Earlston Historic Bridges

 A Look at the Historic Bridges around Earlston.

CRAIGSFORD BRIDGE

Craigsford Bridge over the Leader Water  was built around 1737.  Until the building of the new toll road (the later A68) at the end of the century, it was the main route to Edinburgh.  Sometimes it is  referred to as the Mill Brig. 

A modern view of the bridge

LEADER BRIDGE 

The Leader road bridge  
with the Craigsford Bridge and Simpson & Fairbairn Mill in the background. 

RAIL BRIDGES AT EARLSTON 

The rail bridge over the Leader water was demolished  in 1989, 24 years after the last train ran through Earlston, 

A wintry view  in 1955 of what was known as the Tin Brig,
 carrying the railway line through Earlston. 

CAROLSIDE BRIDGE

 

 The graceful late 18th century bridge spanning the Leader Water  links the neighbouring estates of Carolside and Leadervale.

 "The Statistical Account of Scotland" of 1834  in the chapter on Earlston gives us a beautiful description of Carolside  

"Poised on a green plateau beside the River Leader and sheltered by surrounding slopes of its own extensive woodlands, as a sweet and secure asylum from the toils and troubles of the world'."

Over the years, the Carolside estate was used by Earlston Girl Guides, Earlston Cricket Club, for Home Guard training in the Second World War and as the location for the 1934 Ercildoune Pageant, depicting scenes from local history.  

Two views of the bridge in more recent times:

A lovely view of the Leader valley, looking down on the little Carolside Bridge. 

Carolside Bridge - July 2017

THE THREE LEADERFOOT BRIDGES

An unusual view of the lower old Dryburgh road bridge built 1776-80.  It replaced a ferry crossing over the River Tweed,  on the route that is now the main A68 north to Edinburgh.  Its narrow structure, more used to horses and carts, remained in use for 200 years,  until  a new road bridge spanned the river in 1974. 

In the background is the famous Leaderfoot Viaduct built in 1865 and the major engineering feat of the Berwickshire Railway Line from the east  to cross the River Tweed.  The statistics are impressive -  the viaduct stands 126 feet (38 m) from the floor of the river valley, and  its 19 arches, each has a 43 feet span.  Interestingly it was referred to in a newspaper article of December 1864 as the Drygrange Viaduct. 

The Berwickshire Railway was badly affected by severe flooding in 1948 and services to the east of the county were particularly affected.   The last train ran over the viaduct in 1965.  It  is  now  under the care of Historic Environment Scotland.  

                                      A charming tinted photograph, c.1900.

A steam train crossing the Leaderfoot Viaduct, c. 1959

 One of the last trains over Leaderfoot in 1965 

Copyright ©  Bruce McCartney All  Rights Reserved.     
at http://www.geoffspages.co.uk/monorail/bmcc01.htm  

The Viaduct  remains a  popular spot for  photographers today  - here a view taken from the old road bridge which is now only open to walkers and  cyclist.

 A view of the three bridges, spanning two hundred years of history.  


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With thanks to everyone who has contributed photographs 
to the Auld Earlston collection.
We are always pleased to receive 
further photographs, postcards and documents on the village. 

Please contact:   E-Mail:  auldearlston@aol.com

Robert Carter (1807-1889) : Earlston-born New York Publisher: Part 1.

Earlston born Robert Ewing Carter (1807-1889) emigrated to the USA in 1831 and became the founder and head of Carter Brothers, a well known New York Publishers. He was one of the many self-made men who began life in humble circumstances,    left their home in Scotland and made their mark in countries abroad.  

Robert's  daughter Annie Carter Cochrane wrote his life story and presented a copy of the biography  to Earlston Reading Room.  Her writings form the basis for much of  the article here. 

EARLY EARLSTON REMINISCENCES

Robert Carter

His Early Life 
Robert Carter's birth was recorded in Earlston Old Parish Records - " Born 27th Nov. 1807 and bapt. 1st Dec. Robert, son of Thomas Carter, Earlston." This was a time when no stagecoach passed through the village, and little or no communication was held with the world beyond the village.   

Yet Robert's life was to extend  well beyond his birthplace - from walking  the 25-30 miles to Peebles and Edinburgh to further his studies,  to setting sail for New York.  

His father  Thomas Carter, a weaver,  worked six looms.  He and  his wife Agnes Ewing   had  a large family of children,  many of whom assisted him in his occupation and there was a strong Christian ethos in family life. 

Robert's younger brother Walter recalled:  

"The  earliest recollection I have is of morning prayers.........The Sabbath was the "day of days"  - morning church, then Sabbath school - it was the first Sabbath school in the south of Scotland  and well attended. The superintendent was Rev. Mr Crawford of the Relief Church     Brother Robert was his assistant.......We met in a stone cottage built from the ruins of the Rhymer's Tower.  We had none of the modern improvements -  no library, no Sunday School hymns, no picture papers. But we had the bible  and hearty singing of the grand old psalms.  Family worship closed the blessed day. "

From an early age, Robert developed a love of  books, study and learning. Yet his childhood was hard.

Helping with the Harvest

"From very early years, the harvest was a season  of hard labour.   When not more than six or seven  years old, I accompanied my older brother  at gleanng  behind the reapers -  to pick up the golden ears of wheat or barley,  or oats till our little hands were full,  bind up the handful and lay it aside  and commence again and again until  the end of the day,   it was no easy task  with the back continually bowed;  and in evening to walk home a distance of  one or two miles required no small effort. Glad were we, worn out and  weary  to sit down to our evening dish of oatmeal porridge and milk. 

As soon as I was able to wield a sickle, I became a reaper. This work for me was extremely painful. My hands were soft and for the first week or two were extremely bruised. And oh,  what a relief did Saturday evening bring."

Working at the Loom
Aged just nine,  Robert was taken from school and put to work on the loom.  From that time his education was acquired entirely by his own efforts.  Robert wrote long afterwards:

"My work was light but tedious.  From dawn till ten,  and sometimes until eleven at night. I cared little for the confinement, but grievously the loss of books and mental improvement...... I had a board erected at my left hand  on which I fastened my book and worked and read all day.  The books in my father's library having ran out, I was obliged to borrow from some of my neighbours."  

Seeing the titles of books that Robert read, strikes us today as very erudite for a child. Robert's cousin Thomas,  who was reading theology at Edinburgh University,   encouraged him in his studies, and  taught him Latin and later Greek. 

Earlston Fair
Leisure time was rare, but Robert gave a colourful description of the Earlston Fairs - one in summer and one in autumn "These fairs were looked forward to with great delight by the village boys .  There assembled dealers in cattle, hardware, toys and books."

Memories of a Murder and Execution  
Robert in much later life wrote about the impact of  a local murder, followed by an execution that he witnessed as a twelve year old boy.  Two men walking home from Earlston Fair, were set upon and killed  by  an intoxicated Robert Scott,   He was arrested and taken to Jedburgh Jail, tried and condemned to die at the very  spot where the crime had been committed. 

Robert Carter recalled 

"Thousands came to witness the execution. I was in that crowd. At a turn of the road I was within a few feet of him, and such a haggard face I never saw. It haunted me for many a year. When on the scaffold, he , in a loud voice that was heard by thousands,  prayed for mercy - that he might be delivered from blood guilti-ness, — prayed for the widows whom he had made widows, and for the children whom he had made fatherless. I never heard such earnest pleading, and I never forgot it."

Becoming a Teacher

In 1822, when Robert was fifteen years old, a cousin  who was a teacher in a private school in Selkirk, and about to attend a course at Edinburgh University, invited him to take his place at the school  - an experience which proved invaluable 

When he returned to Earlston, Robert  opened an evening school in his father’s house.   He soon had twenty-eight scholars, and the school was notable in that most of the pupils were older than their teacher.      About this time a course lectures  for teachers was being offered in Edinburgh.   Robert walked the thirty mile to Edinburgh,  to hear them, leaving home on a Monday morning shortly after midnight, and reaching the capital at ten o'clock in time for the first lecture.   He gained the friendship of the Professor, and when, about seven years later,Robert sailed for America,  he carried with him a letter of introduction from the Professor to Dr. Griscom, head of the High School in New York.

Back in the Borders, Robert  heard of a vacancy at Peebles Grammar School. and   set out to walk the distance of twenty-five miles to make a personal application, taking with him, as usual,  a book to peruse on the way.  Despite reservations about his youth, he was offered  the post,  and achieved success with both his pupils and the staff.

A position at the parish school in Smailholm, became vacant,  just six miles from his home  and Robert walked there to apply for the post.   But his application would not be considered , because he was not a member of the Church of Scotland.  Robert's church allegiance was to Earlston Secession Church which had broken away from the established Church of Scotland, largely over the issue of patronage and who appointed the minister.

Robert felt this rejection deeply and told his father

"I shall not apply for a position in my own land again, I will go to America where the religious domination  will not stand in the way  of my progress."  
 

Leaving Earlston 

In March 1831 Robert booked his passage from Greenock to New York on the  ship "Francis"  The separation from home and family was hard.

At six o'clock in the morning, about thirty acquaintances and friends met in the old house to say goodbye to him, before he set out to walk from Earlston by way of Peebles and Edinburgh to Greenock.

"As I arose to go, my mother embraced me most tenderly  fainted and fell on the sofa.  My father and many friends accompanied me, until at ten miles, my father  and a dear friend alone were left.    We parted in silence.     I gazed after them until they disappeared from view.   I then sat down by the silvery Tweed and gave vent to my feelings.  I was alone with God."

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Part Two of the Robert Carter story will trace his time  in New York where his success enabled him to bring across  to America his parents, brothers and sisters across  to America.   But Robert never forgot Earlston and made repeated visits back to his birthplace.

 

 

Acknowledgements:  

• Robert Carter:  His Life and Work, 1807-1889,  by Annie Carter Cochrane.
  The full text is available HERE on the Library of Congress Internet Archive.
• Obituary in "The Southern Reporter":  4th July 1895.
• David McConnell - a descendant of Robert's cousin,  Elizabeth Carter.  

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A Look Around the Earlston Archives

 AULD  EARLSTON

Valuing the History of our Village
for Future Generations

 Since the start of the Auld Earlston Group in 2012, local people have been generous in  their  donations of photographs, postcards and other documents relating to the village's past.   

So take this look around our collections to date. We use the resources in our slide shows, exhibitions and displays, in answering the steady flow of enquiries and in providing inspiration for the Auld Earlston blog.  

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PHOTOGRAPHS, POSTCARDS & SLIDES 
The foundation of Auld Earlston activities with nearly 2000 items in this collection alone,   covering all aspects of life in the village, past and present, including street views, country views, churches, events, entertainment, schools, sports, societies, transport, VIP visits, farming, working lives, wartime and weddings.

PRESS  CUTTINGS 
Since 2012, Albums have been compiled of reports  in the local newspapers relating to Earlston.

Below are some of the other documents 
in our archive collection. 

CHURCHES

• The Church in Earlston, 600AD-1992,   a short history by the Rev. John Duncan.
• Earlston Church Choir Trips, 1908 and 1936 - notes and photographs.
• Earlston Parish Church Foundation Stone Service, 1891 - service sheet.
• Earlston Parish Church - photographs of the pewter plate and men working on the building.  
• Earlston Secession Church Soiree, 1843 - poster.
  
• Ercildoune Church - notice on rental of seats. 
• Press cuttings of ministers and church events, 1940's-50's. 
  
• St. John 's Church - list of members, 1948. 
• Four boxes of slides by Mary Duncan, mainly of church events, 1950's-70's. 
  

 Church Trip to Yarrow Manse, 1908

EARLSTON WORTHIES 

• Christian Whale (1792-1862) and Marion Whale, Gingham Manufacturers - research papers, including a copy of Christian's 29-page will. 
• David Swanston (1816-1874),  Earlston post-runner - research notes 
• George Graham, postman - A list of subscribers to a gift  on the occasion of his marriage, 1911.
  
• Isabella Wallace (c.1854-1920)  - Earlston's Friend and Benefactor - with a copy of her will, leaving money to the benefit of  the village.  
• James MacKenzie, (1846-1898), Banker and Man of Many Roles - research notes
• John Redpath, (1796-1869),  Canadian industrialist  and donor of the village clock - research notes.
• Mary Mather, postie - press cutting and photographs 
• Rev. William Crockett (1866-1945) - research papers, magazine articles, press cuttings.
• Robert Carter (1807-1875), New York bookseller & publisher - biography, obituary & research notes. 
• Thomas Gray (1796-1884),  known as  Gingham Tam   - research notes
• Thomas the Rhymer & Mikhail Lermontov - leaflets from Friends of Thomas the Rhymer Group.
  
  

Inscription in the biography of Robert Carter, 
presented to Earlston Reading Room by his daughter, in 1892.

"The Southern Reporter" of 3rd September 1868

EVENTS

• Earlston Civic Week - programmes  from 1973.
• Masonic Bazaar, 1928  - 9 page programme of patrons, committee and stall holders 
• Ercildoune Pageant, 1934   - souvenir programme, photograph album, notes and script. 
• Guild Concert, 1911 - programme 
• Prime Minister Asquith Visit, 1908 - research notes. 
• A Welcome Home Dinner for returning serviceman and women, 1920 - programme  
• What's On in Earlston, 1994 booklet.  
• Border Common Riding 1952 - press cuttings, when local historian John Weatherly was Lauder Cornet. 
• Auld Earlston "Remembering Earlston's Railway" Exhibition, Feb. 2016 - photographs, fact sheets, publicity, community liaison, survey, grant applications.
• Auld Earlston "Earlston At Work and Play" Exhibition, Oct. 2016 - photographs, fact sheets, publicity, survey.
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GENERAL HISTORY

• An Historical Tour of Earlston, by John D. Smith, 1996
• Border Warfare - HMSO booklet, 1973, 
• Chronology of Earlston History, by John Weatherly 
• Earlston Comet - photocopy of newspaper, 1891 
• Earlston News - four copies of community newsletter, 1989. 
• Earlston Examples of Census Returns, Old Parish Records and Kirk Session Records.
• Framed in time - photographs of Auld Earlston.  In Border Life Magazine: Issue 19, Spring 1999.
• A3 laminated Ordnance Survey Map of Earlston, 1855. 
  
  

            Entry in Earlston Kirk Session Records, 1901.  (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) 

LEISURE  TIME

• Histories of the:  Chess Club, Curling Club, Golf Club,  and Horticultural Society.
• Earlston Reading Room  - history, rules & regulations, minute book 1911-1950, centenary celebration in 1952, correspondence and finance papers, 1962-2002,
• Two Cinema Programmes from the 1950's-60s.

 

Minutes of the meeting in 1906, with "20 gentlemen present", to set up Earlston Golf Club.  The Rev. Mr  N.C. Keith  was in the chair, with Mr Geo L. McDonald appointed  clerk. 

Curtain Down on Earlston Amateur Dramatic Society, 1991. 

MEMORIES

• Growing up in the West End, by Sheila  McKay 
• The Spittal Trip by Train - memories of Inez Polson
• Memories of Earlston, by Inez Polson - in Border Life Magazine:  Issue 1, May 1996
• Transcript of talks with Earlston residents,  sharing their memories on growing up in the village. 

SCHOOLS

• Opening of Earlston Junior Secondary School, 1962  - programme  
• Ten boxes of slides by Mary Weatherly, nee Rodger, mainly of the primary school from 1960.   

WARTIME

• Christmas cards from Earlston to serving soldiers in the First World War. 
• Darlingfield Air Crash of German bomber, 1943 - research notes
• Unveiling of the War Memorial, 1921 - research notes. 
• Ercildoune Recipes and Healthy  Hints,  c.1940
  
  

WORKING LIVES

• Blacksmiths of Earlston, including the Brotherston family, Scott family and many more names   - research notes, fact sheets  and photographs.
• Earlston entries in Slater's Trade Directory for Berwickshire, 1882 and 1903.
• Red Lion Hotel - building plans of 1871, property documents 1814-1881,  census returns and photographs. 
• Three centuries of Earlston Doctors, written by Dr. John Burns
• Examples of Earlston Gingham

Testament of Blacksmith, Alexander Scott, with a list of 
those who owed his estate money.  (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk)


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                  Auld Earlston welcomes all contributions on the village's past  -

Please contact us on  auldearlston@aol.com  


We are very grateful to Earlston Primary School 
for providing secure storage for our collections.

THANK YOU

My Grandfather's Grandfather was an Earlston Mole-Catcher

Stewart Paterson  (1832-1908) was a mole-catcher all his life  and  

also a bit of a property developer at the east end of Earlston  

We are grateful to Robert Johnston for sharing this story of his grandfather's grandfather.    There is also a family link to an earlier contributed post on Christopher Sanderson of Earlston. 

Stewart Paterson  was born in 1832 in Bendochy, north of Blairgowrie, the son of Emily and James Paterson,  a farm labourer.  Six  other children completed  the family - John, Hugh, Fyfe, Isabel,  Margaret and James. 

When Stewart was in his early teens, the family moved to Legerwood, 2 miles north of Earlston.  Sometime before he was 17, he left home to work at Newtonlees Farm, Ednam  as a mole-catcher for farmer James Ross who employed twenty four people   on his 606 acre farm.

The next we hear of Stewart was the calling of his banns of marriage in 1854  to Helen Mason of Pyatshaw in Earlston parish.    Stewart was back in Legerwood and described as a general labourer - he might not have liked this as he took pride in his status as a mole-catcher.

By the time of the 1861 census, the family was living at Standingstone, Earlston with two young children, Isabel born 1856 (my direct ancestor) and James 1858.  Also in the household were Stewart's older brother Hugh and widowed mother-in-law Isabel Mason. 

Around 1870 Stewart built a home  and a number of adjoining cottages for himself  at the East End, though it was unclear if he himself did the building or got others to do the work.  It would also  be interesting to know how he financed this venture.

 A photograph taken in 2012 - the house now has the address 2 Church Street,

 with the cottages 1, 2, 4, and 5 Church Street.  

By the time of the 1871 census, the family was living at  92 Main Street, with three more children - Alexander, born 1862, Emily 1867, and John 1869.  Also living with them was Stewart's 71 year old widowed father James.  

But family life had been marred by sadness.  Earlston Monumental Inscriptions (published by Border Family History Society)  lists the family gravestone,  recording the death of the first Emily, born in 1858 who survived only  5 months; Alexander who died at 15 years old; and a further  unnamed  son and daughter who died in infancy.  

Stewart's wife Helen died aged 49 in 1884, buried with her children  in Earlston Churchyard.  

 Robert Johnston besides his ancestors' gravestone in Earlston  Churchyard,

Six years later Stewart married in Galashiels  Jane Sanderson, a woollen tweed worker, 20 years his junior whose family had Earlston links. Two children were born to the marriage -  David, in  1892 and Elizabeth (Lizzie)  in 1895,   when their father would have been in his 60's. 

Stewart died 26th January 1908, aged 76, with death announcements in three Border newspapers, which described him as a rabbit-catcher.   He  appeared to be a relatively rich man.  My Uncle Arnold remembers his father  being called to Earlston to collect £300  left to various family members. 

It seems Stewart Paterson left wealth equivalent to £200,00 today - not bad for a young lad who began work as a mole-catcher! 

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Footnotes:

• David Paterson, son of Stewart and his second wife Jane, was killed in Flanders in 1916,  buried in the Menin Road South Military Cemetery, Belgium.  He is remembered on Earlston War Memorial. 

• Lizzie Paterson - I knew her as Aunt Lizzie and recall visiting her in the 1940's and 50's.  She  never married and continued to live in the house built by her father.   In 1932, my parents spent their honeymoon there.  She died in 1978 aged 82 and some older Earlston residents may well remember her. 

• Jane Sanderson, Stewart's second wife, was the granddaughter of Christopher Sanderson who features in an early post HERE.  He appeared,  at one point in his life,  to be a successful Earlston businessman,  a master grocer who  built  property on the Green, but who later faced several charges of arson.  Jane died in 1923 aged 72.  

To find a fuller account of Robert Johnstone's  Earlston ancestors, see his website HERE 

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Auld Earlston would be delighted to feature articles, photographs  and other contributions from readers.  Please contact auldearlston@aol.com