IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Belmont Place, KELSO, TD5 7JB

These houses were photographed from the bridge.

This church (1869) is on the northeast side of the River Tweed and is viewed from the southwest end of Kelso Bridge.

The weather was kind to the organisers of this fund raising event at Belmont Place in Kelso. The church minister was doing his part by announcing over a megaphone that bargains were to be had.

This indicator marked in feet on the River Tweed was viewed from Kelso Bridge. For a wider view of the river from the bridge, see Image

The bridge tollhouse at the town end of the old River Tweed at Kelso on a wet, dull day. Nothing to be seen through the windows so now unoccupied.

The bridge over the Tweed replaced an earlier stone bridge which was damaged by flooding in 1797. Its replacement was built under the direction of John Rennie and opened in 1803, with tolls ranging from 6 shillings for a vehicle drawn by 6 horses to a halfpenny for a pedestrian. As time went by, resentment against the tolls grew until in 1854 a mob tossed the toll gate into the river. Tolls were annulled in 1857. (Source: 'Bridging the Tweed' by Jim Lyon, author publication 2019).

Bridge End Cottage by the A698, in parish of Kelso (District), Catch a Penny, Kelso Road, Kelso. HES Scotland Category 'A' listed. Reference: LB35724 http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB35724 Surveyed Milestone Society National ID: SBD.KEL02

Category A Listed toll house by John Rennie (the Elder 1761-1821) built presumably about the same time as the bridge 1800-1803. To repay the construction loan, the bridge was tolled until riots prompted their abandonment. Reports vary on the date of abandonment from 1854 the year of the riots to 1857 3 years after.

St Andrew's Episcopal Church in the background.

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