Maxton

he lands and barony of Maxton lie in Roxburghshire, and Black suggests the name may be a version of the ‘dun’ or ‘tun’ of Maccus. A dun was the fortified dwelling of a Celtic nobleman. Maccus, son of Undwin, is believed to have obtained land in the area from David I some time prior to 1153. The family are believed to have lost the original barony, which passed at the end of the twelfth century into the hands of Robert de Berkley. Adam de Maxton was elected Abbot of Melrose in 1261, and Alexander de Maxton, styled ‘constable of Roxburgh’, may be the same individual as appears on the Ragman Roll, submitting to Edward I of England in 1296. Robert de Maxton received the lands of Cultoquhey near Crieff in Perthshire, around 1410. His arms bore three crosses which may have been a heraldic reference to the earlier Abbot of Melrose. Robert Maxton died with James IV at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. The family continued to prosper in Perthshire and they allied themselves by marriage to other local notables, such as the Oliphants and the Grahams of Balgowan and of Murrayshall. James Maxton of Cultoquhey succeeded to the estates of his uncle, Robert Graham of Balgowan, in 1859, and the family has since then borne the compound surname Maxtone-Graham and quartered the arms of both families.