Dawick House, a modern castellated mansion, standing amid finely-wooded grounds, in the NE corner of Drummelzier parish, Peeblesshire, 2½ furlongs S of the Tweed's right bank, and ¾ mile SSW of Stobo station, this being 6½ miles WSW of Peebles. Held by the Veitches from the 13th to the close of the 17th century, the estate then passed to the lawyer, James Naesmyth (d. 1706), who was known as the ` Deil o' Dawick.' His grandson and namesake, the second baronet (suc. 1720; d. 1779), was the eminent botanist, Linnæus' pupil, who planted in 1735 the Dawick avenue of silver firs, and to whom Scotland owes the introduction of the larch in 1 725. His great-grandson, the present Sir James Naesmyth of Posso, fifth Bart. since 1706 (b. 1827; suc. 1876), owns 15,485 acres in the shire, valued at £3557 per annum. On a knoll, 1½ furlong S by W of the house, still stands the old church of Dawick parish (suppressed 1742), which serves now as the family mausoleum.—Ord. Sur., sh. 24,1864.

(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)