The Hough Family of Lancashire

According to local legend passed on through the generations to the present-day 'Scottie Burtons,' Archibald and his brother arrived in the Wash area from Scotland, where they were in trouble with the law after having done some smuggling. Cross Keys Wash, the remote and thinly populated marshlands between Lincolnshire and Norfolk, may have been an adequate place of refuge for outlaws. In those days, there was virtually nothing in place on the marshes: no trees, bushes, or roads; hardly even any human dwellings other than a windmill and a few fisherman cottages. The place was too dangerous for habitation or even travel, the marshes only being passable at low water on a tricky track starting at Cross Keys Wash and normally requiring a local guide to pick the way over the treacherous stretches of sand and silt. The terrain shifted from day to day due to new channels made by water hesitating about its directions on account of the dead flatness of the marshland. For some reason (that may or may not have been the reputed 'smuggler' incident), Archibald settled in this wasteland crossed by solitary poachers and isolated fishers--and may quickly have found himself a safe haven there. It is likely that he and his descendents inidrectly or directly became part of the longstanding business of reclaiming land from the sea, the occupation of sluice keeper chosen by Archibald's heirs being a crucial job in an area where the dividing-line between sea and land is all-important for security reasons.