Raecleuch, Berwickshire (Scottish Borders)
Map: National Library of Scotland - Gordon: A description of the province of the Merche ca.1636-1652. Raecleuch is to the west, Otterburn to the right.
Nisbet lands extended well beyond East and West Nisbet. The farmstead of Raecleuch lies just over 10 miles west of Nisbet House, just northwest of the village of Westruther. It lies on the southern fringe of the Lammermuir hills, thus with arable land immediately surrounding, and with direct access to vast expanses of moorland to the north.
Raecleuch first comes into Nisbet hands in 1442, in a charter referred to in an Inventar of the writs of Recleugh at the National Library of Scotland, which records: “To all who shall see or hear this charter, Patrick Macdowale of Logane, greeting in God everlasting :—Know ye me to have granted, sold, and in virtue of sale conveyed, and by this my present charter, confirmed to a prudent man, Philip of Nesbyt, son of Adam of Nesbyt, of West Nesbyt, all my lands of Reycluch, with the pertinents lying in Lammermor.” Research by Jean Skar has found a series of charters confirming inheritance between the Nisbets of west Nisbet, ending with Phillip Nesbit, heir of his father George Nisbet ‘of the same’, i.e. of that Ilk. There is a contract of 1638 between the ‘Laird of West Nisbet and Robert Pringle of Stitchell’, but in charters of 1652 and 1653 the Nisbet family is no longer mentioned. No doubt the lands had been lost in the financial failure of Sir Alexander Nisbet in the 1640s.
The charters mention other lands too, in Otterburn and Mordington. Otterburn is probably the demolished farmstead in the Lammermuir parish of Longformacus recorded on CANMORE as “The buildings of this farmstead, now reduced to their turf-covered footings, are disposed around three sides of a yard, and are overlain on the N by the remains of a later building. A number of large enclosures and at least one other rectangular building are associated with it, and it lies adjacent to a large area of rig-and-furrow cultivation. It is noted in Bleau's Atlas in 1654 and also appears on maps of the middle and late 18th century, but by 1857 only the later building was still roofed. Two unroofed buildings, one roofed building and three enclosures are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map, but they are not shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1982).” Mordington lies 13 miles east of Nisbet House, and is on arable land in the far southeast of Berwickshire.
Gordon’s map of c. 1630-50 does show a structure at Raecleuch, but no trace of ancient building survives now. The handsome 19th century farmstead and farmhouse may have been built by the Spottiswoode family of the nearby Spottiswoode House, who were responsible for building many houses in Westruther village. Land close to the farm is (2020) being sold as a series of building plots, relatively well screened by belts of trees.
A distant view of the farm and land can be gained from the narrow road that runs from Pyatshaw, via the edge of the Spottiswoode estate, to Westruther. It would only be a short detour on the drive from Edinburgh to Duns, and could be combined with a meal at the well-regarded Old Thistle Inn in Westruther, and a stroll to the picturesque Auld Kirk (built 1649, after the time of the Nisbets).
Key sources:
CANMORE: http://canmore.org.uk/site/354165
Wikitree: Nisbet of Racleuch
Raecleuch first comes into Nisbet hands in 1442, in a charter referred to in an Inventar of the writs of Recleugh at the National Library of Scotland, which records: “To all who shall see or hear this charter, Patrick Macdowale of Logane, greeting in God everlasting :—Know ye me to have granted, sold, and in virtue of sale conveyed, and by this my present charter, confirmed to a prudent man, Philip of Nesbyt, son of Adam of Nesbyt, of West Nesbyt, all my lands of Reycluch, with the pertinents lying in Lammermor.” Research by Jean Skar has found a series of charters confirming inheritance between the Nisbets of west Nisbet, ending with Phillip Nesbit, heir of his father George Nisbet ‘of the same’, i.e. of that Ilk. There is a contract of 1638 between the ‘Laird of West Nisbet and Robert Pringle of Stitchell’, but in charters of 1652 and 1653 the Nisbet family is no longer mentioned. No doubt the lands had been lost in the financial failure of Sir Alexander Nisbet in the 1640s.
The charters mention other lands too, in Otterburn and Mordington. Otterburn is probably the demolished farmstead in the Lammermuir parish of Longformacus recorded on CANMORE as “The buildings of this farmstead, now reduced to their turf-covered footings, are disposed around three sides of a yard, and are overlain on the N by the remains of a later building. A number of large enclosures and at least one other rectangular building are associated with it, and it lies adjacent to a large area of rig-and-furrow cultivation. It is noted in Bleau's Atlas in 1654 and also appears on maps of the middle and late 18th century, but by 1857 only the later building was still roofed. Two unroofed buildings, one roofed building and three enclosures are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map, but they are not shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1982).” Mordington lies 13 miles east of Nisbet House, and is on arable land in the far southeast of Berwickshire.
Gordon’s map of c. 1630-50 does show a structure at Raecleuch, but no trace of ancient building survives now. The handsome 19th century farmstead and farmhouse may have been built by the Spottiswoode family of the nearby Spottiswoode House, who were responsible for building many houses in Westruther village. Land close to the farm is (2020) being sold as a series of building plots, relatively well screened by belts of trees.
A distant view of the farm and land can be gained from the narrow road that runs from Pyatshaw, via the edge of the Spottiswoode estate, to Westruther. It would only be a short detour on the drive from Edinburgh to Duns, and could be combined with a meal at the well-regarded Old Thistle Inn in Westruther, and a stroll to the picturesque Auld Kirk (built 1649, after the time of the Nisbets).
Key sources:
CANMORE: http://canmore.org.uk/site/354165
Wikitree: Nisbet of Racleuch