A burgess farm

Another interesting picture. Behind the green gate and the garage doors is Porterfield Farm, right in the centre of the town. It is apparently the last of what was known as a "burgess plot", which dates back to medieval times. Parallel to the river here - Cuddy Burn - on the far side of the buildings you see at the top of the picture, is Northgate, the road from the north into Peebles. So, the medieval town being quite different from what we have today, the land between the road and the river was divided into strips which I expect were owned by the burgesses or the higher echelons of tradesmen and master craftsmen of the town, on which they grew vegetables, maybe kept a few animals.....

Gradually as the town grew and spread along the Northgate, houses were built by the road, and soon the burgess plots were subdivided and houses began to stretch down the slope and along by the river. Porterfield's house on Northgate is about 300 years old but the plot is still intact, all belonging to the present owners Gus and Catherine. Was Porter a medieval burgess? Who knows!