Town shall furnish a house Gratis
for holding betwixt Mercate days, such Cloath as
shall not be sold off incase the owners incline
to lodge it there.
Lastly, in order to Render whats above the More
Effectuall, the Council as they formerly did, So
they of New do Recommend it to the Guildrie and
Crofts of Dunfermline, To Agree amongst
themselves Not to goe out to the Country to Buy
Yearn there, but to take their Chance of the
Mercate, So that all may be on an Equall
footing—And to give such other Encouragement to
the Settling and Establishing of said Yearn and
Cloth Mercate As they shall Judge most proper.”
ST. MARGARET’S FAIR AND OTHER FAIR DAYS
ALTERED.—St. Margaret’s Fair, which had for five
hundred years been held on St. Margaret’s
Festival Day, 19th June, was altered
to the last Wednesday of June, N.S. The other
“touns mercates” were also “hitched” forward, to
suit markets in other parts of the Country.
(Burgh Records, 18th April 1753.) On
16th May, 5000 Advertisements were
ordered to be printed and put into immediate
circulation “up and down the country and Remoter
places, ”so that all may know of the said
changes.
CANMORE STREET PROJECTED.—“28TH
June, 1753: Which Day the Council took under
their Consideration how great an Ornament it
would be to the Burgh, as well as ten to the
Advantage thereof To have a broad Street Leading
from the Maygate to the Newrow, on the North
Side of the Monastery Wall, where there is only
at tpresent a Narrow lane [called
‘In-below-th’-Waas,’ and originally, ‘The Foul
Vennel’.) The Council purchased from the
proprietors of Yards on the north side of said
lane several feet in breadth of their lands, and
the Street was at once commenced with.” (Bur.
Rec.)
FRAGMENT OF THE RUIN OF THE MONL’S DORMITORY
REMOVED.—According to an Old MS. Note, “the old
piece of ruin adjacent to the south west tower
of the Kirk, which formed part of the dormitory
of the monks, was removed in 1753, and the
stones used for the inglorious purpose of
building a stable and a byre on the same site!”
PROVOST OF DUNFERMLINE.—Sir Peter Halket of
Pitfirrane was re-elected Provost.
LIGHTING OF THE TOWN-LAMPS.—“12th
Nov.: Which Day the Council Agreed to give
Robert Meldrum and David Chrystie, officers, Ten
Pounds Scots betwixt them for Lighting the Lamps
Each Year, and for otherways taking Care of the
said Lamps, and the council also further agreed
to furnish them with three punds of Candle for
Lighting these Lamps.” (Burgh Records.)
THE OLD PORTS AND MARKET CROSS STONES—Money
Received for part of them.—“5th May,
1753: This Day the Council appointed William
Dickie, Treasurer, to be Charged with Sixteen
Shillings and Eightpence Sterling, as the price
of some Stones Sold to Sundry persons—from the
Cross and Old Ports.” (Bur. Rec.)
1754.—GRATUITY GIVEN BY THE TOWN to a Collier
on the Occasion of his Marriage.—“27th
March, 1754: This day the Council ordered
William Dickie, late Treasurer, to advance to
James Wilson, one of the Touns Coalliers, who is
just now about to be married, Twenty Shillings
Sterline money, being what the Toun Usually give
their Workmen on the Occasion.” (Burgh
Records.)
NEW STREET (Guildhall Street).—“10th
April 1754: The Council appoint the Act of
Council, of Date the Eleventh of August last, as
to the Levelling and Laying of the New Street,
from the Cross to the Bleatchfield, To be put in
Execution this Summer, and adds to the Committee
therein John Morison, late Dean of Gild, and
David Thomson, Deacon of the Wright.” (Burgh
Records.) This street retained the name of the
“New Street” until 1809, when it was named Guild
Hall Street. (See An. Dunf. dates 1809 and
1811.)
THREE NEW LAMPS FOR THE STREETS.—“21ST
Sept., 1754: Which day the council ordered
three new street Lamps to be purchased:
Whereof, one to be placed at Coallier and miln
port, and the other two upon the high street,
‘twixt the Tolbooth and the East Port.” (Bur.
Rec.) The town was now decorated with fifteen
lamps.
PROVOST OF DUNFERMLINE,--Sir Peter Halket of
Pitfirrane re-elected Provost. (Burgh Rec., 30th
Sept., 1754.)
THE TOLBOOTH WALL—The Fence Damaged by Coal
Carts.—“It being Represented to the council by
some of the Members present; That part of the
Wall of North East Corner of the Tolbooth, and
the aisler wall or fence around the Trone Burn,
were very much Rent and Shaken, and likely to
fall doun if not speedily Repaired, Occasioned
by Bulkie Carts or Waggons passing and repassing
up and doun the Coallieraw Street [Bruce
Street], which is so Narrow that it cannot
Receive them without damage, &c. Messrs. Adie &
Gordon, the owners of the Carts, ordered to
repair damages.” (Burgh Records, 30TH
Oct., 1754.)
COLLIER ROW PORT ORDERED TO BE REMOVED.—“Nov.
4th 1754: This Day the Council
ordered the port called the Collieraw port To be
taken down, and the Stones thereof to be kept in
the Limehouse [Tolbooth], or some other proper
place, till the Town shall have use for them.”
(Burgh Records.) This port is known also in
history as the “Milne,” or “Mill Port” in his
second volume of the History of Dunfermline, p.
131
1755.—SEVERE WINTER.—“Great falls of snow;
frost most intense from January till end of
March.” (Old MS.)
THE HIGH DAM AND HORSE WATERING, &C.—“21st
June, 1755: This day the council Expressly
prohibit and Discharge the Inhabitants from
watering their horses in the high dam; and for
the more Effectuall preventing the same, They
order the Road which leads up to the Dam at the
Back thereof to be Condemned, and the Stones
thereof to be taken up and applied to other
Necessary uses.” (Burgh Records.)
COLLECTION FOR THE COLLEGE OF NEW
JERSEY.—This year a collection was made for the
College of New Jersey, in America, when £2 13s.
4d. sterling was collected, and sent out to that
College. (Kirk Session Records.)
POPULATION OF THE PARISH.—In the Rev. Dr.
Webster’s “Widows’ Scheme,” which was printed in
1755, the number of inhavitants in the town and
parish is stated to be 8552. (See Dr. Webster’s
Statistical Accouont of Scotland, vol. xx. App.
G.) Of this number there would be about 4400
inhabitants in the Burgh.
THE PROVOST OF DUNFERMLINE KILLED IN
BATTLE.—Sir Peter Halket, Provost of
Dunfermline, and his son James, were in the 44th
Regiment of Foot, and, when engaged under
General Braddock in an action against the French
and Indians near For du Quesne, on the river
Monongahela, United states, were both killed on
9th July, 1755. The Provost;s death
was taken into consideration by the Council on
20th September, when “the Council
unanimously, except one, made choice of Mr.
Alexander Wedderburn, Advocate, as Provost of
this Burgh till the ensuing annual election, in
the room and place of the late Sir Peter
Halket.” On “25th September, Mr.
Wedderburn in a letter to the Council accepted
the Provostship.” (Burgh Records.)
PROVOST OF DUNFERMLINE.—“29th
Sept., 1755: The Council elected and hereby
elect Mr. Alexander Wedderburn Provost. (Bur.
Records.) Age of the Provost, twenty two years
only!
PECUNIARY DEFFICULTIES OF THE BURGH.—“19th
Nov., 1755: This day the Council took under
Consideration the many Demands that are made at
present upon them for money, viz., For their
part of the Repairing of the Kirk; the Rents of
the Milns due to the Marquis of Tweedddale; The
Town Cess, &c. The Baillies are ordered to
borrow from ye Corporation of Weavers the sum of
£40 sterling.” (Burgh Records.)
CAIRNIE HILL CHURCH.—This Church was founded
in 1754, and opened for Worship on 9th
April, 1755, when Rev. James Burt was ordained,
and eleven elders elected. Cairniehill lies
three miles to the south-west of Dunfermline.
1756.—A CLOCK LENT TO THE DRUMMER FOR HIS
USE.—“March 13th, 1756: Which day
the Council purchased from Alexr. Richardson,
late Drumber, an old clock or Movement at
fifteen shillings sterline, and delivered the
same to William Inglis, present Drumber, to Use
as long as he continues Drumber, and to be
answerable to the town therefore.” (Burgh
Records.)
LITERATURE.—Mr. James Moir, Teacher,
Dunfermling, in Queen Ann of Denmark’s House,
published a Latin Dictionary, entitled—
“The Scholar’s ‘Vade Mecum,” or a New
Dictionary, Latin and English, consisting of
such words as are purely classical, in which the
English is given from the best authorities, and
Latin words Explained, in all their Variations,
according to the most approved edition. For the
Use of Schools, by James Moir, teacher of
Languages. Edin. 1756.”
The Dictionary has gone through several
editions; the fourth edition was published in
1819; he also had a large class in the “Queen’s
House” at this period. Mr. Moir died in 1806,
at the advanced age of ninety three years.
NEW ROAD TO KIRKCALDY.—“June 30th:
Which Day Baillie Scotland acquainted the
Council That the Justices of Peace had met
yesterday with a great many of the principal
inhabitants, By south the Touns Parks to Concert
the proper way of Carrying the high Road from
the East End of the toun towards Kirkcaldie.
The Council approved of the plan and Deed of the
Justices.” (Burgh Records.)
NEW ROAD TO NORTH QUEENSFERRY.—“July 4th,
1756: Which Day the Council, after some
communing anent the Carrying on of the Turnpike
Road from the Ferry to this burgh—Resolved that
something should be done that way this Season
before harvest, and to begin at the Spittal
bridge and Carry the Road on Southward,” &C.
(Burgh Records.)
SEWING MISTRESS FOR THE BURGH.—“July 24th
1756: It was this day Represented to the
Council That it was a great loss to the Toun
That we have not a proper Skilled School
mistress to Teach Girls Sewing,” &c. A scheme
for duties, salary, &c., was drawn up, but
nothing then resulted. (Burgh Records; see also
An. Dunf. date 1759.)
STEEL MILL.—“14th Aug., 1756: This
Day the Baillies Informed the Council, That
agreeable to the Council’s Verbal Orders They
had by a letter Notefyd to Clerk Black, as
factor to the Marques of Tweeddale, of John
Chalmer’s design of just now Erecting a Machine
in the Miln Lead, where it runs thro his Close,
for Driving a Steel Mill with the water, to
grind his malt with. The two Baillies in the
meantime, in Name of the Toun, take an
Instrument of Interuption against the erection
of said machine.” (Burgh Records.)
THE BULL’S HOLE PRISON.—“11th
Sept., 1756: Upon an application from David and
Robert Scotland, by petition, the Council agree
to include in their Tack of the fence at the
Back of the Tolbooth, the Prison, called the
Bull’s hole, and the Rent of the whole Subject
to be Three Pounds.” (Burgh Records.)
PROVOST OF Dunfermline.—Alexander Wedderburn,
Esq., re-elected Provost. (Burgh Records, 27th
Sept., 1756.) “Accepted and took the oath on
Oct. 25.”
ST. LEONARD’S CHAPEL.—An Old MS. notifies,
that “the southe and pairt of the east wall of
St. Leonard’s ruinous Chapel ayont the Spittal
Brig fell down at the close of the year 1756.”
1757.—THE DUNFERMLINE GALLOWS and the Weaver’s
Loom.—We have several notes of this incident.
When joined and condensed, they read as
follows: “About the beginning of the year 1757,
a weaver of the name of J. H. went out, under
cover of night, to the Witches Loan and stole
the gallows;” “that the authorities made great
exertions to recover it;” that it was “hidden
away in a garret for a good number of years,”
when “it was sawn up and converted into the lay
of a loom;” and that the weaver who used it was
wont to say that he “won his bread by the help
of the gallows.” This being an old relished
story, it is here given to show what had amused
our gransires. In Paton’s Rhyming History of
Dunfermline the gallows is thus referred to as a
tree:--
“This tree it was of oak so good,
As I’ve heard people say;
A weaver stoll this piece of wood,
And made of it a lay,
“This lay is in this toun, its said
Some weaver wags the same:
Better to wagg this piece of wood,
Than that it should cary them.”
The stone into which the gallows was fixed is
said to be “still to the fore” at Head well,
where it covers a well.
GREAT SCARCITY OF MEAL AND VICTUALS.—“22nd
Jan., 1757: Which Day Council took under
Consideration that the price of Victual and Meal
is upon the Rising hand, And even so scarce that
it cannot be got for Money, which occasions a
very grevious Cry for want amongst the
Inhabitants, Especially the poorest sort. The
council were of opinion That the proper way to
keep doun prices in this place, and to have the
Inhabitants supplyd with Meal at a Moderate
price, will be for the Toun, the Gildrie, and
Corporations to this burgh To join in the
Commisning of Victual from England or Elsewhere
it can be had; And the council, for their part,
agree To take One hundred pound Sterg. Share of
said Victual.” A committee was appointed to
“concert anent the best method off
commissioning,” &c. (Burgh Records.)
OATS Purchased for the Use of the Town.—“2nd
April, 1757: This Day there was a letter from
John Wilson, Stationer, Informing the Council
what the different Committees had done
Concerning the purchase of Oats, and
particularly That they thro the Good offices of
Mr. Alexander Wedderburn, Provost, had procured
from Mr. George Chalmer, Corn Merchant in
Edinburgh, 368 bolls Three firlots of Oats at
fifteen shillings sterline pr Boll, which Oats
were now delivered at Lymkills, And sent to
different Milns about in order to be made into
Meal.” A committee was appointed to “concert
about fixing the price and best method of
selling it.” More oats were purchased on April
8th, viz., “610 Qrs. of Oats were
purchased from Messrs. Robert Wilson & Company,
Merchants in London at the Rate of 16s. 6d. pr.
Qr.” &c. (Burgh Records) More oats and
peasemeal were ordered to be purchased on 25th
April.
WINDOW TAX.—About this period “there were much
discontent and grumbling about the laying on of
a window tax.” On 25th July the
Clerk of the burgh informed the Council that he
had gone to Edinburgh about it, and had
“Enquired at Mr. Wedderburn and others if or not
Government were in Earnest to uplift the Window
tax, and was informed that the Thing was in
absolute Earnest,” &c. (Burgh Records) On 20th
August “the Council appointed Robert Scotland,
merchant in Dunfermline, Adam Morison, merchant
there, and William Buntine Baxter there, as
Assessors for surveying and numbering the window
lights within the burgh, subject to Window tax,
And Appoint the Clerk to notify the same to
them.” (Burgh Records) It would be interesting
to have known the number of windows in the burgh
subject to the tax, but the Burgh Records do not
in the least allude to the number.
PROVOST OF DUNFERMLINE.—Alexander Wedderburn,
Esq., by a majority of votes, was re-elected
Provost. (Burgh Records, Sept. 26th,
1757)
THE DEAD BELL, &c.—“10th December:
This day the Council being informed by petition
from the Tacksmen of the Two hand Bells That the
Inhabitants very much impair the Emoluments of
the Dead Bell, and seldom pay anything on
account of Burials. The Council having taken
this affair to their Consideration, Resolve to
maintain and keep up the Emoluments of the hand
bells; and Appoint and Statute, That the dues
for the dead bell shall in time coming be one
Shilling Sterline for an old person and Eight
pence Ster. for a young person; And that the
Council bell shall be rung to no Burial, But to
the Burials of such persons whose friends shall
agree to pay the said dues.” (Burgh Records)
THE MAGISTRATES AND COUNCIL, and the Oaths of
Allegiance and Abjuration.—“10th
December, 1757: This day James Inglis and
George Aitken, Baillies; Thomas Scotland, Dean
of Gild; John Wilson, Treasurer; John Graham,
Old Provost; David Turnbull and Adam Morison,
Old Baillies; John Wilson, Senior, Old Dean of
Gild; John Kirk, Old Treasurer; John Wilson,
Junior and David Scotland, Merchant Councillors;
John Buchan and William Steedman, Trades
Councillors; James Anderson, John Dunsyre, John
Thomson, James Wilson, Thomas Wardlaw, and
George Philp, Deacons of Crofts; and James
Wilson, Clerk—were all duly and Legally
Qualifyed in their respective offices and
Characters, as Magistrates and Toun Councillors
of this Burgh and Clerk, Respective, by their
severally signing the same, with the assurance
to his Majesty King George the Second: In terms
of the Act of Parliament, past in the sixteenth
year of his said Majesties Reign.” (Burgh
Records)
1758.—MALIGNANT FEVER.—A malignant fever
“raged in Dunfermline from April until
September, 1758, which carried a great many of
the inhabitants off, old and young, in town and
country.” About the end of this year, Mr.
Stedman, M.D., then practicing in Dunfermline,
wrote an essay on “The Epidemic Fever in the
Country about Dunfermline in 1758,” which was
afterwards published in the “Medical
Observations,” London.
GIBB’S WELL.—“25th March: This day
the Council Granted Liberty to and authorized
David Inglis, Wright in Dunfermline, to take
care of the well called Gibs well belonging to
the Toun, and to Redd out and make the same
clean of Nastiness, and to prevent and hinder
any of the Neighbours from polluting the same
with Nastiness of any kind in future, and to
keep the well under lock and key, for the
service of the neighbourhood in time coming.”
(Burgh Records) This “windlass well” was
situate in the close called the “Fleshmarket
Close,” north side of High Street.
THE TRON BURN.—“3rd May, 1758: It
being represented to the Council that the Miln
Lead is full of Stones, Sand and other Trash,
whereby the water overflows and hurts the street
and houseses Adjacent thereto—The council
therefore appoint Baillie Aitken, John Wilson,
Tresurer, and Adam Morison to see the Lead in
the Collieraw [Bruce Street] properly Red, and
to call those to doe it who are Lyable; and
appoint the Dean of Gild, Baillie Wilson, and
John Kirk, To give the Proper orders for Redding
the Lead in the Maygate, and up to the Toun
Burn.” (Burgh Records) No doubt, these were
sanitary precautions in consequence of the great
fever then prevailing.
THE PRICE OF COAL.--:26th August,
1758: The Council agree to Sell the Toun Great
Coal to all persons both in Town and Country
without distinction at four shillings Scots the
Load.”
THE PROVOSTSHIP. --Alexander Wedderburn,
Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh, resigned his
Provostship of the Burgh and went to practice in
London. This was in consequence of an
unpleasant fracas he had with one of the Judges
of the Court of Session before whom he was
pleading. He rose in his profession in London,
became Lord High Chancellor of England, died in
1805, and interred in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
ACCOMPLISHED SCHOOLMISTRESSES—Extraordinary
Day and Boarding School.—“At this period the
Misses Gedd, of Baldridge, two elderly Jacobite
Ladies, opened a Day and Boarding School in
Dunfermline. According to an old fly-leaf
print, they taught the following
accomplishments:--Reading, English Grammar,
Writing, Arithmetic, History, and Geography,
Music, Dancing and Polished Manners; also Plain
and Ornamental Sewing, Waxwork in flowers,
fruits, houses, and landscapes; Painting on
glass; Ornamental Paper Work; Landscape and
Common Drawing, with Painting done to the life.
Likewise, Household Duties, and other
necessaries.” This school did not succeed in so
small a town as Dunfermline. They gave it up
shortly after this period, and went to
Edinburgh, where, in Paterson’s Court,
Lawnmarket, they opened a similar but more
extensive establishment of “accomplishments.”
They were chiefly patronized by “Jacobite
Families.” (For Note regarding the Misses Gedd,
vide Cham. Trad. Of Edin., edit. Of 1847, pp.
222-3.) This appears to have bee “the high-tide
of accomplishment” cramming. In after years
“the teaching of such a multiplicity of
accomplishments fell into disrepute;” at the end
of last century the “universal-accomplishment
seminaries were all but extinguished in
Scotland. (MS. Note; see also An. Dunf. date
1725 for notice of their supposed brother.)
PROVOST OF DUNFERMLINE.—Francis Halket, Esq.,
of Pitfirrane, elected Provost. (Burgh Records,
2nd Oct. 1758.)
ABBEY PARK MILNS—The Council Decline to Renew
the Tack—“11th Oct.: This Day the
council took under Consideration the Tack of the
Milns and abbey Parks, &c., which they have from
the Marques and are unanimously of opinion That
it is the Touns Interest To take the Benefit of
the Breach; and agree to take it accordingly;
And appoint the two Baillies, the Treasurer,
Baillie Scotland, and the Clerk, to Notify the
same to clerk Black, the Marques’s factor, and
Concert with him the best and most gentile way
of Intimating this to his Lordship.” (Burgh
Records.) In November the Marquis “sent a
holograph letter to the Council accepting the
renunciation.”
WEAVING, &c.—A MS. Note states that there were
“about 260 looms in the toun in 1758, and 300 in
the country parts of the parish,” and that “the
sales of the produce of the looms were generally
effected in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, and
Kirkcaldy.”
1759.—BLEACHFIELD AGENTS IN DUNFERMLINE—“The
Town’s bleachfield having declined much, the
goods were sent from Dunfermline to distant
bleachfields to get bleatched.” John Mackie,
weaver, Dunfermline, was agent for Glorat
Bleachfield, near Glasgow; William Stobie,
manufacturer, Dunfermline, was agent for
Maryburgh Bleachfield, near Kinross; and John
Wilson, manufacturer, Dunfermline, was agent for
Keir Bleachfield.”
BREAD.—A MS. Note states that “the price of
the quarten loaf was 10d. in Dunfermline in the
year 1759.”
GEORGE THOMSON OF LIMEKILNS.—George Thomson,
who in after life became the friend and
voluminous correspondent of Robert Burns and who
set many of his songs to music, was born in
Limekilns this year. (MS. Note.)
THE SKELETON OF A FEMALE Discovered in a
Recess of the Abbey Wall.—An Old Note states,
that “in the year 1759, a notable discovery was
made by some mason who was employed on that part
of the old wall in the sunk garden at the
Bowling Green. In a recess in the north-west
corner of the wall, a stroke of the mattock
brought down a heap of loose stones, when a
dazzling sight was seen behind them, viz., a
lady dressed in white and her dress glittering
with gold spangles; but after half an hour or
so, the whole figure, by the action of the air,
had crumbled into dust.” The man who made the
discovery on being asked what he thought when he
first saw the lady in white, said—that he
“turn’d stane-blind for awe, and awfa surprised
when he saw her melting away.” (See also
Chambers’s Pictures of Scotland, Article
“Dunfermline”; and An. Dunf. date 1766)
PROVOST OF DUNFERMLINE.—Major Francis Halket
of Pitfirrane was re-elected Provost. (Burgh
Records, 1st Oct., 1759)
SCHOOLMISTRESS.—“6th Oct., 1759:
The council resumed and took under Consideration
the affair of the Schoolmistress, mentioned in
former minutes of the council, and unanimously
agreed that the Town shall out of the Common
good of the burgh, annually Advance or pay to
the Schoolmistress the Sum of Two Pounds Ten
Shillings sterling, as the one half of the Five
Pounds Sterling proposed as suitable for such a
Mistress,” &c. (Burgh Records)
ORNAMENT TO THE BURGH—Buying Houses, &c.—“8th
Dec., 1759: The council recommended that
Bruce’s tenement should be bought, as it may be
improven for ornament to the Burgh.” “29th
Dec.: Which day the Committee appointed to
attend the Roup of Bruce’s subjects, Reported to
the Council That John Farmer, meal seller here,
had by their order and behoof of the Toun
purchased at said Roup, the Three Tenements near
the Tron burn, at Seventy pounds sterling of
price, and produced John Farmer’s missive to the
Toun of the date Declaring so much, of all which
the Council unanimously approve.” (Burgh
Records) This subject was “at the foot of the
Collier Row” (Bruce Street). For three
tenements near the Tron Burn, a sum of probably
£2500 would now be asked!
