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the southeast across 12 miles of farmland and almost see the
largest city in his region, Berwick (pronounced Berick ), where
the Tweed River runs into the North Sea. Berwick was fought
over many times by the English and Scots, and in Hutton s day
it was the northernmost city in England, as it remains today. It
was a walled town during the medieval period, when it was Scot-
land s chief port. Because it was such an inviting target when-
ever the English and Scots were at war with one another,
Berwick eventually lost its status as a key commercial hub. By
the mid-1700s, though, having been unthreatened for genera-
tions, it was once again thriving and served as the chief port for
northern England and southern Scotland. The streets of the
town flowed downhill from the protective walls to the north
bank of the wide Tweed. There were no village greens or parks
106 THE MAN WHO FOUND TI ME
to distract its 8,000 inhabitants from business. Yet, right before
Hutton took up residence at his farm, the city had finished con-
structing a new town hall; this building immediately served as
the main meeting place during market days. It seems likely that
James Hutton came to Berwick whenever he needed to buy or
ship anything substantial, such as new farm equipment.
The only other town of consequence was the southernmost
Scottish port, Eyemouth, which lay about 9 miles east of Sligh-
houses and 8 miles north of Berwick. It got its name from the
stream called the Eye Water, which flowed into the North Sea
right in town. Eyemouth was much smaller than Berwick, and
not nearly as active a port, but being Scottish, it was perhaps a
more hospitable place for Hutton.
The rest of the Borders consisted almost wholly of various
farms. The few towns, connected to one another by narrow dirt
roads, were tiny, merely collections of a dozen or so sturdy homes.
Two deserve specific mention. Just 5 miles from Slighhouses, and
clearly visible from Hutton s front door, was Chirnside. This
quaint village was built atop a 400-foot-high ridge, one street run-
ning east to west along the ridge, and the other one dropping
straight downhill and south to the parish church, or kirk, below.
The church was the largest in the district, parts of it dating from
the twelfth century, and it was the closest to Slighhouses. The
large public house, in the middle of town at the top of the ridge,
would have been the center of activity on market days.
The other town that was part of Hutton s world was Duns,
a market town only about 4 miles as the crow flies, and 6 miles
by road, to the southwest of Slighhouses. Hutton later told his
THE PARADOX OF THE SOI L 107
friends that his farm was near Duns, so this was most likely the
town he viewed as home. Duns was very old, dating from the
thirteenth century, and was built up around Duns Castle. The
noble who founded the town maintained a large woods for hunt-
ing, and the forest around Duns to this day remains one of the
few in southern Scotland, so intensively farmed is the land.
Though Hutton traveled to each of these villages and towns
and did business in them, he spent the vast majority of his time
on his farm. Slighhouses became Hutton property in 1713,
when John Hutton, James s uncle, bought the 140-acre farm
from a John Renton. William Hutton acquired it in 1718.
The grounds sloped up gently from south to north, the low-
est point being about 300 feet above sea level, the highest about
450 feet. The house was situated in the middle of the tract. The
northern border of the farm was on the edge of an upland; the
southern border descended in the direction of the White Adder
Water, a creek that formed the southern boundary of the neigh-
boring farm. The White Adder is one of the main tributaries of
the Tweed River, which it joined 3 miles from Berwick. Hutton s
land was blessed with plenty of flowing water. There was Lint-
law Burn, Fosterland Burn, and at least five other streams that
did not rate names. Evidence of Scotland s violent past was
found nearby. About a mile from the house, in the upland, were
the ruins of a small castle, called Bunkle Castle. Beyond the
ruins were the remains of an ancient earthworks and castle,
probably built by the Romans during their brief occupation of
this part of Scotland in the first century A.D.
108 THE MAN WHO FOUND TI ME
Hutton s house (which is still standing) was a standard two-
story building with a slate roof what today we call a Colonial.
The main structure was built in the early 1700s, either by Ren-
ton or one of the Hutton brothers, and they had probably added
on to an even older dwelling. The house had a very sturdy exte-
rior, with what today looks like a stucco coating made of sand
and pebbles. Hutton s home consisted of a bottom floor with
two rooms, a parlor and the kitchen/eating area, and a second
floor with two rooms, one being the bedroom. There was one
simple entrance, a recessed, unadorned narrow door, and there
were windows in the front and rear of each of the four rooms. As
far as we know, Hutton lived all thirteen years at Slighhouses by
himself, though he may have had a servant or two.
A second piece of property was also part of the Hutton
holdings. In 1710, eight years before he bought Slighhouses,
William Hutton purchased what is now called a hill farm.
Named Nether Monynut, it consisted of 590 acres, a huge tract.
Located in the Lammermuir Hills and reaching heights of 1,000
feet above sea level, this rocky, hilly land was never meant for
cultivation; it was intended for grazing cattle and sheep. The hill
farm was located about 8 miles northwest of Slighhouses, fol-
lowing a path alongside a creek called the Monynut Water. Hut-
ton probably kept many of his cattle and sheep there most of the
time, and then once a year herded some to Slighhouses to be fat-
tened up and then sold at market.
We know that James took his time before finally settling at
Slighhouses in 1754, a full five years after he finished his med-
THE PARADOX OF THE SOI L 109
ical degree at the University of Leyden. Two letters written by
Hutton to two friends in 1755, only a year after his arrival, sug-
gest that he was very unhappy, perhaps living there under some
form of coercion. In one he states: This squeamish homebred
stomach of mine an t truly reconciled to the bitter pill o disap-
pointment. There is a hint in these letters that he was heartbro-
ken over the end of a relationship, which may have affected the
mood and tone of the letters. To George Clerk-Maxwell
(1715 1784; whose great-great grandson would be James
Clerk-Maxwell, the discoverer of electromagnetism) he wrote, I
don t let any of the fair kind of creatures know of my distress; it
would kittle the malicious corner of their hearts to hear the
afflictions of a hardened wretch whom they could never make to
groan. In the same letter he went on to say, O if the ladies were
but capable of loving us men with half the affection that I have
toward the cows and calfies that happen to be under my nurture
and admonition, what a happy world we should have! In the
second extant letter, this one to his lawyer in Edinburgh, John
Bell, he alludes to no longer being socially active: They had me
at a feast of Baal in Eyemouth where was an honest sow roasted
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