“If thou wouldst visit fair Melrose aright”, advised Sir Walter Scott in a poem, “Go visit it by the pale moonlight”. Today, a visitor taking Scott’s advice can only snatch a nighttime view of Melrose Abbey from the street, what with it now being under the care of Historic Environment Scotland (HES) and only open …
The Great Polish Map of Scotland is the brainchild of Jan Tomasik, a soldier in the 1st Polish Armoured Division in World War Two, which was founded in Scotland by Polish troops that had escaped the fall of their native land and the Nazi blitzkrieg across Western Europe. The 1st Polish Armoured Division was responsible …
Just east of Melrose, the River Tweed is spanned by three bridges, collectively known as the Tripontium, each built in different centuries. These are the descendants of an earlier, now long-gone bridge built by the Romans as part of a road that ran from York to Crammond on the Firth of Forth. The Romans also …
Britain in the 1960s. Forget the Nineties, this was the time of Cool Britannia., when dreary monochromed Britain ditched the ration books and went all technicolour. It was the decade of the three Bees, The Beatles, James Bond, and George Best. But back when it was all happening, there was often a fourth name added …
Smailholm Tower is a favourite with photographers and painters, and it is easy to see why. Standing like a centuries-old sentinel upon its rocky outcrop, enjoying relatively remote fastness, it both dominates the landscape and adds drama to it. JMW Turner is probably the most famous artist to capture the tower on canvas, sketching it …
Scott’s View is on the B6356 north of the village of St. Boswell’s, near Dryburgh, and is so named as it was where Sir Walter Scott often came to reflect and admire the scenery. Tradition has it that when Scott’s funeral cortege was making its way to his burial place in Dryburgh Abbey, his horses …
Scott’s View and the Statue of Sir William Wallace Read More »
Sir Walter Scott was the most widely read writer of his day. He wrote an astonishing twenty-seven novels in fifteen years and all but invented the historical fiction genre. He introduced a slew of words and phrases to the English language, including ‘caught red-handed’, ‘cold shoulder’, and ‘jiggery-pokery’. He found the lost crown jewels of …
