This description of the burial of Mrs Burd of Ford comes from the ‘Book of Scottish Anecdote’. A Scotch Ell was just over 37 inches, so the coffin was both wide and deep, as necessary for such a ‘Big Burd’!
Elizabeth Hunter, was born in Borrowstounness [Bo’ness] and in the early summer of 1698 married Captain Edward Burd, younger of Foord. They had four children, all born in Ford House between 1701 and 1705.
Captain Burd the younger, a trader in Leith and Sea Captain, died 29th January, 1744, at the age of 85. He was involved in the siege of Bass Rock and has been described as a ‘facetious and intelligent man’. Captain Burd appears to have been a well-known character in his time, who ‘always retained his naval costume of a cocked hat and laced coat‘.
After the captain’s death, Foord was sold:
Ford House is on the road south from Edinburgh and survives on the bend before reaching the village of Pathhead:
The Tindall family has restored Ford House most beautifully:
In the 19th century Antiquarians marvelled over Foord House as it was so unchanged from the time that Captain Burd built it in 1680. The Drawing Room with its very fine bolection moulded panelling and woodwork being particularly fine.
