History of the Johnstones, 1191-1909, with ... - Electric Scotland

62 CAPTURE OF ANNAN
while the other leaders of his clan, having no assistance from the Regent, were
making the only terms they could with the enemy.
The south of Annandale still resisted Wharton's lieutenant in the north
but on Sept. 8, 1547, Lord Lennox and Wharton crossed the Esk, and halted at
Graitney. The next day they marched to Castlemilk, which they reported to
have walls 14 feet thick, and captured it. On Sept. 20 they encamped near
Annan, and summoned Lyon, the captain of the castle, who defended it with
100 Scots, to surrender. The castle was built by Robert Bruce, and the chapel
adjoining it was the only church in Annan. It stood in the midst of the old
graveyard, where all that remained of the fortress in 1870 was a small heap of
stones, now swept away. " The English," wrote Holinshed, " brought their
artillery to bear against the walls, and undermined them, so that the roof of
the church was shaken down, and many of those within crushed to death. At
last the captain, moved by the Earl of Lennox, to whom he was related, gave
himself up with the garrison on condition that their lives should be saved,"
although the captain must go a prisoner into England. As soon as they left
the steeple the mines were fired, and both church and steeple vanished in the
air. The town was sacked and burnt, " not one stone being left standing, for
it had ever been a noisome neighbour to England. The Englishmen had
conceived such spite to it, that if they saw but a piece of timber remaining
unburnt they would cut the same in pieces. The country herewith was stricken
in such fear that the next day all the Kilpatricks and the Jardines, the Lairds
of Kirkmichel, Aplegirth, Closeburn, Howmendes, Nuby (Newbie), and the
Irrewings, the Belles, the Rigges, the Murrays, and all the clans and the
surnames of the nether part of Annandale, came and received an oath of
obeisance as subjects to the King of England, delivering pledges for their
assured loyalty."
The invaders were again assisted by " Richie Graham brother to Fergus,"
and by some of the Armstrongs, Beatties, Thomsons, Littles, and other Border
stragglers not dependent on any Border chief. 1
When writing of the Borderers the English Wardens often confused
Christian names and relationships, which is not surprising, when, besides the
numbers bearing the same surname, the same Christian names appear even
among brothers. This partly arose from the Scottish custom of naming
sons after both grandfathers, and after the father. In the Johnstoun family
alone the old Laird had two brothers besides himself called John ; he had
two sons named James, and two named John; and William of Newbie had
also two sons named John. It is rather difficult to suppose that Wharton
did not mean another Laird of the name, and not the stubborn patriot, when he
1 "Sundry of the surname of Yrwen (Irving) offered to serve his Majesty with 200 men
their friends, and except the bodies of Lord Johnston and John Maxwell to compel all the
dwellers from the King's Majesty's possession unto the town of Dumfries to serve his Majesty
if they might have entertainment being they said in poverty. . . . The King now hath
prisoners the Maxwells and Johnstons who hath borne a great rule of the West part of
Scotland." Wharton to Somerset, April 7, 1547. A spy reported to Sadler in "1543 that
Nithsdale and Galloway were the most poor countries not able to victual themselves, and
Annandale was in great poverty without corn for herself."