many other lands, included those of ?Lochflatt,
Pleasance, Se Leonards, Hillhousefield, Bonnytoun,
and Pilrig,? &c.
This ancient barony and the surrounding lands
comprehended within its jurisdiction were granted
by James VI., in 1568, to Adam Bothwell, Bishop
of Orkney, in whose time the village tolbooth
would seem to have been erected; it remained
intact till 1829, and stood at the east of the present
Barony ?Street, a quaint edifice, with crowstepped
gables and dormer windows. Over its north door,
to which a flight of thirteen steps gave access, was
the date 1582. It was flanked on one side by a
venerable set of stocks, a symbol of justice rare in
Scotland, where the ironjougs were always used.
The bishop surrendered these lands to the
Crown in 1587, in favour of Sir Lewis Bellenden of
and -his successors had the power of appointing
bailies and holding courts within the limits of the
barony. Sir Lewis, a noted trafficker with yizards,
died on the 3rd of November, 1606, and was succeeded
by his son Sir William Bellenden, as Baron
of Broughton, which in those days was notorious
as the haunt of reputed witches and war!ocks, who
were frequently incarcerated in its old tolbooth.
An execution of some of these wretched creatures is
thus recorded in the minutes of the Privy Council :
?? 1608, December I. The Earl of Mar declared
to the Council that some women were taken in
Broughton as witches, and being put to an assize
and cmvicted, albeit they persevered in their
denial to the end, yet they were burned quick
(alive) after such a cruel manner that some of them
died in despair, renouiicing and blaspheming (God) ;
Broughton was the
scene of some encounters between the Queen?smen
and King?s-men in the time of the Regent
Morton. The latter were in the habit of defying
Kirkaldy?s garrison in the Castle, by riding about
the fields in range of his guns with handkerchiefs
tied to the points of their swords. One of these
parties, commanded by Henry Stewart, second
Lord Methven, in 1571, ?being a little too forward,
were severely reprimanded for their unreasonable
bravery ; for, as they stood at a place called
Broughton, a cannon bullet knocked his lordship
and seven men on the head; he was reputed
a good soldier, and had been more lamented had
he behaved himself more wisely.? (Crawford of
Drumsoy.)
Like other barons, the feudal superior of
Broughton had powers of ?pit and gallows? over
his vassals-so-called from the manner in which
criminals were executed-hanging the men upon a
gibbet, and drowning women in a pit as it was not
deemed decent to hang them. Sir Lewis Bellenden
In October, 1627, as
the Privy Council was sitting in its chamber at
the palace of Holyrood, a strange outrage took
place. John Young, a poulterer, attacked Mr.
Richard Bannatyne, bailiedepute of Broughton, at
the Council-room door, and struck him in the
back with his sword, nearly killing him on the
spot. In great indignation the Council sent off
Young to be tried on the morrow at the tolbooth,
with orders : ? If he be convict, that his Majesty?s
justice and his depute cause doom to be pronounced
against him, ordaining him to be drawn upon ane
cart backward frae the tolbooth to the place of
execution at the market cross, and there hangit to
the deid and quartered, his head to be set upon the
Nether Bow, and his hands to be set upon the
Water Yett.?
Sir William Bellenden, in 1627, disposed of the
whole lands to Robert, Earl of Roxburgh, and by
an agreement betweed hini and Charles I. this
ancient barony passed by purchase to the Governors
of Heriot?s Hospital in 1636, to whom the
