Chalmers' Caledonia states that "the most prominent objects which attract the antiquarian eye are the hills forts above Bolton of the earliest people.

The Hepburns had occupied and farmed at Bolton for the previous seven years, but it was discovered their tack or lease was invalid because it had been granted by Archibald, Master of Haliburton, then a legal minor.

John Hepburn was involved in the plot to murder Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and was executed for his complicity in 1568.

[5][7] Richard, Earl of Lauderdale, sold the barony of Bolton to Sir Thomas Livingston, who was created Viscount Teviot in 1696.

[5] The principal proprietors in 1890 were Lord Blantyre, the Marquess of Tweeddale, Lady Connemara, Lord Sinclair, John Fletcher of Saltoun, Mr Baird of Pilmore & Kirkland; and Alexander Charles Stuart of Eaglescairnie, whose father had been commander of the army in Scotland, and Governor of Malta in 1841.

After the death of Robert Burns, his brother Gilbert and mother Agnes (and later his sister Annabel) moved to Bolton from Ayrshire.