Elibank | As described in F.H. Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4)

Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Elibank

Elibank, an estate, with a mansion and a ruined castle, in Yarrow parish, Selkirkshire. The mansion, Elibank Cottage, stands on the right bank of the river Tweed, 5 ½ miles E of Innerleithen. In 1595 the estate was granted to the eminent lawyer, Sir Gideon Murray, a cadet of the Darnhall or Blackbarony line; and by him, doubtless, Elibank Tower was either wholly built or extended from the condition of an old Border peel. ` Now a shattered ruin, ' says Dr Chambers, ` occupying a commanding situation on the S bank of the Tweed, Elibank still shows signs of having been a residence of a very imposing character, defensible according to the usages of the period at which it was inhabited.' Sir Gideon's daughter, Agnes, was the ` Muckle-mou'ed Meg ' of Border story, who really, in 1611, did wed young William Scott of harden, though the story otherwise seems to have no foundation; and Sir Gideon's son, Patrick, was in 1643 raised to the peerage as Lord Elibank. Two younger sons of the fourth Lord Elibank, Alexander and James, are notable-the first as a violent Jacobite, and the second for his five months' defence of Fort St Philip, Minorca (1781-82), with less than 1000 men against 40, 000 French and Spaniards. The Darnhall, Ballencrieff, and Elibank estates were all united in the person of Alexander Murray (1747-1820), who succeeded as seventh Lord in 1785; and Elibank Tower has since been left to sink to decay. The present Lord Elibank holds 1168 acres in Selkirkshire, valued at £361 per annum.—Ord. Sur., sh. 25, 1865. See darnhall, and pp. 345-354 of Dr William Chambers' History of Peeblesshire (Edinb. 1864).

Linked entities:
Feature Description:	"an estate, with a mansion and a ruined castle" (ADL Feature Type: "land parcels")
Administrative units:	Yarrow ScoP Selkirkshire ScoCnty

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