Day 5: Kelso to Teviothead, Scottish Borders

Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021

9th January 2021: 106.31km walked today taking the total to 487.98/8854km. 5% of 320 people's totals submitting 2126.20km.

Route 1A: Edinburgh to Traquair

Following our route back onto the Borders Abbey Way, we press on to reach the outskirts of Kelso where we walk through Kelso Bank Plantation on approach to Floors Castle. Floors is the largest inhabited castle in Scotland, designed by architect William Adam in 1721, and the family home of the 11th Duke of Roxburghe today. It sits on the banks of the River Tweed with views over the Cheviot Hills; the gardens are listed in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes of Scotland. Its name is thought to come from the French for ‘flowers’ or from the ‘floors’ or terraces on which the castle was built. The lands have been held by the Ker family since the 12th century. The castle featured in ‘Greystoke: Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes’ (1984). There is a holly tree in the grounds, down near the river, planted to mark the place where James II died in 1460 when his cannon backfired attacking the English who held Roxburgh Castle.

We retrace our steps back to the castle entrance and continue along the river path on the Border’s Abbey Way, this stretch called ‘The Cobby Riverside Walk’, into the centre of Kelso. The town is home to ‘Britain’s friendliest racecourse’ and has the remains of another ruined abbey, Kelso Abbey, amongst a few other things which we’ll talk about as we progress. We head away from the river into the centre of the old town passing Market Square, the largest market square in Scotland which has a continental feel about it. Overlooking the Square is the Town House, which replaced the Old Tolbooth in 1816. We cut through Wester Kirk Stile onto Abbey Row, following the path past the Quaker Meeting House and the Old Parish Church to arrive at the Abbey itself.

Kelso Abbey was founded by David I of Scotland in 1128 and the settlement of Kelso grew up around it. At the time of its founding, there was a settlement called Roxburgh across the river which had grown up around Roxburgh Castle. The Abbey saw several attacks during the Wars of Independence, the last of which took place in 1543 which did significant damage. With the Reformation in 1560, the Abbey never recovered from this attack. In 1607 the Duke of Roxburghe acquired the Abbey lands. By the early 1800s, the ruins were cleared leaving what you see today. We wander through its grounds, passing the War Memorial and the site of Kelso Abbey Infirmary, once located on our left. The Abbey ruins are in the care of Historic Environment Scotland today and it’s a free site to visit.

Back on the main road, we cross the Kelso Bridge to what looks like large areas of parkland where the Rivers Teviot and Tweed meet. This was the original area of development, where the Duke of Roxburghe built Marchmont Castle before Kelso Abbey was even founded. In 1124, David I renamed the castle and settlement Roxburgh, ‘Royal Burgh’. Roxburgh Castle saw many battles between Scotland and England for sovereignty; it to and fro’d between Scottish and English ownership. When the Scottish eventually took the castle back, they dismantled it, after which the settlement around it died away. The Duke built ‘Fleurs’ Castle on the north side of the Tweed, in a more defensible position opposite the site of Roxburgh Castle; the area where Roxburgh stood is within its estate. We follow the road alongside the River Teviot, crossing the Teviot Bridge, to take the Roxburgh Castle Riverside Walk. The area to our right is where Roxburgh once stood, now called Friars Haugh, and as we follow the river, we pass the site of the castle; nothing remains above ground of the settlement and little of the castle.

We continue along the River Teviot, still on the Borders Abbey Way, through another Roxburgh, Old Ormiston, New Ormiston, Nisbet Station, and Mount Ulston, to arrive in Jedburgh on the Jed River Riverside Walk, a total of 18 kilometres. A former Royal Burgh since 1214, bestowed by Alexander II, Jedburgh Abbey had already been in operation for 67 years. From the 14th-16th century, the town saw many attacks and occupations by both Scottish and English, but they always bounced back as it was a good centre for trade.

Post-reformation the town became an important centre in the woollen industry. Today, it is referred to as the historic gateway to Scotland and tourism is important to its economy. Every year, since the 1700s, the town men have played the Ba’ Game, a form of street football; the medieval ‘Jethart-Hand-Ba’ is said to have come from the local men playing with the heads of the English! We’ll talk more about the game when we get to Orkney; the only other place apart from the Borders where it is played today.

As we walk along the Jed Water, we pass the 16th-century tower house occupied by the Mary Queen of Scots’ Visitor Centre. Mary Queen of Scots lived in the house for a month in 1566, at a turning point in her life. The centre documents the life of the building and that of Mary. We reach the abbey ruins which sit on a slope alongside the river. Founded in 1138 by David I, although a church had been on this site since circa 830 AD, like Jedburgh itself the abbey saw many attacks, and as a result, damage and restoration. The last attacks on the abbey took place just prior to the Scottish Reformation, so the structure was never restored and became a quarry for the local people, a common occurrence at that time. The Marquis of Lothian took an interest in the ruins and restored them in 1875; it was handed into state care in 1913 and is now looked after by Historic Environment Scotland.

We leave the Abbey behind and walk along the ramparts, past the War Memorial onto Castle Gate, to reach Jedburgh Castle Jail and Museum on the outskirts of the town. The jail was built in 1823 to the design of the John Howard Reform System and operated until 1868. It stands on the site of the old Jedburgh Castle (hence its name), which was attacked so many times that the Scots demolished it themselves in 1409. Now a 4-star attraction and museum which opened in 1968, it displays the experience of a prisoner incarcerated in the 1820s. The building is said to be haunted by Edwin McArthur, who was executed here in 1855.

We continue to follow the Borders Abbey Way over the Manor Hills, part of the Southern Uplands, through the villages of Bendruie and Denholm, to walk the River Teviot into Hawick, just over 18 kilometres. Hawick is the largest town in the Scottish Borders, and the furthest town from the sea in Scotland, sitting where the River Teviot and Slitrig Water meet. The waterpower available in the town was an important part of the textile industry that developed here. Settlement of the area dates to circa 600 AD and, like all other Border towns, Hawick suffered in the cross-border wars of the 14th - 16th century. Most of the Hawick men were killed in the Battle of Flodden (1513) but the following year the young men of the town fought back the English troops, capturing their flag. This historical event is recognised annually by Hawick's famous ‘Common Ridings’ when locals ride the boundaries of their land and remember the taking of the English flag.

Textiles, wool and linen particularly, were important industries in Hawick; beginning as a cottage industry from the 1600s, it peaked following the arrival of steam power in the 1800s. Some of the most famous Scottish names in the industry were based here; John and Robert Pringle appearing in the second half of the 1800s and Lyle & Scott in 1874. There are still some textile manufacturers operating in the town today and Hawick is well known for its textile factory shops. Since 2018 the town has also been home to the Borders Distillery, the first whisky distillery in the area since 1837. Hawick has a rugby union team, a game enjoyed by all the Borders' towns, where local rivalry is played out on the pitch; Galashiels being Hawick’s main rival. ‘Tories’ are what the locals call themselves, after what is said to be the Hawick ‘Battle of Flodden’ battle cry, ‘Teribus ye teri odin’ (no translation is known) and ‘Teri Talk’ is the local Border Scots dialect.

Continuing along the river into the town centre we leave the Borders Abbey Way. Crossing the James Thomson Footbridge, we head alongside Slitrig Water to the Borders Textile Towerhouse. This is the oldest building in Hawick, over 500 years old, and was known as the ‘Black Tower of Drumlanrig’. A fortified tower that was a stronghold of the Douglas family in its early years, it became a fine townhouse in the 18th century, then an inn and lastly a hotel. In 2009, it opened as a museum dedicated to the textile history of Hawick. Of course, being the oldest building there are plenty of ghostly sightings and unexplained noises! The entertainment complex standing on a bridge across the street, Tower Mill, was just that; a spinning mill built in 1852 and still has its 14-foot water wheel on display. It stands next to the Heritage Hub which is housed in the old Corn Exchange completed in 1866; it contains the registry office, archives and a family history centre.

We continue along our route out of Hawick on the B6899 road, following the course of Slitrig Water for a time. The road takes us nearly 23 kilometres south before we turn west along Castle Road by Hermitage Water. We are still in the Southern Uplands here; they stretch from Dunbar in the east to Ballantrae on the west coast (220km) along the Southern Uplands Fault Line, and contain several ranges of hills and mountains, forests and open moorland.

As we walk, the isolated Hermitage Castle comes into view. A huge stone edifice with sheer walls, described as the ‘guardhouse of the bloodiest valley in Britain’. Why? We are only 5 miles from the border here, so the castle has seen a huge amount of conflict, just like the rest of the Borders. The first castle was built in circa 1240 and has seen many additions and changes during its lifetime; it was named after a hermit who lived nearby. In 1566 the castle was owned by James Hepburn, the 4th Earl of Bothwell, who had at that time been wounded by reivers. Mary Queen of Scots rode from Jedburgh to visit him, just weeks after giving birth to her son in Edinburgh, and on her return fell from her horse into a marsh, after which she took a fever that nearly killed her. They married, under much scrutiny in 1567, and within months Bothwell had fled and Mary never saw him again; he died imprisoned in Denmark in 1578.

Bothwell’s nephew inherited Hermitage Castle; interestingly, he was implicated in the North Berwick Witch Trial in 1591, and though pardoned in 1593, his involvement in political intrigue saw his estates seized by the Crown. In 1594, James VI granted the castle to Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, a Borders reiver, who had no use for the castle after the Union of the Crowns, so it fell into disrepair. When Sir Walter Scott started writing about Scotland in the early 1800s, the 5th Duke of Buccleuch took action to preserve the castle from further decline. It remained in the family until it was placed in state care in 1930 and is now looked after by Historic Environment Scotland.

Leaving Hermitage Castle behind, we continue west along an undulating country road to Fiddleton, enjoying views of the Ettrick Hills to the south as we walk. Reaching Fiddleton on the A7 we turn north. We will need to be careful as there is a lot of traffic on this road. We soon pass what used to be the Mosspaul Inn. This used to be a staging post for mail coaches which travelled from Edinburgh to Carlisle and was first mentioned in the early 17th century. It was in an unusual position as the inn and the byre were in the county of Roxburgh, whilst the stables, hay loft, etc., were in Dumfriesshire. This meant that if a person was wanted for a debt in Roxburgh­shire they could stay in the house but if they were warned that officers of the law were approaching, then they could retreat to one of the hay lofts and therefore defy the law.

After about 6 kilometres walking along the A7 we reach Teviothead where we reach the River Teviot. From the road we see a monument on a hill on our left. This is called the Colterscleuch Monument, which was erected in 1874 in memory of the Reverend Henry Scott Riddell who lived in Teviothead. He was the Church of Scotland minister in the local village from 1831 and also wrote poetry and songs, including the song, ‘Scotland Yet’ which he wrote while walking in a nearby glen. It is a song written as a toast to the beauty, history and heritage of Scotland.