Ednam


Ednam is a small village near Kelso in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland.
Places nearby include Stichill, Sprouston, Nenthorn, Eccles, Gordon, Greenlaw as well as Floors Castle.
The village was formerly in Roxburghshire. Its name is a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon "Edenham", i.e. the town on Eden Water.
Near the village is a knoll called The Piper's Grave. It is named after a legend that a local piper once went searching for fairies in the hill, and was never seen again.

People from Ednam

Ednam is notable for having been associated with several Scottish poets, namely
Henry Francis Lyte, writer of Abide With Me; William Wright, John Gibson Smith and James Thomson, writer of Rule Britannia.
Other people associated with Ednam include William Purves, a banker. John 'Coocke' or 'Cuke'- grandfather of Captain Cook also came from here. Lastly, Thor Longus who re-populated and re-established the wasteland of Ednam after a grant in the early 1100s by King Edgar of Scotland under the Princedom of David I of Scotland, Prince of Cumbria. Thor Longus may have been the progenitor of the Laing family of the Borders Counties of Berwickshire, Roxburgshire, and Dumfriesshire, where numerous Laing/Lange meaning "tall or long" in Scots resided since at least the 1100's according to written Burgess roles of Dumfries and Berwick as well as the infamous Ragman Roll of 1296AD and Berwick Roll of 1333AD. The Laings are believed to be descendants of Roman auxiliary troops stationed in Northern Britain near Hadrians Wall along with other modern Border familiesfrom Numidia/Mauretania in N Africa or Hispania where Numidians/Mauretanians settled in early Roman Republic/Empire in the 200BC to 60AD period of Roman history.