Poser 397 – court book of Cunninghame bailliary court, 1635

This poser is taken from the court book of Cunninghame bailliary court and dates to January 1635 (National Records of Scotland, RH11/19/1, page 67). The sheriffdom of Ayr was divided into three bailliaries at this point (Kyle, Carrick and Cunninghame) and bailliary courts were the appropriate court for agricultural disputes. In this case a landowner is suing Issobell Stirling, the widow of a tenant farmer in Hill of Dunlop.

The hand has a high proportion of clearly written secretary hand but some individual letters might confuse you. Note the several forms of the letter s, including one which is a little like a capital B (it occurs in the first word in the second line, the surname Ros).

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Question: what was the name of the landowner who brought the case and what was Issobell Stirling accused of?

Help

For help with reading the poser, use our coaching manual. The following areas may be of particular assistance:

Letter e
Letter r
Letter s
Letter t
Letters u, v and w
Scots and legal words

Answer to this poser