Berwickshire
Named from the English town of Berwick upon Tweed in north Northumberland, historic Berwickshire is part of the Scottish Borders region and entirely situated in Scotland. Berwick upon Tweed was once part of this Scottish shire but changed hands with England thirteen times. Berwickshire is in Scotland but Berwick itself has not been part of Scotland since 1482.
Berwickshire’s historic towns include Coldstream, Duns, and Greenlaw. To the east, the beautiful Berwickshire coastline encompasses Eyemouth, Coldingham, St Abbs’ Head, Fast Castle and Cockburnspath which are covered, along with parts of East Lothian on our Berwickshire coast page.
In the far south of Berwickshire, bordering the Tweed Valley are the extensive lowlands of The Merse crossed by the Blackadder Water and Whiteadder Water. To the north and west are extensive uplands formed by the Lammermuir Hills – ‘the upland of lambs’ – a sparsely populated region that dominates much of the county. Here tiny settlements in the valleys were important stopping points and places of shelter.
England’s North East shares a northern border with Scotland’s Borders region including Berwickshire. The two regions are linked through history, geography, landscape, Christian heritage, place-names and lots of cross-cultural connections.
Coldstream
The town of Coldstream on the River Tweed, around twelve miles upstream from Berwick is a good place to begin an exploration of Berwickshire. Called ‘Caldstrem’ and ‘Kaldestr’ in twelfth century records, the meaning of its name is something of a surprise. ‘Stream’ in this sense refers to a stretch of river and its rate of flow. ‘Streams’ in the Tweed are stretches of the river sometimes considered good for fishing and in this case, a seemingly cold stretch. Nevertheless, a small river or burn called the Leet Water joins the Tweed at Coldstream which might also be the ‘stream’ of the name.
A monastery – a Cistercian convent – was founded at Coldstream before 1166 by Gospatric III, the Earl of Lothian. He was the grandson of Gospatric I, an Anglo-Danish Earl of Northumbria who had fled to Scotland. Due to its location, the monastery was vulnerable to attack during the Anglo-Scottish wars because Coldstream was situated on an invasion route from England. The English king, Edward I came this way, launching an attack on Scotland through Coldstream in 1296. Despite its vulnerability, the Coldstream convent continued in operation until 1621.
Margaret Tudor, Queen of the Scottish king, James IV was a frequent visitor to the site. James, of course perished at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, just three miles across the border in Northumberland. After the battle, the king’s body was sealed in a lead coffin at Berwick and transported to Sheen Priory in Surrey. The later whereabouts of the king’s remains are unknown. Other Scottish casualties of Flodden were brought north to Coldstream by Queen Margaret for burial at the monastery.
Coldstream, historically a Berwickshire town, is a former burgh and though it is close to the English border, it is Scottish through-and-through. Scottish flags fly high from buildings in its streets and Scottish accents are heard in the local shops and stores.
Coldstream is an historic bridging point of the Tweed, where the river was forded in earlier times. The present bridge, with its five stone arches across the river, was built between 1763 and 1766 and designed by the Yorkshire-born architect and civil engineer, John Smeaton who also built the bridge across the Tyne at Hexham in Northumberland. The bridge at Coldstream is a familiar site for motorists travelling on the A697, one of the major routes between England and Scotland.
Just after crossing the bridge from England there is an old toll house on the right-hand side as we enter Scotland. As well as once collecting tolls, for the upkeep of the road and bridge, this building was once a setting for runaway marriages similar to those that took place in the old blacksmiths’ shop at Gretna Green over on the south-western border of Scotland.
A marriage act introduced to England and Wales in 1753 made it illegal for people to marry under the age of 21 without parental consent. At that time the laws in Scotland were much more liberal. Boys could marry at sixteen and girls at twelve, without parental consent. Later, the age was raised to sixteen. In 1856 a new law in Scotland made marriage only possible if there had been residency there for more than 21 days.
As we turn left from the toll house towards the town and pass the road sign welcoming you to Scotland, the first striking feature as we enter the town of Coldstream is the Marjoribanks monument. Built in 1834, this monument consists of a tall Doric fluted column topped by a statue of a local politician, Charles Albany Marjoribanks (1794-1833).
A Scottish Liberal, Marjoribanks served in the House of Commons in the government of Earl Grey, the Northumbrian-born Prime Minister who he assisted in instigating the Reform Bill.
The monument can thus be compared to the column and monument dedicated to Earl Grey himself (Grey’s monument) in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The original statue of Marjoribanks at the top of the Coldstream column was struck by lightning in 1834 and replaced by a new one in 1873.
Coldstream Town Hall in the High Street (next to the Besom Inn) dates from 1863 and was built by Gospatric Douglas Home, the 11th Earl of Home. It originally served as a mechanics’ hall but came under the municipal use of Coldstream burgh later in the century.
Coldstream Parish Church, not to be confused with the more prominent former Free Church, is situated in the High Street. The parish church was rebuilt in 1905 but its distinctive square clock tower and western entrance belong to an earlier, original church, of 1718.
To the rear of the old town hall, we see one of the most prominent towers in Coldstream, the former Free Church in Victoria Place. No longer in use as a church, it dates from the 1840s with a tower that dates from 1891. Later, the church was known as the Rodger Memorial Church, dedicated to its first minister, Alexander Rodger. It is now an events and functions venue called the Eildon Centre.
A rather more modest Coldstream church, built without a tower or spire is the Episcopalian Church of St Mary and All Souls of 1913, in Abbey Road. Its name recalls ‘Sancte Marie de Caldstrem’ which was the dedication of the old convent monastery at Coldstream. The ‘All Souls’ part of its name recalls the lives lost at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.
Abbey Road is situated near a nook of land to the south of the High Street close to where the Tweed is joined by the Leet Water. Here, near the riverside area called Tweed Green was situated the old monastery.
Adjoining Abbey Road is Coldstream’s old Market Square, a slightly forlorn spot as the commercial centre of town is very much focused on the nearby High Street that bypasses the Market Square.
A Flodden Memorial monument featuring a sculptured sword can be seen on Tweed Green above the banks of the river near Abbey Road and dates from 2007. The Battle of Flodden is an event that is still consciously remembered in the culture of Coldstream.
Annually, each August, Coldstream Civic week includes a traditional ‘common riding’ from Coldstream to the Flodden battle site. A procession of horse riders make their way to the village of Branxton to place a wreath at the foot of the Flodden cross.
As well as its military connections with Flodden, Coldstream is of course famed for its association with the regiment called the Coldstream Guards which is now part of the British army’s Household Division. Originally formed and headed by Englishman, George Monck, 1st Duke of Abermarle, the regiment began as Monck’s Regiment of Foot in 1650 and fought at the Battle of Dunbar.
Monck’s headquarters, where the regiment was founded, was situated in the market place where we now find the Coldstream Museum, featuring the history of the town and regiment.
In 1658, Oliver Cromwell, ‘Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland’ died. It was Cromwell who had ousted the monarchy and overseen the execution of King Charles I. In December 1658, Cromwell was succeeded by his son, Richard Cromwell, who proved to be an ineffective leader and resigned from office in 1659.
In January 1660, Monck and his regiment crossed the Tweed from their base at Coldstream into England and headed for London. It took them five weeks to arrive in the capital, where Monck would play a key part in overseeing the restoration of the monarchy under the new king, Charles II. Following Monck’s death in 1670, his regiment was renamed the Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards.
The Hirsel
Near the southern edge of Coldstream, a little burn called Leet Water joins the River Tweed after flowing south through the Merse. Just north west of Coldstream it flows close to the beautiful grounds of The Hirsel, the family seat of the Home family. The house at the centre of this estate, Hirsel Lodge, dates mostly from the eighteenth century with an historic core dating back to the early seventeenth century.
Descended from Gospatric I, an Earl of Northumbria, the Earls Home (pronounced Hume) have lived at the Hirsel since 1611. The Homes previously resided at Hume Castle near Hume, to the south of Greenlaw, and it is from Hume that they took their name. The 500 acre grounds of the Hirsel include pleasant walks, a lake and gardens featuring rhododendrons and azaleas. Most famous of the Homes to reside at the Hirsel was Alec Douglas Home (1903-1995), the Conservative Prime Minister from October 1963 to October 1964.
About three miles west of the Hirsel is the little village of Eccles with a name derived from the Latin ‘ecclesia’. The name points to it being a possible early Christian site. In later times it became the site of a Cistercian convent founded in the 1150s. There are scant remains of the convent in Eccles churchyard. Eccles church or ‘kirk’ (the correct Scottish terminology) dates from 1774 and is built on the site of an earlier one. A couple of miles south east of Eccles is the village of Birgham near the banks of the River Tweed.
Tweed Border : Birgham to Berwick
From the village of Birgham eastward, the River Tweed forms the border between England and Scotland or specifically the border between the old counties of Berwickshire and Northumberland. It continues to do so until just short of Berwick itself. West of Birgham, the Tweed lies entirely in Scotland as the border leaves the river behind and heads southward into the Cheviot Hills to take in lands and places such as Kirk Yetholm in the upper valley of the Bowmont Water as well as places further south and west such as Jedburgh and Hawick.
Old records show the name Birgham derives from ‘Brycg-Ham’ meaning ‘bridge-homestead’ and is named from a long-lost bridge or causeway across the Tweed. Birgham stands almost opposite the Northumberland village of Carham-on-Tweed though both places are situated away from the river. Carham is a place of great importance in border history as the Battle of Carham took place near there in 1018 and would more or less establish the Scotland-England border as we know it today.
Berwickshire and the Lothians had once historically formed part of the Kingdom of Northumbria and in earlier times were part of the Celtic lands of the Gododdin. Earlier still, these were the lands of the Gododdin predecessors, the Votadini (or Otadini) of the Roman and Iron Age eras. After the Battle of Carham in 1018 the Northumbrian lands north of the Tweed became part of Scotland.
About two miles downstream from Birgham along the north bank of the Tweed we face across the river into England towards Wark on Tweed. Wark was the site of an important castle that is now only an earthwork. Its name comes from a word for an earthwork – a ‘wark’ or mound.
Continuing east, a mile further downstream, we reach the Scottish town of Coldstream that we have already explored. Here the bridge across the Tweed into England links Coldstream to the Northumberland village of Cornhill-on-Tweed. In Cornhill, we may see Northumberland flags and the local speech becomes a Northumbrian accent.
At Coldstream the Tweed of course forms the Scotland-England border which here forms a looping meander around a flat piece of land just south of the town. Curiously, the border here strays away from the river ever-so-slightly to encroach upon land over on the English side near the Wark to Cornhill road.
This little piece of otherwise unremarkable land is the famous Ba’ Green (Ball Green), the site of a once historic and regularly held mob-football game between the residents of Coldstream in Scotland and Wark in England. The victors of each game, which supposedly traced its origins back to medieval times apparently gained the right to claim this little piece of land. The game is said to have been discontinued after Coldstream (by then the much larger of the two places) kept on winning. The Ba’ Green has remained a possession of the Scottish side ever since.
Tracing the Scotland-England border east from Coldstream, the border continues to run right down the very centre of the River Tweed until about two miles short of Berwick itself, where it goes off on another wander, this time to the north to take in the northern bounds of Berwick.
Heading north of Berwick the border takes in the most northerly parcel of land in England. At the centre of this English portion of land we find Halidon Hill which was the site of a battle in 1333. Here there are excellent views of the neighbouring border country of both nations including views of Berwick upon Tweed, the Tweed valley, Lindisfarne, Bamburgh and the Cheviot Hills.
North east of Halidon, the England-Scotland border eventually meets the sea on the rocky coast between Meg’s Dub on the Scottish side and Marshall Meadows Bay on the English side, a location about three miles north of Berwick and the Tweed.
The Merse
Focusing on Scotland’s Berwickshire stretch of the Tweed valley between Birgham and Berwick, much of the scenery is formed by a lovely, sleepy, lowland landscape north and east of Coldstream called ‘The Merse’. Sometimes simply known as ‘Merse’ for short, Merse was historically an alternative name for Berwickshire itself. In fact historic maps and documents often refer to Berwickshire as ‘Merse’, ‘Merch’, ‘Marcia’ or even ‘Mercia’. It seems to have been an interchangeable term, sometimes synonymous with the ‘East March’ or eastern borderland.
Today, Merse is generally applied to a much smaller area, namely the low-lying district around Swinton, just north of the Tweed. With its tiny farms, hamlets, villages and fertile farmland it is hard to associate the Merse of today with the Anglo-Scottish Border troubles of times past. Yet, the Merse undoubtedly lies firmly at the heart of what was once one of the most vulnerable places in the Scottish Borders.
The name Merse applied to this specific locality refers to marshy alluvial land. Once drained it was highly fertile and ideal for growing crops, making it a rich farmland. Over time this name seems to have become interchangeable with the ‘march-land’ or ‘marches’ – the areas where special borderland laws and jurisdiction applied. In fact the title ‘Earl of March’, derives from the Merse. A link between marshlands and borders is not altogether unexpected as marshlands often served as very effective borders.
Swinton and Ladykirk
At the centre of The Merse is the little village of Swinton which has a Kirk (church) that dates in part back more than a thousand years. The bell in the church was rung to announce the death of King James IV of Scotland at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.
Swinton gave its name to a local family called Swinton, one of whom was a certain Alan Swinton who died around 1200. He is commemorated by a medieval effigy in the church. Swinton means ‘farm of the swine’, in other words ‘pig farm’, although there is an alternative idea that it belonged to someone called Sveinn.
Close to Swinton, on its north side, is the little burn called Leet Water that rises just north of Swinton near a place called Whitsome. About three miles west of Swinton it passes close to a place called Leitholm and then flows south-east for a further three miles passing through the Hirsel Country Park before joining the Tweed at Coldstream. Cannon balls from the famous Mons Meg cannon (now in Edinburgh Castle) that once bombarded Norham Castle in the late fifteenth century were found in the Leet Water during drainage.
Swinton is situated about three miles west of the River Tweed where a bridge near Ladykirk village crosses the river into Norham village in north Northumberland. Norham was once the head-town of an extensive district of the County Palatine of Durham called Norhamshire that was part of Durham, rather than Northumberland from the late Anglo-Saxon era until 1844. So for centuries this part of Scotland shared a border with County Durham rather than Northumberland.
Ladykirk was once called Upsetlington or more specifically Easter Upsetlington from being the eastern part of the estate of Upsetlington. Ladykirk is named from the church or kirk of Upsetlington, which had been dedicated to St Mary.
According to tradition, the church was given its name when King James IV of Scotland narrowly escaped drowning in the Tweed here in 1496. He attributed his fortunate fate to a miracle of St Mary, ‘Our Lady’. As a means of giving thanks for the miracle, James had the local church, which came to be called the ‘Lady Kirk’, rebuilt. The work was carried out by Sir Patrick Blackadder, a member of a local Borders family who took their name from the Berwickshire river of that name.
In fact James’ heavily fortified and rebuilt church was called the ‘Kirk o’ Steil’ (church of steel), from its supposed strength but the name of Ladykirk village arises from the dedication of the church to ‘Our Lady’, St Mary.
Upsetlington is a name that still survives in a neighbouring place to the south west of Ladykirk. It was the location from which King James camped prior to launching an attack on Norham Castle in the 1490s and was once a key crossing point into England. It was a venue for negotiations and meetings between the Scots and the English, notably during the reign of King Edward I.
The ‘upsetsl’ part of Upsetlington’s peculiar name means something like the ‘higher or upper seat dwelling’. It may refer to a kinship group of Anglo-Saxon people who were conjecturally called the Upsettlings. The western part of Upsetlington, called Wester Upsetlington, was part of the lands of the church of Durham until 1476. Upsetlington was included in the Boldon Book of 1183, the Domesday Book of Durham, instigated by Hugh Du Puiset (Bishop ‘Pudsey’), a Prince Bishop of Durham. Upsetlington was connected to his lands in Norhamshire just across the Tweed.
At the crossroads where the B6470 road from Swinton to Norham is crossed by the Upsetlington to Ladykirk road there is an interesting drinking fountain situated by the roadside. It was erected by Lady Marjoribanks of Ladykirk in June 1887 to commemorate the jubilee of Queen Victoria.
About two miles west of Upsetlington is the little hamlet of Simprim just south of Swinton. Historically, Simprim was connected with the Cockburn family. There are ruins of a medieval church that was abandoned in 1761 after the parish merged with Swinton. Simprim’s peculiar name seems to contain a long-forgotten personal name ‘Sympr’ of Anglo-Saxon origin that is thought to derive from ‘Sympra Inga’ – meaning something like the ‘settlement of Sympr’s kinship’.
Blackadder and Greenlaw
Other than the Tweed, the main river of the Merse is the Blackadder Water to the north of Swinton. Blackadder means ‘dark stream’. The ‘adder’ part of its name is ‘adr’, a pre-Celtic term, meaning stream.
Blackadder Water rises in the west just north of Greenlaw and flows in a slightly north easterly direction for about eleven miles before joining the Whiteadder Water at the village of Allanton. Whiteadder Water is ultimately a tributary of the Tweed near Berwick.
The name Greenlaw simply means ‘green hill’ and although it is a small place of village proportions with a village green, it served for a time as the county town of Berwickshire from 1596. The role of county town status or ‘head burgh’ was previously taken on by Duns following Berwick’s cessation to England in 1482. Duns also served this role in more recent times.
Greenlaw’s unusual church dates from 1675 and has a distinct square tower. The Greek-style town hall in Greenlaw dates from 1831 and was built by the Scottish architect, John Cunningham who is best known for designing Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and Liverpool’s Lime Street Station. Greenlaw Town Hall was once the county headquarters for Berwickshire.
Greenlaw is situated in a bend of the Blackadder Water, a river that flows down from the moss lands and ‘laws’ of the Lammermuir Hills to the north. At Greenlaw the river changes to a north easterly direction to flow towards Allanton and the Whiteadder Water.
Earthwork mounds can be found in the hills to the north of Greenlaw. There is also an intriguing linear earthwork called Heriot’s Dyke that could be either a prehistoric or medieval boundary of some kind. A little further north of this are ‘The Kaims’ which are natural ridges of glacial origin.
About three miles south of Greenlaw is the little village of Hume which gives its name to the Scottish Border clan of Home (or Hume). Early forms of the place-name Hume are Houm (Ho-um) which points to the name meaning ‘at the hill-spurs’. A ‘hoh’ or ‘heugh’ being a hill spur while the ‘um’ signifies a locational plural.
On the immediate north side of the village are remnants of Hume Castle on a hill-top that was once the stronghold of the Hume (or Home) family who took their name from here. In the 1540s the castle was held by the English for some time before it was recaptured by the Homes. Although the castle is a ruin, it has been the subject of some quite obvious rebuilding and restoration. A little further north of the village is a curious collection of crags.
Returning north to Greenlaw and the Blackadder Water, there are no settlements along the course of the Blackadder to the east between the villages of Greenlaw and Allanton other than farmhouses and tiny hamlets. The most notable places here are the hamlet of Fogo and a nineteenth century mansion called Kimmerghame House.
Fogo, the site of a small stone bridge across the Blackadder has a name that derives from ‘fog-hoe’ that seems to mean ‘grassy hill’. The word ‘fog’ refers to a kind of grass. There has been a church at Fogo since around 1100 but this was rebuilt about 1570. The present church is mostly eighteenth century. In the late thirteenth century Fogo was the site of a priory that hosted a community of Tironesian monks. It was a cell of Kelso Abbey to whom the land was granted under the patronage of a local landowner, Patrick Corbet.
Kimmerghame House, a private home on the banks of the Blackadder just over two miles downstream from Fogo is a nineteenth century mansion built in Scottish baronial style by the architect, David Bryce. It is home to a branch of the Swinton family who have owned a home here since the 1770s. Historically, previous owners of Kimmerghame, from the eighteenth century into medieval times include the Homes, Sinclairs, Polwarths and Morehams. Old forms of the name Kimmerghame show that it derives from either ‘Cynebriht-ham’ meaning homestead of someone called Cynebriht or is alternatively ‘Cu-Brycg-Ham’ meaning ‘cow-bridge settlement’.
Whiteadder Water
Whiteadder Water stretches over 30 miles and is a considerably longer river than its tributary, the Blackadder. Flowing in a south-easterly direction it begins in the Lammermuir Hills of northern Berwickshire where the principal feature of its upper valley is the Whiteadder Reservoir of 1968.
At Cranshaws, a village downstream from the reservoir is a church of 1739 on the site of an earlier one probably dedicated to St Ninian. There is a fifteenth century pele tower in the village called Cranshaws Castle. Cranshaws means ‘woodland of the crane’ – though in old times ‘crane’ could sometimes refer to a heron.
About two miles downstream from Cranshaws, the Whiteadder is joined on the south bank by the Dye Water which hosts the nearby village of Longformacus. This place-name may be associated with a personal name Maccus, possibly an Irish-Scandinavian form of Magnus combined with the Gaelic word ‘longphort’ – an encampment or hut-welling.
From the meeting with Dye Water, the Whiteadder heads north-easterly for a mile or two through the Lammermuirs towards Abbey St Bathans where it resumes a south-easterly course. Abbey St Bathans, in a wooded ravine of the Whiteadder, was home to a long-gone priory of Cistercian nuns who settled here in the twelfth century under the patronage of the Countess of Dunbar.
Abbey St Bathans is a tiny scattering of rugged stone houses. A footbridge takes the Southern Upland Way across the Whiteadder here at its north end with a road bridge, river ford and timber yard a little further to the south. At the north end near the footbridge is an eighteenth century church incorporating stone from an earlier medieval priory church. The priory was dedicated to St Baithéne, the second abbot of Iona (died AD 598), who succeeded St Columba.
A mile downstream from Abbey St Bathans, reached by a trek across the hills is the impressive Edin’s Hall Broch, one of only a few Iron Age ‘brochs’ or roundhouses in southern Scotland. ‘Edin’s Hall’ is a folk-name in which the name of the ancient fort came to be associated with the pagan god Odin. Later, another popular folk etymology identified it as a hall of the Northumbrian king, Edwin.
Another mile downstream, the Whiteadder leaves the hills behind at Preston village which means ‘priest’s farm’. It’s not clear if this was an Anglo-Saxon place-name in Northumbria or a later name that derives from the Scots ‘Priest’s toun’ though it was once linked to Dunkeld Cathedral for whom its priests were canons. The A612 passes through Preston, heading five miles north to Grantshouse on the A1. Just south of Preston the road passes a ruined church before crossing the Whiteadder Water towards Duns. The ruined church dates from the twelfth century and was Preston parish church, abandoned in 1718.
Duns
Duns is situated two miles south of the Whiteadder Water and about the same distance north of the Blackadder. Like Greenlaw (its old rival for Berwickshire ‘county town’ status), Duns is a small town. Duns most recently served as county town for Berwickshire between 1903 and 1975, when the old county was effectively abolished and absorbed into the new Borders region council area.
On Duns’ north side is Duns Law, the site of an Iron Age hill fort. At ‘Bruntons’ on the west side towards Hen Poo lake is the site of the original town of ‘Dun’ or ‘Dunse’ near Duns Castle. The old town was razed to the ground on several occasions, notably in the sixteenth century when it was burned by the English. In 1590 Duns was relocated to a new site, a little further to the south.
The original town site known today as ‘Brunton’ or ‘Bruntons’ means ‘burnt town’. The word ‘dun’ in Duns might derive from the Gaelic word ‘dun’ (a fortified hill); the Anglo-Saxon word ‘dun’ (a hill) or the Britttonic word ‘dinas’ (a fort). Its name may be influenced by all three languages. The addition of the ‘s’ to the name Dun to make it plural may refer to the two separate town sites or perhaps the two fortified sites – namely Duns Law hill fort and Duns Castle.
Duns Castle is situated on the west side of Duns in extensive grounds with surrounding woodland just south west of Duns Law. It is thought to have been first built in 1320 although the earliest surviving parts belong to the following century and developed from a pele tower.
Duns Castle seems to have been originally built for the Earls of Moray and later passed to the Dunbar family who were the Earls of March. Its later owners were the Homes, Cockburns and then the Hay family for whom the building was converted into the present Gothic castle of the 1820s. A curious feature of the castle’s grounds is a lake called ‘Hen Poo’ that was once a curling pond.
Duns has often found itself at the forefront of the border wars and military struggles between England and Scotland. Both Scottish and English armies have encamped here. They included a Scottish army that assembled here prior to defeat at the Battle of Halidon Hill near Berwick in 1333. Henry Percy, first Earl of Northumberland, also camped with his army here in 1377.
During the Bishops Wars of the seventeenth century Duns was a place of encampment for an army of Scottish Covenanters on their way to England. A monument called the Covenanters’ Stone on Duns Law commemorates their encampment.
The little town of Duns is centred on a small market square with a mercat cross of 1792. There had been a mercat cross at Duns since the sixteenth century but the present one was removed in 1816 when the new Duns Town Hall was built and the cross was re-situated to Duns Public Park.
A forerunner of the town hall had been a toll booth of 1328 that was superseded by a new building in 1680 that was damaged by fire in 1795. The town hall of 1816 was demolished in 1966 and in 1993 the old mercat cross was returned to the market square and placed in its current location. Duns’ old Town Hall bell can still be seen outside Duns parish church.
The famed medieval theologian and scholar, John Duns Scottus (c1265-1308), a Franciscan friar who was educated at Oxford and Paris is thought to have been born at Duns. His knowledgeable, well-educated followers were noted for wearing what later came to be known as a ‘dunce’s cap’. It may have possibly been a mockery of his beliefs by later Protestants. In later associations a dunce’s cap became somewhat associated with a form of punishment for slow-learners or ‘dunces’ banished to the corners of school classrooms in times past.
Manderston
To the east of Duns is a stately home called Manderston House on land that was once an estate of the Hume family. The present house was re-built in 1903 for Lord Palmer, a member of the Huntley and Palmers biscuit business family. The house contains a huge collection of historic biscuit tins and is occasionally open to the public.
An earlier settlement called Manderston, not far from Manderston House, is the place from which the historic home is named. It derives from the Anglo-Saxon ‘Maldred’s Ton’ or in the Scots language, ‘Maldred’s Toun’ possibly from a Maldred who was the father of a twelfth century noble called Ulfkil.
Gavinton
The village of Gavinton on the Langton Burn, about a mile and a half south west of Duns, dates from as recently as 1759 as it resulted from the demolition and relocation of a village called Langton which was situated just to its west.
Langton, first mentioned in the twelfth century, was the site of a church dedicated to St Cuthbert. The place was under the ownership of the Viponts and then the Cockburn family from around the time of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. These families resided in Langton Tower, a house that was also known as Langton Castle, of which very little remains.
In 1758 Langton was purchased by David Gavin, who demolished the village including its church. Gavin was a merchant born in Lunan in Fife who seems to have built his fortune in Holland before returning to Scotland, following the death of his wife. He considered the run-down village to be an unsatisfactory intrusion on his land. The whole village was knocked down and relocated with a new name ‘Gavinton’, just outside the walls of Gavin’s estate.
The present church at Gavinton dates from 1872 and stands on the site of an earlier one of 1792. It is still the parish church of Langton, recalling the old village name.
To the south west of Gavinton on the road towards Greenlaw is a place called Polwarth that should not be confused with a district of that name in Edinburgh. Polwarth has an Anglo-Saxon name meaning the ‘worth’ (an enclosed place) belonging to someone called Paul. It is home to a church of 1703 that replaced an earlier thirteenth century church. Polwarth was once the site of a castle.
Gordon and Westruther
Much of northern and western Berwickshire is dominated by the Lammermuir Hills which merge into the neighbouring Lothians region. There are few settlements in the northern parts of Berwickshire and a scattering of small villages to the west. They include Westruther about ten miles west of Duns. Its name means western ‘strother’ (marshy bogland). It is home to the ruinous shell of a mid seventeenth century kirk. The village lies close to the uppermost reaches of the Blackadder Water.
Two miles south of Westruther is the hamlet of Houndslow (a long way from London) and two further miles south is the village of Gordon which means ‘muddy hill’ or ‘muddy valley’ (muddy dene). A little stream called the Eden Water flows to its north and east.
Gordon gave its name to the famous Scottish clan of Gordon who lived here from Norman times. They originated in the Swinton area of the Merse, where one of their number is said to have slain a great beast or worm. In later centuries the Gordon surname was primarily associated with north eastern Scotland. The name ‘Gordon was subsequently adopted as a familiar forename or Christian name. However, it was the place-name that came first.
Gordon’s church of 1763 stands on the site of a twelfth century chapel associated with the priory of Coldingham and later connected to Kelso Abbey. It should not be confused with Gordon’s former Free Church of 1843 (with additions of 1893 as inscribed on the tower). Also known as the ‘East End church’ it adds a touch of character to Gordon’s Main Street.
Out in the countryside on the west side of Gordon village is the sixteenth century Greenknowe Tower, a fortified site historically associated with the Gordons, Setons, Pringles and Dalrymples.
The Gordons, who took their name from the village and resided at an earlier tower were, according to tradition, granted the lands of Gordon by King Malcolm II following the Battle of Carham. Later, Gordon became the property of the Setons through a marriage into the Gordon family.
As a nearby sign helpfully informs, the present Greenknowe Tower seems to have been built in 1581 for James Seton and his wife, Jane Edmonstone. In the seventeenth century Greenknowe Tower became the home of the Pringles of Stichill, whose family included Walter Pringle, a noted Covenanter. Greenknowe Tower was abandoned as a home around 1850 and in 1937 its owners, the Dalyrmples handed the property into the care of the state.
South of Gordon on the Eden Water is Mellerstain House which we cover along with neighbouring Kelso, although Mellerstain was historically in Berwickshire. The Berwickshire-Roxburghshire border partly followed the Eden Water here.
Whiteadder : Chirnside to Foulden
Returning to the Whiteadder Water from Preston village, just north of Duns the little river flows east, passing the hamlets of Edrom and Chirnside Bridge. From there it runs close to the village of Chirnside on its northern bank. Edrom derives from ‘Adder-ham’ (Edr-ham), meaning the ‘settlement on the Adder’.
A Viking ‘hogback’ carved stone of the 10th century was found at the old church of Edrom, demonstrating that there was Viking influence in this area. Across the river about two miles to the north of Chirnside Bridge along the Billiemore Burn are mounds that are all that remain of the fifteenth century Billie Castle, historically associated with the Dunbar family.
Chirnside, a couple of miles downstream from Edrom means ‘churn-shaped hill’. The village church partly dates to the twelfth century, though much is a rebuilding of recent centuries. Not far from the church in the street of Kirkgate is a house called Ninewells. It was the site of an earlier home that was the residence of the Scottish philosopher and economist, David Hume (1711-1776).
The famed racing driver Jim Clark (1936-1968) was raised on a farm near Chirnside and is commemorated by a small memorial museum in the town of Duns. Clark was twice Formula One World Champion. He died in a crash at the Hockenheimring racing circuit in Germany on April 7, 1968.
Just south of Chirnside at Allanton on the south bank of the Whiteadder, the river is joined by its tributary, the Blackadder Water. There are two bridges here at Allanton. One bridge crosses the Blackadder Water just before it joins the Whiteadder. The other bridge at the foot of Allanton’s Main Street crosses the Whiteadder just after the Blackadder has joined it.
Allanton was historically part of the estate of the Blackadder family. A nearby grand palatial house called Blackadder House that developed around an earlier pele tower, was demolished in 1925
The title of the 1980s BBC comedy TV series ‘Blackadder’ was inspired by the Blackadder clan name. Starring Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder, this period situation comedy ran for four series with each one set in a different era : Medieval, Regency, Elizabethan and World War One. However, the Blackadder family members in the comedy series are not based on genuine historical family members.
Hutton and Foulden
Along the Whiteadder eastward from Allanton is Hutton Castle and the little hamlet of Hutton. The castle dates from at least the sixteenth century. In 1916 it was acquired by the Glasgow businessman and art collector Sir William Burrell (1861-1958) and was in his lifetime home to his famous art collection that now has pride of place in Glasgow.
Hutton village, just east of the castle, was the site of a medieval church dating from the thirteenth century. It was demolished and superseded by a later church of the eighteenth century that has in turn been replaced by the present one of 1835. This church was built by the Durham architect Ignatius Bonomi and inspired by the church at Norham on Tweed.
A little further downstream and about half a mile north of the Whiteadder Water is the village of Foulden.
Historically, the village of Foulden belonged to the Ramsay family who held it from the thirteenth century. It had previously formed part of the lands of Coldingham Priory.
Foulden is quite a charming village with houses designed by the architect, John Lessels (1809-1883). The village church dates from the late eighteenth century and stands on the site of an earlier medieval edifice. In the corner of the churchyard is a two storey tithe barn, one of only two surviving medieval tithe barns in Scotland.
Downstream from Foulden just to the east near the village of Paxton, the Whiteadder Water approaches the River Tweed with which it now runs parallel to form a narrow spit or peninsula of land at Gainslaw.
Paxton and Paxton House
Paxton village and Paxton House to the south of Foulden stand at the neck of a narrow two-mile long peninsula formed by the merging of the Whiteadder Water with the River Tweed. This impressive and beautiful house overlooks the Tweed. Dating from the 1760s, it was built for Patrick Home of nearby Billie, a noted collector of art. The architects James, John and Robert Adam played a part in its construction.
Built in Palladian style, Paxton House is set in beautiful grounds and includes woodlands and a walled garden. Inside, the palatial rooms of the house can be explored and there is an art gallery and exhibitions that include an extensive collection of costumes. Boat trips on the River Tweed can also be enjoyed at Paxton House.
Upstream, along the Tweed to the south is the Union Bridge of 1820, a chain bridge that was extensively restored in 2020. This narrow, elegant suspension bridge, designed by Captain Samuel Brown (1776-1852) is the oldest vehicle-carrying suspension bridge in the world.
Captain Brown, who joined the Royal Navy in 1796 and fought in the Napoleonic wars was not a trained engineer. During his time in the navy he developed an interest in wrought iron chains as an alternative to the hemp ropes used in the rigging of ships.
Upon leaving the navy, Brown became a successful businessman manufacturing chains and establishing a business for their production at Millwall in London’s east end.
A sculpture of Brown can be seen at the English end. Brown was born in London to Scottish parents. His mother, Charlotte Hogg was from the borders and his father from Borland in Dumfriesshire. He lived in Brighton as well as owning a prominent country home called Netherbyres at Eyemouth on the Berwickshire coast.
Brown’s bridge across the Tweed was originally designed for horse-drawn vehicles and can accommodate one car at a time as well as pedestrians. At the Scottish end of the bridge there is a sculpture of a modern day engineer, inspecting the bridge tower and welcoming you to Scotland.
The Union Chain Bridge links Scotland to the village of Horncliffe in Northumberland over on the English side. It is, however, only a relatively short stretch of the Tweed that forms the Scotland-England border.
Head a short distance downstream from Paxton House towards Berwick and the border leaves the Tweed altogether. Here the border heads north, cutting straight across the peninsula at Gainslaw formed by the Tweed and Whiteadder. It cuts straight across the Whiteadder Water too and continues on this wayward course to eventually reach the coast at Megs Dub and Marshall Meadows.
The Whiteadder Water leaves the Scotland-England border behind and enters England completely. Flowing east for about two miles, this short English section of the Whiteadder eventually joins the Tweed. About half way there, the Whiteadder is crossed by the B6461 road from Paxton to Berwick.
Nearby, immediately after the junction of the two rivers, the Tweed itself is crossed by the busy if rather plain A1 River Tweed Bridge of 1984. Aesthetically, this bridge is certainly no match for the beautiful bridges of nearby Berwick but it does carry the principal north-south road between Edinburgh and London across the Tweed.
To the north of Berwick the A1 and the East Coast mainline railway begin to follow the Berwickshire Coast where places of interest include Ayton, Coldingham, St Abbs Head and Fast Castle.
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