Musings from the Merse
GOOD ON THE DUKESIR, - With the passing of the 9th Duke of Buccleuch it is worth recording, what few in Berwickshire will ever have known, that in 1993, when the then Government conceived the disastrous scheme to take Berwickshire out of the Borders and to join us with East Lothian, it was in no small measure due to the Duke of Buccleuch, then Lord Lieutenant of Roxburghshire, Ettrick and Lauderdale, whose powerful, but highly confidential, lobbying with the Scottish Office, finally frustrated this very unpopular idea.
For this Berwickshire should forever be most grateful.
MAJOR GENERAL SIR JOHN SWINTON,
reads a letter in today's Berwickshire from another former Lord Lieutenant. Last sentence: Amen to that says Huttonian. Just imagine if we had been part of East Lothian, who would have been our MSP.
Yes. The Laird.
Thankyou late Duke.
Labels: Laird, Lord Paxton, Merse
Sackcloth.No ashes.Paxton's a fine snug place, Robin Adair;
It's a wondrous couthie place, Robin Adair;
Let Whitadder rin a spate
or the wind blaw at ony rate,
Yet I'll meet thee on the gait Robin Adairruns the 1730 version of the traditional air which is all about Paxton and the promise of 'hae a night o'glee' -presumably in one of the many local taverns which preceded The Cross Inn.
According to the Rev David Leslie who was Minister of the Parish and lived in the (now Old) Manse for 60 years both Paxton and Hutton were large villages in earlier times and rather dangerous ones as they were 'always in the eye of raiding hordes' -Reivers or invading English armies. That their size is much reduced since those halycon days may have something to do with the fact that in 1482 the Duke of Gloucester burned Edrington, Paxton and Hutton. 15 years later after James IV failed to capture Norham the Earl of Surrey destroyed Hutton Castle no doubt inflicting collateral damage on the two villages as well. In 1542 the Duke of Norfolk demolished Paxton once again causing considerable problems for the Paxton family who owned land on both sides of the Border subsequently much reduced in acreage by successive episodes of being on the wrong side of the argument at the wrong time. That family by the time of the Union had lost their eponymous patrimony and had only a few acres in Auchencrow to their name. A later member of the family Sir Joseph Paxton, no longer with any local building ambitions-not even Knowe's Close, designed the Crystal Palace-not too lucky with that as well.
Paxtonians were the backbone of the local Tweed fishing:
The best fish in the Tweed, Robin Adair,
shall be thy weelwar'd meed, Robin AdairBut if he did not fancy fish;
And welcome you shall be Robin Adair
To everything that you see
Thou shalt carve the Goose for me
and o'our roast pig you shall prie, Robin AdairIts worth noting that even in those days Fishwick (fish village) was a troublesome spot long before a bypass was thought necessary. In 1649 10 local fishermen had to appear as penitents, dressed in sackcloth, at Hutton (literaly Wood-town) Church for fishing on Sunday: 'By fishing after the sun rising in the morning and before the sun set at night'
That is still an offence today. Punishable by a fine. On par with trying to buy alchohol at the Co-op before 1pm.
But
Sackcloth optional.
Labels: Fishwick Bypass, Hutton, Lord Paxton
Lord Paxton. Why are we waiting?We were all agog about the impending ennoblement of the Laird. Prime Minister's resignation honours? But nothing. In the meanwhile Musings was tracked down on the www by someone googling 'Lord Paxton' The first google suggestion is not Huttonian but: http://ibrslordpaxton.blogspot.com/ This Blog is not about our Lord-in-Waiting but about a dog called Pax-or more formally, apparently Lord Paxton. And not even a Border Terrier-but some US moggie. Worth a click.
But in the meanwhile our breath is still held. Has the cash for honours affair something to do with the strange delay. Surely the Laird is worth a measly peerage to New Labour if only for stepping down as an MSP. And that's a pretty big
only
Labels: Laird, Lord Paxton, Scottish politics
What's in a name?Huttonian had assumed that if the Laird assumed the title of Lord Paxton in his forthcoming ennoblement (if that is still on the cards given the activities of the Fuzz ) he would be on virgin territory, a titular trail blazer, as it were. Apparently not-someone seems to have got there before, at least in fiction. Go to:
http://www.amazon.com/phrase/Lord-Paxton/ref=cap_bod_3/103-2695871-3176650
and you will see what I mean. And the make believe Lord P, judging from the extracts of high literary merit quoted by Amazon, seems to have been a bit of a bounder.Oh Dear. A bad role model? To quote one extract:
"Lord Paxton, an especially obnoxious customs official driven out by Bostonians in 1766" Not too scrupulous about financial matters?
There is of course a great divide between fiction and real life. A Victorian lady watching the actress Sarah Bernhardt in the role of Cleopatra, roaring around the stage, cursing and screaming, smashing the furniture and other props,supposedly remarked to her companion : 'How different, how very different, from the home life of our own dear Queen'
I hope that this is of some comfort to any future, real, Lord Paxton
Labels: Laird, Lord Paxton
