The TROVE archive for Scotland contains three volumes of hand written diaries by James Davidson of Edington Hill. The TROVE archive had not identified the diarist or recorded information about him and his family. So what follows is what I have managed to establish from wider records.
The diarist, James Davidson [junior], hereafter referred to as the diarist, was born in 1826 in Coldingham and died in 1882 in Berwick on Tweed. The diarist spent nearly all of his life in Edington Hill Toll House. He was the son of a ‘road contractor’. The Toll House was very small and here the diarist lived with many siblings. Following his schooling [evident from his diaries] the diarist became a mason and worked with his brother Walter.
Heart disease was prominent in this family [as you will see in the timeline below]. It may be that the diarist also died of heart disease but as he died in Berwick Upon Tweed his death certificate is not in the Scottish records.
Edington Hill Toll House, which ‘encroached upon the road‘ was removed in October 1883, not long after the respective deaths of the diarist and his elderly father.
Personal note: It was the dots around the capital letters on the title page that drew me to read more of this diary. I found myself wondering if this indicated that the diary was written by a realtively young adult? My inclination was found to be correct.
Title page of the diary of James Davidson [junior], Edington Hill, dated 18 July 1846:
Coldingham parish register, Birth of James Davidson, 30 January 1826 at Woodfoot of Greenwood:
4 March 1855, diary entries of James Davidson, recounting the loss of his friend John Miller, shepherd, Mains of Edington who died aged 28 of Typhus. He was the same age as the diarist and it may have been that they went to the same school:
1857, Ordnance Survey map:
1857 Ordnance Survey Book description of Edington Hill Toll house:
1868, death from heart disease of Isabella Blackbill Davidson [mother of James Davidson, the diarist]:
30 December 1875, Southern Reporter [Edington Toll was a regular meeting place for the Duke of Buccleuch’s Fox Hunt]:
2 October 1877, Berwickshire News and General Advertiser [John Davidson, younger brother of diarist]:
19 November 1878, Berwickshire Journal [Walter Davidson, also a younger brother of diarist]:
8 November 1878, Death certificate of Walter Davidson [like his mother, Walter dies as a consequence of heart disease]:
Walter died so suddenly ‘at the end of Edington Toll House’ that a procurator fiscal’s report was required:
17 December 1878, Berwickshire Journal [Walter Davidson worked as a mason with his brother James – the diarist]:
11 August 1882, in Berwick on Tweed, the death of the diarist, James Davidson [junior]:
26 April 1883, Illustrated Berwick Journal [death of the diarist’s elderly father, less than a year after the diarist]:
1883, Death certificate of James Davidson [senior] as a result of heart disease in an elderly man:
4 October 1883, Illustrated Berwick Journal:
Ordnance Survey map [not long before Edington Toll House was removed].
Today, there is no trace of the Toll House.