Crossroads and Characters

13. THE LOWER GRANCO.

If the fourth Lord Rollo was an accomplice in the burning of Dunning, the sixth Lord Rollo has a more positive place in village history. Until 1777, most village houses were on the Burn's west side. The sixth Lord felt major construction improvements should be made. He decreed all buildings should be roofed with slate, not thatch, and hired a surveyor to draw up a feu plan for new streets on the Burn's east side. Originally called Cross Street by the surveyor, this one became known as Lower Granco (a puzzling name perhaps originating from the nearby Grange or Granary of Duncrub estate). The houses date from 1790 onwards, and contained at various times a 'penny school' where each lesson was paid separately, weavers' shops, a bank, a church, a builder's yard, a gas-works and a temperance meeting hall.