We are now fast nearing the end of to-day's walk, and the last
interesting spot that we pass is the Inch. The gate is near the
bottom of the hill, and a winding drive leads to the curious old
house. As its name denotes, it was formerly an island rising out of
the lake, which in old days filled the whole of the low ground now
drained by the Braid Burn. It used to be called "The King's Inch,"
and a room at the top of the house is still known as "The King's
Room." Like many other old Scotch houses, it has the reputation of
being haunted; though of late years, at any late, nothing ghostly has
been seen. The oldest date on the house is 1617, and the initials
of the Winram family, to whom it formerly belonged, are over some
of the windows. They were a loyal and gallant race, descended from
the Winrams of Woolston, or Wiston, in Clydesdale, and, though now
extinct, in old days they held great possessions. The Inch, Nether
Liberton, and part of Upper Liberton called them lord. They appear
to have succeeded the Forresters of Corstorphine in the barony of
Nether Liberton, and to have also acquired lands from the monks
of Holyrood, who in remote times possessed a mill here. George
Winram, a Lord of Session, under the title of Lord Liberton, was an
adherent of Montrose's. He was also one of the Commissioners sent by
the Scottish Parliament in 1649 to Charles II. in Holland; and in
1650 he returned, bearing letters from the king to the Parliament
and the General Assembly, prior to his coronation in Scotland. His
son, Colonel Winram, was lieutenant-governor of Edinburgh Castle,
under the Duke of Gordon, during the protracted siege it underwent
in 1688-89. It was to him that Lord Dundee wished its defence
entrusted, when he urged the Duke to repair to the Highlands. On the
capitulation of the Castle, Colonel Winram was kept a close prisoner
for some time, in spite of the terms of surrender. After him, we hear
no more of the family.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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