Holydean

Holydean (pronounced "Hollydeen") is a Scottish feudal Crown Barony and Lordship which lies in Roxburghshire in the neighbourhood of Kelso, in the Borderlands of Scotland, along the River Tweed. This area along the Tweed is home to the Scottish border clans, including the Armstrongs, Elliots, Johnstones, Kers, Moffats, and many others.

The first Lord Holydean was created by King David I of Scotland when he erected the Barony and Lordship of Holydean in 1128. The Abbot of Kelso from Kelso Abbey was the local lord, who ruled one of the most powerful ecclesiastical burghs in all of Scotland. This burgh was rivaled only by St. Andrews. David I brought the monks from Tiron in Picardy, whom he transferred from Selkirk. The monks were part of the peerage of Scotland until 1545 when the Earl of Hertford reduced the abbey to ruins. The next Lord of Holydean was made in 1602 when the Barony and Lordship of Holydean was assigned to Sir Rober Ker of Cessford, who was made 1st Earl of Roxburghe. One of his heirs became the Duke of Roxburghe, and eventually the Lordship and Barony of Holydean were assigned in the traditional Scottish manner to Clan Moffat, another Scottish border clan. The present holder of the Scottish feudal titles Baron and Lord of Holydean is Taylor Forrester Moffitt. This would make Moffitt the 15th Holydean since secularization in 1602. After the abolition of feudal tenure, feudal nobles no longer hold any automatic political authority, but are entitled to keep the dignity of their titles. Holydean is a Feudal Lordship.

See also

*Castle Holydean
*Floors Castle
*Roxburgh Castle

References

The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland; Liber S. Marie de Calchou, Registrum Cartarum Abbacie Tironensis de Kelso, 1113-1567; Scottish Barony Register; Watt, D.E.R. & Shead, N.F. (eds.), The Heads of Religious Houses in Scotland from the 12th to the 16th Centuries, The Scottish Records Society, New Series, Volume 24, (Edinburgh, 2001), p. 58-62