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Annals of Dunfermline
A.D. 1701 - 1801 - Part 8


  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!


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