Kelso : River Tweed

Image: © Ken Bagnall Taken: 18 Mar 2011

Kelso (Scottish Gaelic: Cealsaidh, Scots: Kelsae) is a market town and civil parish in the Scottish Borders, located where the rivers Tweed and Teviot meet. The parish has a population of 6,385. Kelso is regarded as one of the most charming and quaint towns in the area with its cobbled streets, elegant Georgian buildings and Flemish style cobbled market square. The town's other main tourist attractions are the ruined Kelso Abbey and Floors Castle, a William Adam designed house completed in 1726. The bridge at Kelso was designed by John Rennie, who later built both London Bridge and Waterloo Bridge in London. The town came into being as a direct result of the creation of Kelso Abbey in 1128. Its name stems from the fact that the earliest settlement stood on a chalky outcrop, and the town was known as Calkou, or perhaps Calchfynydd, in those early days. Standing on the opposite bank of the River Tweed from the now-vanished royal burgh of Roxburgh, Kelso and its sister hamlet, Wester Kelso, were linked to the burgh by a ferry. A small hamlet existed before the completion of the Abbey in 1128 but the settlement started to flourish with the arrival of the monks. Many were skilled craftsmen, and they helped the local population as the village expanded. The Abbey controlled much of life in Kelso until the Reformation in the 16th century. After that, the power and wealth of the Abbey declined. The Kerr family of Cessford took over the barony and many of the Abbey's properties around the town. By the 17th century, they virtually owned Kelso. In Roxburgh Street is the outline of a horseshoe petrosomatoglyph where the horse of Charles Edward Stuart cast a shoe as he was riding it through the town on his way to Carlisle in 1745. He is also said to have planted a white rosebush in his host's garden, descendants of which are still said to flourish in the neighbourhood. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelso,_Scottish_Borders

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