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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Berwickshire => Topic started by: Meriwether on Saturday 25 July 09 21:12 BST (UK)
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Who was Mungo? Please could anyone tell me where the name of the farm/hamlet near Duns came from?
Any information gratefully received.
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hi meriwether/all
welcome to rootschat :)
mungos walls farm house , shepherds house , cottar houses , edrom berwick
are on the 1881 census
ev
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Thanks for your message, ev. The family I am interested in are living in one of the cottages on the 1901 census. I really want to know why the farm was called Mungos Walls.
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Just a theory, (based on the fact i haven't googled for anything)
Edrom has been a religious site for around a thousand years and not far off the route often used to travel between the great religious sites of the Borders and Holy Island. Many of the farms were gifted to or owned by the Abbeys.
There was a St Mungo so the name may reflect a long historic religious connection but could just as easily be something completely different.
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Thanks for your idea. It's a good one. I know of St Mungo, or St Kentigern of Glasgow. I suppose he could have done "The Border Abbeys Walk"!
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That's the general idea behind my thinking, probably way off the mark but you never quite know.
Offhand i can't think of a noted family in the area that ever had the name, i just can't lay my hands on my county map at the moment to check the surrounding area, if i spot anything anywhere though i'll add it here for you.
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Thank you. I gather you are an expert on the Borders. My husbands mother, born 1891 a few days after that year's census, was at Mungos Walls in 1901. The family name was Marshall and as her father was a ploughman (and his father before him) they moved around a lot. Some of the family were born in England (Northumberland). I have traced most of them except 3 girls born around the time of registration in Scotland.
Thanks again for your help.
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Hi Meriwether
I'm no expert but i do get around and about a few of the lanes here in the Borders from time to time.
As previously mentioned Mungo's Walls is indeed a farm, although it's nearer to Duns than Edrom. It's very close to Wedderburn Castle, basically sharing a boundary with the castle grounds, and maybe a mile or so from the town of Duns itself. There is a photograph of the West entrance to the castle on wikipedia, Duns is left of the gates, Mungo's to the right.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedderburn_Castle
Many of the farms in the Borders still have the old cottages standing, whether that applies in this case i can't be sure but it wouldn't be a suprise to find something remaining from the period.
Still no idea why the name came about but it's around four miles to the English border and not far from Swinton so could still tie in with the old religious route from Coldingham to the Border Abbeys.
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Hi,
I have ancestors names Paterson who lived in Mungoswalls cottage, duns around 1861. They worked the land too.
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Many of the farms in the Borders still have the old cottages standing, whether that applies in this case i can't be sure but it wouldn't be a suprise to find something remaining from the period.
The cottages at Mungos Walls are "Old" but I'm not sure they are the ones that would have been there circa 1890.
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Could be in one of the Borders parishes which came under the jurisdiction of the Glasgow Archdiocese.
Skoosh.
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My sister lives in one of the farm cottages at Mungoswalls! They were originally single storey terraced cottages but were renovated and a first floor was added.
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A settlement of this name can be found on the maps of the National Library of Scotland, right back to the 1654 map by Blaeu. Indeed, Blaeu has a symbol that he normally used for a big(gish) house beside the name. It's not a church (they have a symbol and K) or a castle (he coloured them orange). It's not a plain farm - those I'm certain were farms back then all have an open circle. I'm wondering whether it's one of the peel towers that were all over the Borders at that time. There's certainly a lot of them in the area. I can only see one other settlement that MIGHT have a religious association to it's name (Ladycote), most of the names seem to be personal or geographical (eg Nisbeth, Boigend, Blacater).
There's nothing in the New Statistical Account about it.
I rather suspect that a guy called Mungo built his tower/fortified house there, and the name has stuck.