Scenic Place in Scottish Borders

Jedburgh Abbey is one of the great Border abbeys of Scotland, a magnificent ruin set within the pleasant market town of Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders. Founded in 1138 by King David I of Scotland as an Augustinian priory and later raised to the status of an abbey, it grew to become one of the most important religious establishments in Scotland before centuries of conflict with England reduced it to the atmospheric ruin that visitors explore today. The architecture of Jedburgh Abbey is exceptional. The church is built in the Romanesque and early Gothic styles that were at the cutting edge of ecclesiastical architecture during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and despite the damage inflicted by repeated English raids, the surviving fabric of the building is remarkably complete. The nave arcades, with their decorative Romanesque carving and the transition to pointed Gothic arches in the upper storeys, illustrate the evolution of medieval architectural style with extraordinary clarity. The west front, with its elaborate carved doorway, retains some of the finest Romanesque carving in Scotland. The location of Jedburgh on the main route between England and Scotland placed the abbey directly in the path of almost every major military conflict between the two kingdoms. English forces raided and damaged the abbey in 1297, 1305 and repeatedly during the Wars of the Roses, and further destruction came during the Reformation in 1560 when the Catholic religious community was dissolved. Despite this, the abbey remained in partial use as a parish church until 1875, and the relative continuity of occupation explains why so much fabric survives. The abbey's visitor centre contains the Pictish Jedburgh Comb and other significant archaeological finds from the site, along with displays explaining the history of the building and the Augustinian monastic community that once inhabited it. The formal garden laid out around the ruins provides a pleasant setting for exploring the surviving walls, columns and arched windows, and a heritage trail connects the abbey with other historic sites in the town including Mary Queen of Scots' House, where the Scottish queen stayed during her famous progress through the Borders in 1566. The town of Jedburgh itself is an attractive and historically rich stopping point on any tour of the Scottish Borders, with a medieval town centre, good independent shops and close proximity to several other historic sites including Dryburgh Abbey, Melrose Abbey and Floors Castle.

The Eildon Hills above Melrose in the Scottish Borders are three volcanic hills rising from the surrounding farmland of the Tweed Valley in a distinctive triple profile visible from a wide area of the Borders, providing one of the finest views of any accessible summit in the region and combining a rich geological heritage with a density of archaeological sites that makes them one of the most historically significant hill groups in Scotland. The summit of Eildon Hill North was occupied by a massive Iron Age hill fort, one of the largest in Scotland. The Iron Age settlement on Eildon Hill North enclosed within its massive ramparts an area of approximately 16 hectares and contained several hundred house platforms, suggesting a population of considerable size in a fortified township that may have been the principal settlement of the Selgovae tribe whose territory covered much of the central Borders. The Roman fort of Trimontium was established at the foot of the hills near present-day Newstead in the first century AD, the Romans recognising the strategic importance of the hills that had already defined this section of the Tweed Valley as a place of authority and power. The hills are also the setting for the legend of Thomas the Rhymer, the thirteenth-century prophetic poet Thomas of Erceldoune who was said to have been taken to Elfland through a door in the Eildon Hills and to have returned with the gift of prophecy. The combination of the archaeology, the legend and the outstanding views from the summit make the Eildon Hills one of the most rewarding walks in the Borders.