Jedburgh

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Jedburgh (Jed-worth, 'town on the Jed'), the county town of Roxburghshire, a royal, parliamentary, and police burgh, the seat of the circuit court for the counties of Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Berwick, the seat of a presbytery, a post and market town, and the centre of traffic to a large extent of country, is situated on the left bank of Jed Water, in the SE of Teviotdale. It lies 49 miles SE from Edinburgh by road, but 56 ¼ by rail; from Kelso 10 miles SSW by road, but 10¾ by rail; from Hawick 10 miles NE by road, but 18½ by rail; and 12 miles NNW from the English border. A branch line of railway, 7 ¼ miles long, and opened in 1856, connects at Roxburgh with the North British line from St Boswells to Kelso; the station, to which the chief hotels run omnibuses, being nearly ¾ mile NNE of the market-place, beyond t e suburb of Bongate. Between Jedburgh and Kelso, Hawick, Selkirk, Ancrum, Otterburn, Oxnam, Denholm, etc., carriers' carts go regularly. Jedburgh proper, built on a spur of the Dunian ridge, may be described as cruciform, the High Street and Castle-gate cutting at right angles the Canon-gate and Burn-wynd, now Exchange Street, with the marketplace at the pint of intersection. The High Street and Castle-gate, the best streets in the town, lying from NE to SW, and almost ½ mile long, are well paved, lighted with gas, and contain many of the chief buildings. Charles Stuart (the Pretender) lodged at No. 9 Castle-gate in 1745. The Canon-gate, which stretches eastward from the market-place to the Jed, contains the house (No. 27) in which Burns lodged in 1787. Queen Street or Back-gate, which runs nearly parallel to the High Street, contains the house Sir David Brewster was born in (11 Dec. 1781); and that inhabited by Mary Queen of Scots in 1566, when detained in Jedburgh by severe illness. The latter, with thick walls and small windows, is large. It is described in the records of the Privy Council as ` the house of the Lord Compositor, ' and seems, from the arms upon it, to have been the property of Wigmore of that Ilk. Wordsworth visited Jedburgh in the autumn of 1803, and, owing to the inns being full, took up his abode at 5 Abbey Close. The attention and willing service of his hostess are referred to in the well-known lines:

'I praise thee, matron! and thy due
is praise, heroic praise, and true.
With admiration I behold
Thy gladness, unsubdued and boid;
Thy looks, thy gestures, all present
The picture of a life well spent'

Besides the town of Jedburgh proper, there are two suburbs - Richmond Row and Bongate. The former, purchased by the town in 1669 from the Marquis of Lothian, lilies- on the E side of the Jed; the latter, extending N of Richmond Row, belonged at one time to the monks, and was- bought from Lord Jedburgh. These, nowever', do not.belong to the royalty, though included within the municipal burgh. Bongate is built on level ground, and from it the town gradually rises from an elevation of 253 feet above sea-level to one of 388 feet. This- rise,- which culminates at the Town-head, where are the abbey and the building called Jedburgh Castle, now the jail, makes the town more beautiful and more healthy. -The river Jed, upon which the town stands, is crossed by 7 bridges.

The County Buildings, situated near the marketplace, in which the different courts meet, and in which the head officials of the town and county transact their business, were erected in 1812. They are built of polished free-stone, but present no special architectural features. The prison occupies the site of the old castle of Jedburgh at the top of the town, was built in 1823, and is conspicuous, owing to the castellated style of its architecture. It has ample cell accommodation, as well as courts for ventilation and exercise. Jedburgh Castle, of which no trace now remains, is inseparably connected with the history of the town, to which, from its size, position, and strength, it lent protection. Built about the 12th century, it was a favourite residence of many of the Scottish kings, as David I., Malcolm IV., William the Lyon, Alexander II., and Alexander III. Within its walls the last-named was Living when he married Jolande, daughter of the Count of Drenx, in 1285; and here took place the banquet which followed the marriage ceremony in the abbey. On the same occasion it was the scene of the well-known incident, the appearance in the hall of the figure of Death, supposed to presage the calamity which befell the country by the king's death at Kinghorn in 1286. In the troubled times of the Wars of the Succession, Jedburgh Castle changed hands more than once-now held by the Scotch, then by the English, until in 1409 when the men of Teviotdale rose and ejected the English, who had held it for sixty-three years. To prevent it from again falling into hostile bands, the castle was then destroyed, the money for the work of destruction being paid out of the royal revenue, after the first proposal to raise it by a tax of two pence upon each hearth in Scotland had been rejected. A part of the foundation was removed when the prison was built. After the castle was demolished, the town was defended by six bastille towers, which have also disappeared. Other public buildings are the Corn Exchange, built in 1860 by a company who hold £2500 worth of stock, and used for sales, concerts, lectures, exhibitions, etc.; the Museum, which occupies part of the Corn Exchange, and contains two pennons said to have been captured by the weavers of Jedburgh at Bannockburn and Killiecrankie, some pieces of the old burgh cross, the iron ladle which the town hangman was allowed at one time to dip into every sack of meal or corn that came into the market, and a good collection of fossils. A Maison-Dieu which once existed in Jedburgh has disappeared altogether, though it has left traces of its existence in the name of the ` Maison-Dieu acres, ' given to a stretch of land, and in that of the ` Sick man's path, ' as a steep road is called which leads from Friars-gate to Jedbank. The public park of Jedburgh, formerly part of the Virgin's glebe, is called the Lothian Park, after the Marquis of Lothian, who charges a merely nominal rent for the use of it. It is situated between the Jed and the parish church.

The chief attraction of Jedburgh, however, is its ruined abbey. In 1118 David I. founded a priory on the banks of the Jed, and placed it in possession of canons regular from the Abbey of St Quentin at Beauvais in France. In 1147 this priory was raised to the dignity of an abbey, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and the smaller building that had served for the former became the nucleus of a more stately structure. The abbey, from its size and wealth, was able to rank with the great abbeys of the period, and formed a suitable pendant to the castle which stood near it. Its first abbot, Osbert, died in 1174. The abbey was endowed by David I. with the tithes of the two Jedworths, of Langton, Nisbet, Crailing, etc.; by Malcolm IV. with the churches of Brandon and Grendon in Northamptonshire, with some land and a fishery on the Tweed; by Ranulph de Sonlis with the church of Doddington near Brandon, and with the church in the vale of Liddel; and by William the Lyon and various barons with lands, churches, houses, both in England and Scotland. In 1220 a dispute that had lasted for twenty years between the canons of Jedburgh and the Bishop of Glasgow was ended in favour of the latter by an arbitration given in the chapel at Nisbet. The cause of the quarrel was the prerogative which the bishop sought to exercise over the canons, who resisted, but unsuccessfully. When John Morel was abbot in 1285, Alexander III. was married to Jolande, daughter of the Count of Dreux, in the Abbey of Jedburgh, then probably almost entirely built. In the wars between England and Scotland (1297-1300) it suffered so severely, that the monks were unable to inhabit it, and had to be billeted on other religious houses. The disasters with which the 14th century opened were made up for by a season of prosperity, which extended onwards from 1360. By that time at least the canons must have regained their ground, as they are discovered a few years later exporting wool into England that had come from their own flocks. In 1377 Robert III. added to their possessions the hospital of St Mary Magdalene at Rutherford, a few miles distant, under the condition that the canons should have service regularly performed in the hospital chapel. The order of Edward II. in 1328 to restore all the lands in England belonging to Jedburgh Abbey may be noticed, as one of its results was to compass the death of certain canons who had gone south to claim lands belonging to them. This order was, at the best, only partially obeyed. In these years of border warfare no place was more sacred than another-all suffered equally; and Jedburgh Abbey, from its proximity to England and its own commanding situation, had to bear the brunt of many an onslaught. In 1410, 1416, 1464, it was damaged by repeated attacks of the English, though to what extent is not known; but in 1523 both town and abbey fell before the forces of the Earl of Surrey on 23 Sept. The abbey was especially difficult to capture. When surrendered, it was stripped of everything valuable, and then set on fire. In 1544-45 the process of destruction was twice repeated under Sir Ralph Eure (or Evers) and the Earl of Hertford respectively. In 1559 Jedburgh Abbey was suppressed, and its revenues went to the Crown. For some years it was left almost a roofless ruin. A building, designed for the parish church, was afterwards erected within the nave, roofed over at the level of the triforium, and used as a place of worship up to 1875, when a new church, built in excambion by the Marquis of Lothian, was opened for public worship, and the edifice within the abbey walls dispensed with. Steps were forthwith taken to have it removed, so that the ruin of the abbey can now be viewed ` clear of that incubus upon its lovely proportions.'

In spite of its somewhat chequered fortune, Jedburgh Abbey Church is still wonderfully entire. The outbuildings, such as the treasury, library, scriptorium, refectory, common hall, etc., have disappeared, as well as part of the aisles, the eastern termination of the choir, and the S transept; but the centre of the nave, central tower, N transept, and the two western bays of the choir still remain to furnish a fair idea of the proportions of the church. It has been declared ` the most perfect and beautiful example of the Saxon and Early Gothic in Scotland, ' but, like most buildings that have been added to from time to time, it shows different styles of architecture. The choir, which is Early Norman, is undoubtedly the oldest part. In it, the lower arches spring from corbels in the sides of the round pillars, and not from capitals, an arrangement followed also in Oxford Cathedral. Jedburgh Abbey may be said to resemble those of Dryburgh and Kelso in the shortness of its transepts. The present N transept, 68 feet in length, extended in the 14th century, furnishes a good example of Decorated work, and was for long used as the burial-place of the Kerrs of Fernieherst, a family once famous in Border history, and now represented by the House of Lothian. The great N window is divided by three mullions, and shows some fine tracery. At the pint where the nave and choir intersect the transepts, rises a tower, 33 feet square and 86 high, though loftier at one time. It was divided into two stories, the upper of which once contained a clock and peal of bells. The oldest part of the tower, the N piers, is Early Norman. It was restored at the end of the 15th century. The nave, 129 feet long, and 27½ broad, is a fine specimen of `the transition from the Transition to the developed Early English. ' ` There are on each side three tiers of arches possessing a grace and lightness and beauty of general outline much and deservedly admired. The basement storey consists of clustered pillars, which support deeply-moulded pointed arches; in the triforium are semicircular arches, subdivided by pointed ones, whilst the clerestory is a detached arcade of thirty-six arches, also pointed, the wall behind every alternate two being pierced for windows. In the lower storeys, the abacus, with only one exception, is square, as in all the older work, but in the clerestory the square edges are cut off, indicating the desire that had set in for new forms.' The total length of the building is 235 feet over the walls, and 218 within the walls. Sir Gilbert Scott has declared the great western door and the S door, which leads from the S aisle into the cloisters, to be ` perfect gems of refined Norman of the highest class and most artistic finish. ' The former, almost 14½ feet high and rather more than 6 broad, is semicircular in form, deeply recessed, and elaborately carved. Above it is a large window nearly 19 feet in height and 6 in breadth, while an exquisite wheel-window has been placed near the top of the gable. The S door, which had become rather dilapidated, was copied at the expense of Lord Lothian, and the copy, most successfully made, has been inserted in the nave not far from the original. It is adorned with human figures, grotesque animals, and foliage. This doorway is unrivalled in Scotland, so symmetrical are its proportions, so fine its workmanship, so delicate the carvings executed upon it. Jedburgh Abbey thus shows no fewer than three or four different styles of architecture, from which it is easy to refer each part to its proper period. The combination which now exists is sufficient to make it one of the most interesting and beautiful ruins in Scotland, while the care that has been expended upon it is well repaid by the improvements which have been effected. A convent of Franciscan friars, founded in 1513, but which has totally disappeared, may be mentioned. because in it lived and died Adam Bell, author of The Wheel of Time. As an instance of the influence of the monks may be noted the great number of places with ecclesiastical names, as Temple Gardens, Friars' Wynd, Friars-gate, Canon-gate. Considering its size, Jedburgh is well supplied with places of worship and ample school-accommodation. The parish church, as already mentioned, was erected by the Marquis of Lothian, and opened for service in April 1875. Built in the Early English style, of stone from the Eildon Hills, and having freestone facings, it is seated for 1200 persons, and was erected at a cost of £11, 000. The Free church, near it, and built in the same style, has its appearance marred by the absence of a spire. It was erected in 1853, cost £3000, and holds 650 persons. St John's Episcopal church, founded in 1843, and built at a cost of £4000, can contain 200 people. It stands at the foot of Friars-gate, has a beautiful pulpit, altar, and font of Caen stone, and is one of the extremely few Episcopalian churches in Scotland with a 'lych' (corpse) gate. Besides these, there are two United Presbyterian churches, a Roman Catholic chapel, and Evangelical Union church, the two last being small and unpretentious buildings. The High Street United Presbyterian church was erected in 1818 at a cost of £3500, and with accommodation for about 850 persons; the Blackfriars United Presbyterian church was also built in 1818 at nearly the same cost, but with 800 sittings. The Grammar school of Jedburgh was founded about the middle of the 15th century by Bishop Turnbull of Glasgow. Some doubt exists as to its precise original location, which was, however, near the SE corner of the Abbey tower, from which place it was removed in 1751. James Thomson, author of the Seasons, and Samuel Rutherford, the well-known Scottish divine, were educated at it. It passed, in terms of the Education Act of 1872, to the landward, and was afterwards purchased by the burgh, school board; has (1883) 153 scholars on its roll, £106 of teachers' grant; and is conducted by a rector, one assistant, and a mistress. A new grammar school, to cost from £4000 to £5000, with houses for the rector and janitor, board-room, large playground, etc., is now being built (1883). The sessional school in Castlegate, established in 1851, has (1883) an attendance of 143 children, and £111 of grant. The town also contains several private schools, as the Nest Academy, an infant school, and an Episcopalian school. The last-named has an average attendance of 163 children, and the grant earned amounted to £l50. The burgh school board consists of 7 members. Jedburgh has numerous clubs and institutions, as the dispensary, museum, mechanics' institute, reading-room, young men s literary association, clubs for angling, cricket, bowling, billiards, etc. There is one public library belonging to the Mechanics' Institute and two private libraries. Two Saturday newspapers, the Liberal Jedburgh Gazette (1870) and the Liberal-Conservative Teviotdale Record (1855), are published in the town.

In the unsettled times before the union of the two crowns, Jedburgh was unable to embark upon any industry that required security for its successful prosecution. During the period that lay between the accession of James VI. of Scotland to the English throne, and the final union of the two countries under Queen Anne, Jedburgh shared in a very lucrative contraband trade, which arose from the unequal duties levied on certain goods at the custom-houses of England and Scotland. When this was done away with, its prosperity seemed almost endangered, and would, in all likelihood, have been crippled, had not the manufacture of woollen goods been introduced. In Jedburgh, which was one of the first towns to take up this industry, a spinning-mill was started in 1728, but was not successful. Others were set up in 1738, 1745, 1786, 1806; and in 1883 there are 4 mills working, which employ about 300 persons, and turn out goods worth nearly £66,000 per annum. The chief articles made are woollen tweeds and blankets. Jedburgh has also an iron-foundry, engineer-works, breweries, tanneries, and 2 auction marts. It was for a long time famous for its pears, apples, plums, -once 'cried' in the streets of London, where the 'Jethart pears' were a favourite fruit, and a source of considerable income to their growers.

Several of the chief Scottish banks have branches at Jedburgh - the Royal, British Linen, Commercial, National, and Bank of Scotland. There is also a branch of the National Security Savings' Bank, numerous agencies for fire and life insurance companies, and a head post office, with telegraph and money order office, and savings' bank attached. The best hotels in the town are the Spread Eagle and the Royal. There is a weekly grain market at Jedburgh every Tuesday; there are cattle markets on the third Thursday of each mouth from January to May; and horse and cattle fairs. The Rood-day fair on 25 Sept. was formerly of great importance, but is now of little consequence. The magistrates of Jedburgh have jurisdiction over the St James' Fair, held on 5 Aug. near Kelso. Hiring fairs for servants are held shortly before Whitsunday and Martinmas, and an annual fair for the hiring of hinds and cottars is held in March.

The earliest date that can be fixed for the corporation of Jedburgh is 1296, that being the year in which the townsmen and it took the oath of allegiance to Edward I. Owing to none of the council records going further back than 1619, and the destruction of the old charters in one or other of the Border wars, it is impossible to determine the time at which the town was founded, or that at which it became a royal burgh. The evidence is in favour of an early erection, perhaps as early as the reign of David I. In 1556 Queen Mary gave a charter to the town which confirmed those that had preceded it, gave great power to the magistrates, and ample privileges to the burgesses. In 1737 and 1767 the burgh was deprived of its magistrates, at the latter date owing to misconduct at a parliamentary election. The government of Jedburgh is conducted by a provost, 3 bailies, a dean of guild, a treasurer, and 9 councillors. The magistrates act as commissioners of police. At one time the corporation had property in lands, houses, mills, which yielded a yearly rental of £500, but which was sold in 1845, to defray the debts incurred by the burgh in a lawsuit. As a result this income has dwindled away to nearly nothing, amounting in 1882 to no more than £31. Jedburgh had at one time eight incorporated trades, with the sole right of working for the inhabitants within the burgh. These were the fleshers, glovers, hammermen, masons, shoemakers, tailors, weavers, wrights, with a deacon at the head of each.

The sheriff court meets at Jedburgh every Monday and Thursday during session, and a small debt court is held on the third Thursday of each month during session, and, in vacation, on such days as the sheriff appoints. Courts for summary and jury trials, as well as justice of the peace courts, are held as often as required. The court of general quarter sessions meets on the first Tuesday of March, May, and August, and on the last Tuesday of October; and the Lords of Justiciary and Lords Commissioners hold courts at Jedburgh in the spring and autumn for the south-eastern circuit, which includes the counties of Roxburgh, Berwick, and Selkirk. The police force of the burgh is amalgamated with that of the county, an arrangement which has proved satisfactory. Jedburgh unites with Haddington, Dunbar, North Berwick, and Lauder in sending a member to parliament. The parliamentary and the municipal constituency numbered 406 and 480 in 1883, when the annual value of real property amounted to £12,893, against £9303 in 1864. Pop. of the parliamentary and police burgh (1841) 3277, (1851) 3615, (1861) 3428, (1871) 3321, (1881) 3402, of whom 1800 were females, and 2432 were in the royal burgh. Houses (1881) 753 inhabited, 25 vacant, 1 building.

Jedburgh is mentioned first in the 9th century, when it formed part of a gift from Bishop Egfrid to the See of Lindisfarne. Some have asserted that the original town stood 1½ mile further up the stream than the present town does, but this is doubtful. The name Jedburgh is spelt in as many as eighty-four different ways, the oldest of which is probably Geddewrd, while Jedworth (Jed-town) is found in 1147. In common speech, the town is still called Jethart, which is less corrupt than Jedburgh. About 1097 Jedburgh became a burgh and royal domain, owing its rise to the importance which it assumed under David I., partly to its naturally strong position, and partly to the shelter afforded by its castle on the Jed. David I., Malcolm IV., William the Lyon, Alexander II., and Alexander III. resided in Jedburgh from time to time. The town suffered severely in the Wars of the Succession. In 1297, to retaliate for damages done to Hexham, Sir Richard Hastings led a force against it, and devastated the abbey. The men of Teviotdale rose in 1409, recaptured the castle which the English had held for sixty-three years, and destroyed it. The history of Jedburgh for a period of years from this point is simply a succession of attacks upon it by the English, and defences of it by the Scots, who were generally worsted in spite of the gallant resistance they always made. In 1513 the town was taken by the Earl of Surrey, and in 1547 it was occupied by part of the army, led into Scotland by the Duke of Somerset. After this last attack, Lord Dacre wrote to Wolsey in the following language which needs no comment:- 'Little or nothing is left upon the frontiers of Scotland, without it be part of ald houses whereof the thak and coverings are taken away, by reason whereof they cannot be brint (burned).' In 1556 Queen Mary held a justice court at Jedburgh, with the object of quieting the borders by removing some of the turbulent chiefs. She was detained in it for a few weeks by an illness which almost ended fatally, and it is said that in the after-troubles of her reign she was often heard to exclaim: 'Would that I had died at Jedburgh.' In 1571, when the country was divided into King's men and Queen's men, the citizens sided with the King, and held the town against the Lords of Buccleuch and Fernieherst, who marched upon it, desirous to chastise the burghers who had affronted a herald sent on the Queen's behalf. Thanks to the speedy action of the Regent Moray in sending Lord Ruthven with reinforcements, the citizens were able to stand out against the attack made upon them by Buccleuch and Fernieherst. The Raid of the Redeswire (1575) began in a dispute between the wardens of the middle marches about the person of Henry Robson, a noted free-lance, who, the Scottish warden demanded, should be given up for execution, while the English warden alleged that he had escaped. Such disputes seldom stopped at words, and, after an interchange of insults, the men of Tynedale began the fray by shooting their arrows at the Scots. The fighting became general, and the Scots were being worsted, when the men of Jedburgh, led by their provost, marched upon the field and turned the tide of battle. This was the occasion on which

'Bauld Rutherfurd, he was fu' stout,
wi. a' his nine sons him about,
He led the town o Jedburgh out,
All bravely fought that day.'

This was the last of the almost innumerable engagements that took place on the borders, and in it the war-cry of the burghers rose for the last time above the din of battle:-

'Then raise the slogan with ane shout,
Fye Tynedaill to it! Jedbrugh 's here.'

Here too may be mentioned the burghers' favourite weapon-the 'Jeddart staff.' It was a stout pole 7 or 8 feet long, with an iron head shaped either as a hook or hatchet. The 'Jeddart axe' is also mentioned, and both must have been formidable weapons. The oldest form of the townsmen's war-cry is 'A Jedworth, a Jedworth; 'but the form 'Jethart 's here' also existed, while that of 'A Jeddart, a Jeddart' is probably corrupt. 'Jeddart Justice' is in Scotland what 'Lidford Justice' is in England. It means 'hanging first and trying afterwards,' and arose first in 1608 from the summary way in which Lord Home disposed of a number of captured freebooters. When Charles Stuart (The Pretender) was marching to England in 1745, he, along with part of his army, passed through Jedburgh, where he lodged in a house in Castlegate, as noted above. At the time of the Reform agitation, a meeting was held at Jedburgh in 1831, at which Sir Walter Scott, who was present, spoke against the projected reform, and in consequence met with a most unfavourable reception. Jeffrey, however, explains that it was the opinions and not the man that met with disapproval. On the 23 Aug. 1869 Queen Victoria visited the town. Could those who inhabited Jedburgh in the 14th and 15th centuries observe their town and its present occupants, they would be unable to recognise the former, and the latter would seem strangely different from themselves. The Jedburgh that was pillaged and burned again and again during the Middle Ages (though said by the Earl of Surrey in 1523 to have been well built and to contain many fair houses) must have seemed insignificant and mean when compared with the present town, in spite of its noble abbey and almost impregnable castle. Its then inhabitants were almost as much men of war as of peace, ready to share in every foray, so that it was commonly said that no border skirmish ever took place without the cry of 'A Jedworth, a Jedworth' being heard in it. The present town is neat, clean, and thriving, and its inhabitants prosperous and quiet. Jedburgh has furnished its quota of famous men and women to the bead-roll of distinguished Scotsmen and Scotswomen. The chief of these are Mary Somerville, Sir David Brewster, Dr Somerville, and James Bell. Mary Somerville, 'The Rose of Jedwood,' was born at Jedburgh Manse on 26 dec. 1780, and died at Naples in 1872. She wrote The Connection of the Physical Sciences, Physical Geography, Microscopic and Molecular Science, etc. Thomas Somerville, D.D., uncle and father-in-law of the above, was born at Hawick in 1741, and died at Jedburgh 1830. He was the author of a History of Great Britain in the reign of Queen Anne, and a work entitled My own Life and Times. Sir David Brewster, born in 1781, died in 1868, published many scientific treatises, and invented the kaleidoscope and lenticular stereoscope. James Bell (1769-1833) wrote books on history and geography. The parish of Jedburgh contains also the villages or hamlets of Bonjedward, 2 miles N of the town; Ulston, 1¾ NE; Lanton, 3 WNW; and Edgerston, 7¼ SSE. It comprises the ancient parishes of Jedworth, Old Jedworth, and Upper Crailing; and consists of two sections, southern and northern, separated by a strip of Southdean, 5½ furlongs broad at the narrowest. The southern or Old Jedworth section, containing Edgerston hamlet, is bounded NE and E by Oxnam, S by Northumberland, and SW and W by Southdean; and, having an utmost length and breadth of 63/8 and 4¾ miles, contains 6604 acres. The northern section, consisting of Jedworth in the W and Upper Crailing in the E, is bounded N by Crailing and Eckford, E by Hounam, SE by Oxnam, S by Southdean, SW by Hobkirk, W by Bedrule, and NW by Ancrum. Its utmost length, from NNE to SSW, is 7¼ miles; and its width varies between ½ mile and 63/8 miles. The area of the entire parish is 22,670¾ acres, of which 135½ are water. Jed Water, after tracing 63/8 miles of the Southdean and Oxnam boundaries, winds 5½ miles northward through the interior till it falls into the Teviot, which itself meanders 4¾ miles east-north-eastward on or close to the Ancrum and Crailing border. Along the Teviot, in the extreme N, the surface declines to 170 feet above sea-level, thence rising to 523 feet near Monklaw, 705 near Tudhope, 923 at Lanton Hill, 1095 at *Dunian Hill, 1110 at *Black Law, 957 at *Watch Knowe, 700 near West Cottage, and 741 near Kersheugh, where asterisks mark those summits that culminate just within Bedrule parish. The southern or detached section, which sinks along Jed Water to from 530 to 480 feet, attains 829 near Edgerston church, 985 at Hareshaw Knowe, 1358 at Browndean Laws, 1173 at Hophills Nob, 1469 at Arks Edge, and 1542 at Leap Hill-green summits these of the Cheviots. The rocks include much trap, both in mountain masses and in valley-dykes; but they mainly consist of the stratified orders; from the Silurian to carboniferous, and in many parts exhibit such interpositions as have furnished subject of interesting study to both geologists and economists. White and red sandstone, of excellent quality, has been worked in several quarries; good limestone is pretty plentiful; coal has been bored for at various periods from 1660 to 1798; and a bed of iron ore, 3 feet thick, occurs not far from the town, near which are also two chalybeate springs. Of these Tudhope Well has been successfully tried for scorbutic and rheumatic disorders. The soil, in some places a stiffish clay, in others a mixture of clay with sand or gravel, in the valley of the Teviot and along the lower reaches of the Jed is a fertile loam, and on the higher grounds is very various. A great natural forest, called Jed Forest, formerly covered nearly all the surface of both sections of the parish, together with all Southdean, and parts of contiguous parishes; and remains of it, to the extent of many hundred acres, were cut down only in the course of last century. Two survivors are one beautiful and vigorous oak, the ' King of the Woods, 'near Fernieherst Castle, with a trunk 43 feet high and 17 in girth at 4 feet above ground; and another, the 'Capon Tree,' 1 mile nearer Jedburgh, 'a short-stemmed, but very wide-spreading oak, with a circumference at the base of 24¼ feet' (Trans. Highl. and Ag. Soc., 1881, pp. 206, 207). Fully a tenth of the entire area is still occupied by orchards, groves, and plantations; a large proportion of the uplands, especially in the southern section, is disposed in sheepwalks; and the rest of the land is all in a state of high cultivation. An ancient military road goes over the Dunian from Ancrum Bridge towards the town, 2 miles from which a Roman causeway, paved with whinstone, and almost entire, passes along the north-eastern district. A Roman camp, seemingly about 160 yards each way, is near Monklaw; a well-defined circular camp, 180 feet in diameter, with ramparts nearly 20 feet high, is at Scarsburgh; remains of a famous camp, formed by Douglas for the defence of the Borders during Bruce's absence in Ireland, crown the top of a bank at Lintalee; and vestiges of other camps are at Fernieherst, Howdean, Camptown, and Swinnie. Peel-houses, towers, and other minor military strengths, appear to have been numerous; but only one at Lanton, and the ruins of another at Timpandean, are now extant. Of several artificial caves, excavated in rock, on the banks of the Jed, the two largest, those of Lintalee and Hundalee, disappeared through landslips of 1866 and 1881. Vestiges of a chapel, founded in 845, are at Old Jedward, 5 miles SSE of the town; and verdant mounds indicate the sites or the graveyards of others in various places. Coins of Canute, Edred, Edwy, Ethelred, Edward I., Edward III., and later kings, both Scottish and English, together with ancient medals, have been found, in almost incredible numbers, at Stewartfield, at Bongate, at Swinnie, near the abbey, and in other localities. A chief antiquity, Fernieherst Castle, is noticed separately, as also are the mansions of Bonjedward, Edgerston, Hartrigge, Hunthill, Langlee, and Lintalee. Eight proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 21 of between £100 and £500, 35 of from £50 to £100, and 80 of from £20 to £50. Including most of Edgerston quoad sacra parish, Jedburgh is the seat of a presbytery in the synod of Merse and Teviotdale; the living is worth £523. Two landward public schools, Lanton and Pleasants, with respective accommodation for 100 and 80 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 53 and 49, and grants of £37, 19s. and £48, 8s. 6d. Landward valuation (1864) £22,108, 15s. 10d., (1882) £24,753, 13s. Pop. of entire parish (1801) 3834, (1831) 5647, (1861) 5263, (1871) 5214, (1881) 5147, of whom 4917 were in Jedburgh ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., sh. 17, 1864. The presbytery of Jedburgh comprises the civil parishes of Ancrum, Bedrule, Cavers, Crailing, Eckford, Hawick, Hobkirk, Hounam, Jedburgh, Kirkton, Minto, Oxnam, Southdean, Teviothead, and Wilton, and the quoad sacra parishes of Edgerston, Hawick St Mary's, and Hawick St John's. Pop. (1871) 26, 267, (1881) 30,769, of whom 5202 were communicants of the Church of Scotland in 1878.-There is also a Free Church presbytery of Jedburgh, with 3 churches at Hawick, and 6 at Ancrum, Castleton, Crailing, Denholm, Jedburgh, and Wolflee, which 9 churches together had 2253 members in 1883. See pp. 260-268 of Dorothy Wordsworth's Tour in Scotland (ed. by Princ. Shairp, 1874); James Watson's Jedburgh Abbey (Edinb. 1877); and an article in the Saturday Review (1882).

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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