Lessudden

   LESSUDDEN, a village, in the parish of St. Boswell's, district of Melrose, county of Roxburgh, 4 miles (E. S. E.) from Melrose; containing 399 inhabitants. The name of Lessudden, though often given to the parish, is more appropriately applied to this village. It is probably derived from Edwin, king of Northumbria, who had a fortress here; and in a charter of Robert II., by which the lands were granted to the abbey of Melrose, this place is called Lessedwin, signifying "the manor of Edwin." The village is beautifully situated in the north-eastern part of the parish, adjacent to the south bank of the Tweed, and on the high road from Melrose to Jedburgh; it is built at the east end of a spacious flat green, amid pleasant gardens, and in the neighbourhood of woods that overhang the Tweed. The air is salubrious; and from the advantages the village possesses, it is likely to increase in extent and population. A subscription library, containing more than a thousand volumes, was established here in 1799, under the patronage of Sir David Erskine, of Dryburgh Abbey.