Gone, But Not Forgotten

The Ankrom name has many spellings, but my branch uses the one in this sentence. History indicates that the name originated in Scotland, where it was spelled Ancrum. The Encyclopedia Britannica has the following reference in its 1958 edition and I will quote from it.

Ancrum, a village and civil parish on Ale or Alne Water, a tributary of the Teviot, Roxburghshire, Scotland, has a Gaelic root and the village is of

considerable antiquity; a Roman road forms the northeast boundary of the parish. Ancrum Moor, 2 miles northwest, was the scene of a battle in 1545

in which the English were defeated by the Scots.

After coming to the New World, the spelling changed to Ankrom, Ankrim, Ankrem, Ankram, plus other variations and the original Ancrum.

Background Information

An article in the Topical Dictionary of Scotland, Vol. I expands on the Ancrum parish as follows.

Ancrum, a parish in the district of Jedburgh, county of Roxburgh, 4 miles from Jedburgh and containing 1407 inhabitants, of whom 499 are in the village. The name of this place, anciently Alnecrumb, is derived from the situation of its village on a bend of the river Alne, now the Ale. There were formerly two villages distinguished by the appellations of Over and Nether

Ancrum, of the former of which nothing now remains. The principal event of historical importance is the battle of Ancrum Moor, which originated in an attempt made in 1545 by Sir Ralph Evers and Sir Bryan Layton to possess themselves of the lands of the Mersc and Teviotdale, which had been conferred upon them by a grant of Henry VIII, King of England. The

Earl of Angus, who had considerable property in that district, determined to resist the attempt, and a battle between his forces and those of the English took place on a moor about a mile and a half north of the village, in which the latter were defeated with great loss. In this conflict both the villages of Ancrum were burnt to the ground; the village of Nether Ancrum was soon

afterwards rebuilt, but of the other nothing remains but the ruins of one or two dilapidated houses.

The Parish comprises about 8400 acres, of which one-half is arable, 820 acres in woods and plantations, and the remainder meadow and pasture. Its surface is pleasingly undulated, rising in some parts into considerable eminences, and presenting a continued variety of level plains and sloping heights. The Teviot forms the southern boundary of the parish, and the river Ale traverses it from east to west; the banks of the latter are highly picturesque in several parts of its course, presenting in some points precipitous

masses of bare rugged rock, and in others overhung by rocks richly wooded. Both the rivers abound with excellent trout and are much frequented by ang-

lers. The soil is greatly varied; on the banks of the Teviot it is luxuriantly rich and of great depth; in other parts of less fertility and in some almost sterile. The chief crops are oats, wheat, barley, potatoes, turnips, peas and beans. The system of agriculture is in an improved state; draining has been carried on to a considerable extent and much of the inferior land has been rendered productive. Much attention is paid to the rearing of livestock, for which the pastures are well adapted; the sheep are mostly of the Leicester-

shire breed, and a cross between that and the Cheviot, and the cattle are all of the short-horned kind. The woods contain many stately trees and the plantations are extensive and well managed. Ancrum House, the seat of Sir William Scott, is a spacious and venerable mansion in an extensive and richly wooded park, stocked with deer. On the hill behind Ancrum House

are the remains of a circular fort with a triple entrenchment. In the parish are numerous caves, formed as places of retreat in times of danger, one of

which, on the glebe, was the favorite resort of the poet Thompson and still bears his name. A monument has been raised over the tomb of Lilliard, a Scotch female who fell in the battle of Ancrum Moor. Covered with wounds while fighting with desperate valour, she was buried on the spot where she fell. The place confers the title of Earl on the Marquess of Lothian.