Lamberton is a hilly, former landed

estate Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representativ ...

Berwickshire Berwickshire (; ) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, its eastern boundary being the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. It is north of

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

, on the Great North Road (today the A1).

Original family

Adam de Lamberton gave a charter of a third part of his land of Lamberton to his grandson, Galfrido de Hasswell between 1190 and 1200. In the

National Archives of Scotland The National Archives of Scotland (NAS) is the previous name of the National Records of Scotland (NRS), and are the national archives of Scotland, based in Edinburgh. The NAS claims to have one of the most varied collection of archives in Europ ...

(RH1/2/59) there is a charter of Sir Peter de Mordington, knt., son of the deceased Sir William de Mordington, as superior, in favour of Simon de Baddeby of certain lands in Lamberton, dated 1270. A William de Lamberton was superior c. 1318.

Barony

Some records give Lamberton as a feudal barony; others that it became part of the vast barony assigned to

Coldingham Priory Coldingham Priory was a house of Benedictine monks. It lies on the south-east coast of Scotland, in the village of Coldingham, Berwickshire. Coldingham Priory was founded in the reign of David I of Scotland, although his older brother and prede ...

. (It may be partly both).

Renton family

A charter (RH1/2/98) dated November 21, 1325 of Agnes de Mordington, in favour of John de Raynton, thereafter designated as "of Lamberton", appears to herald the long possession of Lamberton by this family, descendants of the ancient foresters of

. "Robert de Renton, Lord of Lamberton" was in possession in 1407. In 1632 David Renton of Billie held "the forty husbandlands (1040 acres) of Lambertoun within the lordship of Coldingham". By the 18th century the Rentons had passed their ancient estate of Billie to the Homes, but retained Lamberton. The Rentons of Lamberton were in the early 19th century represented by Alexander Renton of Lamberton (d. before March 1831), who was served his father's heir in the lands and mains of Lamberton in 1774, and whose only child, a daughter Susanna, married Robert Campbell, a Colonel in the

42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot The 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot was a Scottish infantry regiment in the British Army also known as the Black Watch. Originally titled Crawford's Highlanders or the Highland Regiment (mustered 1739) and numbered 43rd in the line, in 174 ...

. Their son, Charles Frederick (1819 - 1891), Colonel in the

87th Regiment of Foot The 87th (Royal Irish Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1793. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 89th (Princess Victoria's) Regiment of Foot to form the Princess Victoria's (Roya ...

, hyphenated his surname. The Campbell-Rentons of Lamberton, and, later,

Mordington Mordington is an agricultural parish in the extreme south-east of Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders region. It is five miles from Berwick-upon-Tweed and borders Northumberland to the east, and south (where the boundary is the Whiteadder Wat ...

House, also failed in the male line with the death in 1948 of Robert Charles Campbell-Renton.

Lamberton kirk and royal connections

Only ruins of the nave and chancel of Lamberton Kirk remain, as the burial-place of the Rentons of Lamberton. Lamberton Kirk was the church where, in July 1503,

Margaret Tudor Margaret Tudor (28 November 1489 – 18 October 1541) was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from 1503 until 1513 by marriage to King James IV. She then served as regent of Scotland during her son's minority, and fought to exte ...

the daughter of

King Henry VII Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509), also known as Henry Tudor, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry ...

of England, met the representatives of

King James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauch ...

of Scotland. The meeting was celebrated with a tournament on Lamberton Moor featured English and Scottish knights from both England.Aikman, J & Gordon, W. (1839) An Account of the Tournament at Eglinton. Pub. Hugh Paton, Carver & Gilder. Edinburgh. M.DCCC.XXXIX. P. XII. The marriage led to the eventual succession of

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 M ...

to the throne of England. On 17 April 1573, during the Marian civil war, Lord Ruthven finalised terms with the English commander

William Drury Sir William Drury (2 October 152713 October 1579) was an English statesman and soldier. Family William Drury, born at Hawstead in Suffolk on 2 October 1527, was the third son of Sir Robert Drury (c. 1503–1577) of Hedgerley, Buckinghamshir ...

, Marshall of Berwick, at Lamberton Kirk, to bring an English army and artillery to capture

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle on the rock since the reign of Malcol ...

, which was held by

William Kirkcaldy of Grange Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange (c. 1520 –3 August 1573) was a Scottish politician and soldier who fought for the Scottish Reformation. He ended his career holding Edinburgh castle on behalf of Mary, Queen of Scots and was hanged at the c ...

for

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...

Links with the Earls of Eglintoun

Susanna Montgomerie (died 27 July 1754) was the third daughter of

Alexander Montgomerie, 9th Earl of Eglinton Alexander Seton Montgomerie, 9th Earl of Eglinton ( 1660 – 18 February 1729) was a Scottish peer, lord of the Eglinton Estate. Early life He was born about 1660, the eldest son of Alexander, 8th Earl of Eglinton and Lady Elizabeth Crichton ...

by his third wife, Susanna Kennedy, daughter of Sir Archibald Kennedy of

Culzean Culzean Castle ( , see Yogh#Scots, yogh; ) is a castle overlooking the Firth of Clyde, near Maybole, Carrick, Scotland, Carrick, in South Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is the former home of the Marquess of Ailsa, the chief of Clan ...

. She married (before 1 August 1739) John Renton of Lamberton and had two daughters: Susan Renton who married Sir Robert Murray of Clermont and Hillhead, 6th Bart (died 1771); and Eleonora Renton who married (22 August 1770) Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe of

Hoddom Hoddom is a small settlement and civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, dating back to the 8th century. Location Hoddom is 13 miles by road East of Dumfries and 5 miles South of Lockerbie. History The earliest reference to Hoddom i ...

(1750–1813).

Irregular marriages

The now demolished Old

Toll House A tollhouse or toll house is a building with accommodation for a toll collector, beside a tollgate on a toll road, canal, or toll bridge. History Many tollhouses were built by turnpike trusts in England, Wales and Scotland during the 18th and ...

at Lamberton, situated just across the border in Scotland, was famous for its irregular marriages. From 1798 to 1858 keepers of the Toll, as well as questionable men-of-the-cloth used to marry couples in the same fashion as at the more familiar

Gretna Green Gretna Green is a parish in the southern Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, close to the town of Gretna, Scotland, Gretna, on the Scottish side of the English-Scottish border. It is accessed from the A74( ...

. The site of the house is marked by a plaque.

Smallholdings

Lamberton today consists largely of

smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

s Williams, John, editor, ''Smallholding Memories'', Berwick-upon-Tweed, 2000 compulsorily purchased, under an Act of Parliament, from the last Campbell-Renton

laird Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scotland, Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a Baronage of ...

, to provide a living for soldiers returning from

The Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and th ...

. However, the land was not suited to crops, the holdings were too small for anything other than subsistence living, and today the original holdings are generally merged with others to make larger farms. Some modern house-building activity has taken place over the past decade along the original A1 (now bypassed). There is no town or village, as such, just scattered housing, with views over the

Foulden, Mordington and Lamberton Community Council

The regional authority today is the

Scottish Borders Council The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the ...

, based some to the west at Newtown St. Boswells,

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh () is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the northwest, and Berwickshire to the north. T ...

. Lamberton also returns three elected councillors to th
Foulden Mordington & Lamberton

Community Council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. ...

, similar to an English parish council. Meetings between April 2020 and April 2021 were held on-line due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From May 2021, the Community Council has resumed face to face meetings with the community councillor team at Fouldenbr>Village Hall

Notes

References

* ''The Scottish Nation'', by William Anderson, Edinburgh, 1870, volume 2, pps: 338-9. * ''A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland'', by Sir Bernard Burke, C.B.,LL.D.,

Ulster King of Arms Norroy and Ulster King of Arms is the provincial King of Arms at the College of Arms with jurisdiction over England north of the Trent and Northern Ireland. The two offices of Norroy and Ulster were formerly separate. Norroy King of Arms is th ...

, Ninth Edition, London, 1898, p. 1251. * ''Borders and Berwick'', by Charles A Strang, Rutland Press, 1994. {{ISBN, 1-873190-10-7

External links

The narrated history of Lamberton Kirk
Lamberton Lamberton Kirk Anglo-Scottish border