Ayton

Parish No 727 Ayton is located within the County of Berwickshire, which is now known as the Scottish Borders. Ayton lies approximately 6 miles north west of Berwick-upon-Tweed.   Ayton was once known as Eiton or Eitun, which came from two Saxon words, Ei, a water or stream and tun, a villa or town.  Ayton is situated on the River Eye about 7 miles from Berwick bounded by Eyemouth and Coldingham on the north and Mordington and Foulden to the south.

For a map showing the location of Ayton please click here.

The south side of the parish is the remains of two camps, which are of either Saxon or Roman origin.  There was a castle founded by Baron De Vescie but it no longer exists.  Another castle was built on the site but it was burnt in 1834.  In 1851 a third castle was built complete with turrets and battlements.  This mansion was built for William Mitchell-Innes, who at the time was the Governor of the Bank of Scotland.  The architect of this mansion was James Gillespie Graham who also designed Broderick Castle on Arran.  The mansion was used as a school during World War II.

 

The settlement and formation of the parish is said to have taken place during the reign of David I with the village growing up around the original castle.

 

In 1497 the Earl of Surrey who was the renowned General of Henry VIII besieged Ayton.  During the siege the village was badly damaged however it survived.  The village was completely destroyed however in James IV's retaliation in support of Perkin Warbeck the pretender to the English Throne.

 

In the past Ayton had 2 paper mills which were wind generated, 4 watermills, 1 brewery, 1 bleachfield [a bleachfield was used for bleaching linen webs] and flour mills.  One of the flourmills only operated for a short time between 1775 and 1783 when it fell into disuse.  Despite all of the mills etc most people found work in agriculture as is the case today.

Ayton had an annual fair, which stopped in 1853 due to the drunken revelry and fights, which used to take place.

The Borders Family History Society have produced a book called “Ayton Monumental Inscriptions”.  I recently borrowed a copy of this from my local library and found it very interesting.  Along with a list of graveyard inscriptions the book also contains information on Ayton’s Militia List, Church Ministers, War Memorial Information, Poll Tax Lists from if memory serves me correctly 1695 and there were a couple of other lists.  If you had family in Ayton this book is well worth a look.

Population

Here are some figures showing the Parish's population through time:

1755

797

 

1841

 

 

1911

1577

1780

1146

 

1851

1959

 

1921

1521

1790

1245

 

1861

2014

 

1931

1413

1801

1453

 

1871

1983

 

1951

1483

1811

1379

 

1881

2052

 

1961

1769

1821

1481

 

1891

1827

 

1971

1956

1831

1602

 

1901

1629

 

 

 

 

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