Robert de Soynhope and Soonhope.

Robert de Swynhope is important .   Firstly he was possibly related to John de Hope of Peeblesshire of the Ragman's Roll and secondly his inclusion in the record of 1321 reproduced below under item 724.  Swynhope is represented today by the lands of Soonhope just east of the Peebles Hydro Hotel and not far,as the crow flies, to Kailzie Gardens and the area of Bold. This document of 1321 is important as it gives a date to the process of evolution of the name Hope from a valley name - Swynhope - to the shortened version.

Robert Soynhope 01.jpg

Robert is listed as one of the "Gentifs" and among the servants is Symon de la Hope who must be the squire of Robert.  Apart from Robert and Symon there are other Peebles men there - John Barn, John de la Chambres (Chambers) Alein de Hey.   The record states that the men are poor which is an euphemism for being landless.   In this case they have undoubtably have been stripped of their lands by King Robert the Bruce for backing and receiving lands from Edward I.   ie they were on the wrong side during the First War of Independence.   Unfortunately no land charters survive for the Sywnhope lands until the sixteenth century when the Hays of Smithfield owned the land.  Fortuitously Swynhope (The valley of the Swine) appears in the origins of another family namely the Border family of Kerr (Marquis of Lothian).  In their records the first Kerr to be recorded in Scottish history c1200 was John Kerr of Swynhope who was a hunter.  Also according to Kerr history the lands of Swynhope at that time was on the "de Bruys" estates.   Hence when King Robert the Bruce stripped Robert Swynhope of his lands he was, in his own eyes at least, recovering his own family lands. 

There was a Richard Swynhope who in 1346 was a clerk in Roxburgh.  This surname of Swynhope was missed by Black.

There is a play reputably wriiten by King James I (who was King between 1406-1407) which includes the line "Peebles at the Play"   The poem has the line "Hope, Cailye, and Cardrona" - obviously referring to the present day Soonhope, Kailze, and Cardrona.  Another very interesting example of Hope. 

The change of the Peebles name of Swynhope to Soonhope must have gradually taken place sometime in the middle of the eighteenth century.   In a birth entry in the Peebles records of a Jean Cairns in 1761 shows that her father Robert Cairns was a Miller at Swine Hope Mill - her mother was concidently a Hope -  Anne Hope! (Ann is included in the family tree TQR 02  descendants of James Hope and Agnes Hatly on the Hopes of Traquair page of this site.)   I don't suppose that Ann Hope appreciated that her own Surname probably had its origin in Swynhope.    Edgar's map of 1742 shows Soonhope M on the Soonhope burn a short distance from its confluence with the River Tweed.  Also Armstrong's map of 1775 also shows it spelt Soonhope.