Colmslie, Roxburghshire, Scotland Genealogy

Colmslie is a location about 6 miles (9.2km) northeast of Melrose, Scotland, in Roxburghshire, in the southern Scottish Borders area. According to Historic Environment Scotland, "The lands of Colmslie were owned by Melrose Abbey, and before the Reformation they were tenanted by the Cairncross family; William Carncros de Cowmislie is mentioned in a charter of 1536." It was the seat of a family "Cairncross of Colmslie" in the 15th and 16th centuries (see FamilySearch ID GJKW-B31; more of his family is on Ancestry.com); all that appears to remain of the location is the ruins of a 16c tower house called Colmslie Tower, which is a Historic Scotland Scheduled Monument (SM6828 -- see https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/SM6828 which describes not only the tower but its historical context). There appear to have been people living in the area at least into the late 17th century, as Melrose parish records show a number of christenings of individuals from "Colmeslee" or "Colmesleehill" (see, for example, page 51 of "Melrose parish registers of baptisms, marriages, proclamations of marriages, session minutes, 1723-1741 and mortuary rolls, 1642-1820" https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSM7-DSZH-L?i=69 which shows both of those placenames in 1692).

There is a also a town of the same name, "Colmslie" near Brisbane, Australia.