Purves

A parvis is an enclosed area in front of a cathedral or church, and the term is often applied to the portico, or porch. Medieval lawyers and academics often gathered in such areas to meet clients and students. The first of this name may, therefore, have some such association. The name may also derive from the Latin ‘venire’, meaning ‘to come’. The lands of Purveshaugh were named after a family who settled in Berwickshire in the eleventh century. William Purveys of Mosspennoch made a grant of lands to Melrose Abbey between 1214 and 1249. William Porveys appears on the Ragman Roll, rendering homage for his lands in Peeblesshire to Edward I of England in 1296. Alan Purvays de Ercildon witnessed the confirmation of a charter by Patrick, Earl of March, in 1318. Nisbet lists Sir William Purves of that Ilk as head of an eminent family in Berwickshire. Chambers’ Popular Rhymes prints a parody of the famous couplet praising the Haigs of Bemerside, but showing rather less respect for the Purveses: ‘befa’ what e’er befa’, there’ll aye be a gowk in Purves-ha’. Sir William Purves published a work on the revenue of the Scottish Crown in 1681. This book was reprinted in 1897 and is a useful source for both the historian and the genealogist.