Mungos Walls

[Meriwether]

Who was Mungo? Please could anyone tell me where the name of the farm/hamlet near Duns came from?
Any information gratefully received.

[ev]

hi meriwether/all

welcome to rootschat 

mungos walls farm house , shepherds house , cottar houses ,  edrom berwick
are on the 1881 census

ev

[Meriwether]

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.

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

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.

[Meriwether]

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"!

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

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.

[Meriwether]

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.

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

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.

[edith49_uk]

Hi,

I have ancestors names Paterson who lived in Mungoswalls cottage, duns around 1861. They worked the land too.