[1592/4/109]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
†Our sovereign lord and estates of this present parliament, considering that it has pleased his highness upon diverse good causes and considerations moving him, with advice of the lords of secret council, to create and erect the burgh of Culross, being a burgh of barony of before, in a free burgh royal, and has endowed the same with diverse and sundry privileges, liberties and freedoms, as the charter and infeftment of the said burgh under the great seal at more length bears; therefore, and seeing the said erection and creation of the said burgh as said is in a free burgh royal is done upon good considerations tending to the increase of policy and augmentation of our sovereign lord's patrimony, our sovereign lord and estates foresaid ratify and approve the said infeftment and whole privileges, conditions, clauses and provisions thereof, decreeing and declaring the same infeftment to be as valuable and sufficient as if the said burgh, lands and others specified therein had been specially dissolved in the act of annexation of the kirk lands to the crown. And further, his highness and estates foresaid by this act dissolve the said burgh, lands, acres, tenements and all other privileges, liberties and contents thereof, and others therein specified, to the effect the same if need be may be of new erected in a free burgh royal by his majesty and an infeftment may be granted thereupon after the form and tenor of the infeftment above-specified already made relating thereto, providing always that this present ratification be not hurtful or prejudicial to Robert Bruce of Blairhall and Walter Callander of Bordie, of the which infeftment the tenor follows:
James, by the grace of God, king of Scots, gives greetings to all good men throughout his land, both clergy and laity. Let it be known that we, understanding not only that the annualrents or taxes due to our crown have been increased by the industry and growth of free burghs within our realm, but also that lieges of the same have been very greatly enriched by foreign trade and shipping by the burgesses and free inhabitants of the said burghs, and also considering that the town of Culross and its area have now been transferred into our hands as their superior by the annexation of the temporality of church lands to the said crown, and that the said town was elevated in the past by our most noble ancestors of most worthy memory into a free burgh of barony, and that it is situated on the water of Forth in a situation most suitable for shipping, and was the best port in those parts of the firth for the export and transport of salt and coal, with the result that the said town of Culross was elevated to a free burgh of regality in terms of our said taxation, was augmented by coals, customs on coals and salt to the annual sum of £200, and also conveniently provided an ordinary crossing, the ferry, at the same town for our lieges on their travels, between our burgh of Stirling and Queensferry, and also for various other reasons and considerations which influenced our decision, as a result of certain knowledge and a proper motive, after our lawful achievement of the age of 21 years as proclaimed in parliament and our general revocation completed within it, with the advice and consent of our beloved and loyal councillors John [Maitland], lord Thirlestane, our chancellor, Lord Robert Melville of Murdocairnie, knight, our treasurer, Lord John Cockburn of Ormiston, our justice clerk, and Master Robert Douglas, provost of Lincluden, our collector general, have made, constituted, created, elevated and incorporated, and indeed do now make, constitute, create, elevate and incorporate, whole and complete, the said town of Culross within its territory, with, all and singly, houses, buildings, tenements, gardens, acres, tofts, crofts, waste lands, places, churches, cemeteries, salt works, saltbeds or saltpans, and other things lying within the limits or bounds mentioned above, namely: between the lands of Valleyfield on the east, the lands called Valley and Castlehill on the west, the lands called Blairhall and the common muir of the said burgh on the north and the sea on the south, lying in the barony of Culross, formerly called the monastery and demesne of Culross, and within our sheriffdom of Perth, with a free port for all time to come, to be called the burgh of Culross (except ten and a half acres of arable land lying within the said territory and recently granted by us, and expressly reserved and excepted in the act of annexation of the said monastery, to John Colville, legitimate son of Alexander Colville, commendator of the said monastery); and further we have given, granted, assigned, conveyed and incorporated to the said burgh, its bailies, councillors and burgesses and their successors in property and in heritage, all and singly, the annualrents, ferms, feu ferms, entry dues and any other profits and advantages relating to, or in any way regarding us or our successors by virtue of the said act of annexation of the said church lands to our crown, together with, whole and complete, the common muir of Culross, grass, pasture and any other of its advantages, privileges and dues, and all their pertinents, by the particular bounds and measures drawn up and delineated in the old infeftment in favour of the occupiers and inhabitants of the said burgh by the commendator and community of Culross at the time, and possessed by themselves and their predecessors outwith living memory, to remain in the possession of our said burgh as property, together with annualrents and other advantages, ferms, feu ferms, annualrents, entry payments, profits and other dues and advantages of the said burgh, its lands, tenements, houses, buildings, gardens, tofts, crofts, waste lands, saltworks and their pertinents, with customs and anchorage dues of the said port to be applied to the public purpose or the common good, its adornment and government and the repair of the said port for all time to come. Further, we have ratified, approved and confirmed, all and singly, the infeftments, sasines and any other rights and titles made, given and granted by the said abbots and communities of Culross at the time and their predecessors regarding the said lands, tenements, gardens, acres, tofts, crofts and other things lying within the same burgh and its liberty, in favour of any inhabitants, burgesses or any others in past times before the day of the date of the present document; this with full and special authority to the free inhabitants and burgesses of the said burgh and their successors to make, choose, establish and create three bailies (inhabitants of the same), together with a treasurer, dean of guild, councillors, burgesses, serjeants and other officers necessary within the said burgh for its government, and to remove them for reasonable cause as often as it seems necessary; also with free and special authority to the said burgesses and free inhabitants through their councillors, and dean of guild present and future duly elected to the liberty of the said burgh, to receive and bring within the liberty of the said burgh pack and peel, and the purchase and sale of wine, wax, cloth, both linen and wool, narrow and fine, broad and long, and other general items of commerce and goods called staple goods; also with the authority to the bailies, councillors of the said burgh and their successors, to bring in and receive within the said burgh bakers, brewers, butchers, fishermen, fishmongers, tailors, shoemakers, weavers, fullers, builders, and all other craftspeople and necessary workers pertaining or relating to the liberty of a free burgh; together with the authority to use and exercise the said works and the said crafts as freely as happens in any royal burgh within our said realm; similarly with the power to the said bailies, councillors, burgesses and free inhabitants and their successors to build within the said burgh a tolbooth, prison (one or more), and a market cross, and to have a market every week on Saturday, together with two free fairs, twice in the year, namely on 1 July on the feast of Saint Servanus† and on 11 November called Martinmas, and to hold them for a week, and to intromit, levy, receive and collect customs or tolls therefrom, and apply them to the public good of the said burgh, and also to intromit, levy, receive and collect, all and singly, the small customs of the foresaid port of the said burgh, by land and by sea, and to apply them to the foresaid use; also with powers to the said bailies and their successors to grant and convey surrenders of, all and singly, the lands, tenements, annualrents, gardens, tofts, crofts and other things lying within the said burgh and liberty, and to any person or persons with infeftments, charters, sasines and other necessary things; also to establish, fix, begin and as necessary continue burgh courts within the said burgh thrice per week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; to appoint clerks, serjeants, dempsters and all other officials and necessary members of the court; to punish transgressors according to the form of law; to levy escheats and amercements of the said courts and apply them to their own uses, and if necessary distrain thereanent; to make and impose acts, laws and statutes within the said burgh and its liberty in the interest of good order, its supervision and observance; to distrain all transgressors and defaulters, arrest, incarcerate, punish and, in line with the laws of our realm, behead or hang them, with pit and gallows, infangthief, outfangthief, and generally use and exercise all the privileges immunities and freedoms, as freely in all respects as any other free royal burgh within our realm. The bailies, councillors, burgesses and free inhabitants and their successors are to hold and have from us and our successors in free burgage in perpetuity, whole and complete, the foresaid burgh of Culross with, all and singly, its houses, buildings, tenements, gardens, acres, tofts, crofts, waste lands, churches, cemeteries, saltbeds, saltworks, annualrents, ferms, feu ferms, dues, entry payments, profits, and other lands within its bounds and liberty, together with the said port, its anchorages and customs, with also its said common muir, grass, pasture and privileges, and, all and singly, the foresaid immunities, freedoms and privileges of the said burgh, by all their correct ancient measurements and divisions, as they lie in longitude and latitude, in houses, buildings, woods, plains, muirs, marshes, roads, paths, waters, pools, streams, meadows, pastures and grazings, mills, multures and their consequents, fowling, hunting, fishtraps, peat mosses, turf beds, coals, coal workings, rabbits, warrens, pigeons, dovecotes, workshops, breweries, brewhouses, whins, woods, groves and thickets, wood, timber, stoneworkings, stone and lime, with courts and their outcomes, heritage payments, bloodwit, with common pasture, free entry and exit, and with, all and singly, other freedoms, advantages, profits and easements and any just pertinents, whether named or not, under ground or above ground, far and near, relating to the foresaid burgh or justly worthy of relating to it in future, freely, peacefully, fully, wholly, completely, honourably, well and in peace, without any revocation, contradiction, impediment or obstacle. In return, each year the said bailies, councillors, burgesses and free inhabitants of the said burgh now and in the future shall render to us and our successors the sum of £10 of the usual currency of this realm on the feast of Pentecost as blench ferm, together with the usual and accustomed service of a burgh. In testimony of this we have [instructed our great seal to be applied to our present charter. Witnesses were etc. At Holyroodhouse on 5 June in the year of the Lord 1592 and in the twenty fifth year of our reign].†