Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Harden

Harden, a fine old specimen of a Border fortress, in the Roxburghshire section of Roberton parish, 4 miles W of Hawick, on the left bank of Harden Burn, a rivulet running 2 miles southward to Borthwick Water. As Leyden sings,-

Where Bortha hoarse. that loads the meads with sand,
Rolls her red tide to Teviot' western strand,
Through slaty hills, whose sides are shagg' with thorn,
where springs in scatter' tufts the dark-green corn,
Towers wood-girt Harden far above the vale,
And clouds of ravens o er the turrets sail-.

Repaved and added to in 1864, Harden retains its hall with roof of curious stucco work, its marble-paved lobby, and a mantelpiece bearing an earl' coronet and the initials W. E. T. (Walter, Earl of Tarras). In 1501 Robert, second son of Walter Scott of Sinton, acquired the estate from Alexander, Lord Home; and his greatgrandson was that famous Borderer, `Auld Wat of Harden-'The cattle he lifted were concealed in the deep precipitous glen of Harden Burn; and when the last had been eaten, a dish would be set on the table, which, being uncovered, was found to contain a pair of clean spurs *-a hint it was time to be riding. Once, on his homeward way with a `bow of kye and a bassened bull, he passed a very large haystack. `By my conscience,'said Wat, `had ye but four feet, ye should not stand lang there-'Under Dryhope has been already noticed his marriage in 1576 with Mary Scott, the `Flower of Yarrow-' is said to have fostered that unknown boy, brought back from a Border raid, to whom so many songs and ballads are ascribed. Kinmont Willie should be one of these; for Wat, we know, was him on whom the bold Buccleuch relied most in that perilous rescue (1596). We have told under Elibank how Wat's son and successor married the `Mucklemou'ed Meg' of tradition; their grandson Walter (1645-93), who had had for preceptor the famous Richard Cameron, in 1659 wedded Mary, the child Countess of Buccleuch. (See Dalkeith-) She died in 1661, he having the year before received the life title of Earl of Tarras. He engaged in his brother-in-law MonMouth's rebellion (1685), but two years later recovered his estates; and. his grandson having married a daughter of the third Earl of Marchmont and Lord Polwarth, their son, in 1835, claimed and was allowed the latter title. Walter-Hugh Hepburne-Scott, present and sixth Baron Polwarth since 1690 (b. 1838; suc. 1867), is the thirteenth Baron of Harden, and holds 14,259 acres in Scotland, valued at £16,245, 4s. per annum, viz., 4102 in Roxburghshire (£5280, 2s.), 3595 in Selkirkshire (£1760), 4714 in Berwickshire (£6843, 16s.), and 1848 in Haddingtonshire (£2361, 6s.)-Ord. Sur., sh. 17, 1864. See Mertoun, Humbie, and vol. i., pp. lxvi.lxxviii. of Dr William Fraser's Scotts of Buccleuch (Edinb. 1878).

* The identical spurs and an ancient bugle-horn are still in Lord Polwarth's possession.


(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a fine old specimen of a Border fortress"   (ADL Feature Type: "fortifications")
Administrative units: Roberton ScoP       Roxburghshire ScoCnty

Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.