[2] [3]

Kelso (Scots: Kelsae), Scottish Gaelic: Cealsaidh is a market town in the Scottish
Borders area of Scotland. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Roxburghshire,
it lies where the rivers Tweed and Teviot have their confluence. The town has a population
[4]
of 5,639 according to the 2011 census and based on the 2010 definition of the locality.
Kelso's main tourist draws are the ruined Kelso Abbey and Floors Castle, a William Adam
designed house completed in 1726. The Kelso Bridge was designed by John Rennie who
later built London Bridge.
Kelso held the UK record for the lowest January temperature at −26.7 °C (−16.1 °F), from
[
1881 until 1982.

History[edit]
The town of Kelso came into being as a direct result of the creation of Kelso Abbey in
1128. The town's name stems from the earliest settlement having stood on a chalky
outcrop, and the town was known as Calkou (or perhaps Calchfynydd) in those early
[6]
days, something that is remembered in the modern street name, "Chalkheugh Terrace".

Kelso Town Hall

Standing on the opposite bank of the River Tweed from the now-vanished royal burgh of
Roxburgh, Kelso and its sister hamlet of Wester Kelso were linked to the burgh by a ferry
at Wester Kelso. 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.
Archaeological excavations in the 1980s discovered that the original medieval burgh of
Wester Kelso was much farther west than previously believed and that it was abandoned
in the 14th or 15th centuries, at the same time that the royal burgh of Roxburgh was
deserted, likely the result of the English occupation of Roxburgh Castle. The other
settlement of Easter Kelso, near the abbey, survived and expanded from the market area
around the abbey northwards towards the Floors estate by the early 18th century. Thus
[7]
‘Easter’ Kelso, became Kelso.
The abbey controlled much of life in Kelso-area burgh of barony, called Holydean, 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,
[8]
descendants of which are still said to flourish in the area.
For some period of time, the Kelso parish was able to levy a tax of 2 pence (2d) on every
[9][10]
Scottish pint of ale, beer or porter sold within the town. The power to do this was
extended for 21 years in 1802 under the Kelso Two Pennies Scots Act when the money
was being used to replace a bridge across the River Tweed that had been destroyed by
[9]
floods.
[11]
Kelso Town Hall was completed in 1816 and remodelled in 1908. The war memorial was
[12]
erected in 1921 to a design by Sir Robert Lorimer.

Community[edit]

View of Kelso in the late 18th century

Teviot Bridge Near Kelso

Kelso High School provides secondary education to the town, and primary education is
provided by Edenside Primary and Broomlands Primary.
The River Tweed at Kelso is renowned for its salmon fishing, there are two eighteen-hole
golf courses as well as a National Hunt (jumping) horse racing track, Kelso Racecourse is
known as "Britain's Friendliest Racecourse", racing first took place in Kelso in 1822.
In 2005, the town hosted the 'World Meeting of Citroën 2CV Friends' in the grounds of
nearby Floors Castle.
The town's rugby union club is Kelso RFC. The club holds an annual rugby sevens
tournament takes place in early May. Former players include Ross Ford, the current
record holder for men's senior caps with the Scotland men's rugby union team. Other
former players include John Jeffrey, Roger Baird, Andrew Ker and Adam Roxburgh, who
all featured in 7s teams that dominated the Borders circuit in the 1980s - including several
wins in the blue ribbon event at Melrose. Kelso RFC also hold an annual rugby fixture;
this fixture is the oldest unbroken fixture between a Scottish and Welsh side.
Every year in July, the town celebrates the border tradition of Common Riding, known as
Kelso Civic Week. The festival lasts a full week and is headed by the Kelsae Laddie with
his Right and Left Hand Men. The Laddie and his followers visit neighbouring villages on
horseback with the climax being the Yetholm Ride on the Saturday. Kelso hosts its annual
fair on the first weekend of September. The festivities include dancing, street entertainers,
live music, stalls and a free concert. The fair attracts about 10,000 people to the town.

People[edit]
Sir Walter Scott attended Kelso Grammar School in 1783 and he said of the town: "it is the
most beautiful if not the most romantic village in Scotland". Another attraction is the
Cobby Riverside Walk which goes from the town centre to Floors Castle along the banks
of the Tweed passing the point where it is joined by the River Teviot. Kelso has three
[13]
bridges that span the River Tweed, "Rennie's Bridge" was completed in 1803 to replace
an earlier one washed away in the floods of 1797, it was built by John Rennie of
Haddington, who later went on to build Waterloo Bridge in London, his bridge in Kelso is
a smaller and earlier version of Waterloo Bridge. The bridge was the cause of local rioting
in 1854 when the Kelso population objected to paying tolls even when the cost of
construction had been covered, the Riot Act was read, three years later tolls were
abolished. Hunter's Bridge, a kilometre downstream, is a modern construction built to
divert vehicles around the town and so take much of the heavy traffic that has damaged
Rennie's bridge.
Famous people from Kelso have included the suffragette Georgiana Solomon who was
born here in 1844, the civil engineer Sir James Brunlees (1816–1892) who constructed
many railways in the United Kingdom as well as designing the docks at Avonmouth and
Whitehaven. Sir William Fairbairn (1789–1874) was another engineer who built the first
iron hulled steamship the Lord Dundas and constructed over 1,000 bridges using the
tubular steel method which he pioneered. Thomas Pringle the writer, poet and abolitionist,
2
was born at nearby Blakelaw, a 500-acre (2.0 km ) farmstead four miles (6 km) to the south
of the town where his father was the tenant. Donald Farmer, a Victoria Cross recipient was
born in Kelso, as was Ross Ford, who holds the record for the most senior caps (110) with
the men's Scotland national rugby union team.
Robert Allan Smith (1909-1980) physicist, was born and brought up in Kelso.

Notable current and former residents[edit]

● Roger Baird, rugby
● James Ballantyne, printer
● Horatius Bonar, poet and hymn writer
● Jane Lundie Bonar (1821–1884), hymnwriter
● Sir James Brunlees, engineer
● Peter Crawford, land surveyor
 ● Sir William Fairbairn, engineer
● Donald Farmer, Victoria Cross recipient
● Ryan Flannigan, cricket
● Ross Ford, Rugby Union
● John Jeffrey, Rugby Union
● Ryan Hogarth, Darts Player
● Andrew Ker, rugby & cricket
● Alistair Moffat, journalist
● Tom Nevin, boxer
● Scott Newlands, Rugby Union
● Will H. Ogilvie (1869–1963), poet
● Sir Matthew Pinsent, rower
● Thomas Pringle, poet
● Sir William Purves, banker
● Adam Roxburgh, rugby
● Sir Walter Scott, writer
● Robert Smith CBE, physicist
[14]
● Jane T. Stoddart, writer and editor
● Alan Tait, Rugby Union/Rugby League
● Jennie Kidd Trout, Canadian Physician, the first woman in Canada to practice
medicine, born in Kelso.
● James Thomson, poet and composer

Film, music and literature[edit]

Much of the 1984 film Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes was filmed on
location at Floors Castle in Kelso, whose exterior featured as that of the fictional
[15]
Greystoke Manor.
Kelso features in the traditional folk music ballad 'The Shepherd Lad of Kelso', as well as
'The Old Woman of Kelso', a variation of the ballad Eggs and Marrowbone.

Floors Castle[edit]

Walled garden at Floors Castle

Main article: Floors Castle

Floors Castle is a large stately home just outside Kelso. It is a visitor attraction. Adjacent
to the house there is a large walled garden with a cafe, a small garden centre and the Star
Plantation.

Twin towns[edit]
Kelso is twinned with two cities abroad:

● - Kelso, Washington, United States

● - Orchies, France

Panorama[edit]

Kelso is unique in Scotland for having a cobbled square fed by four cobbled streets

See also[edit]
● Kelso High School
● Kelso Hospital

References[edit]
● ^ "Mid-2016 Population Estimates for Settlements and Localities in Scotland".
National Records of Scotland. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
● ^ "Scotslanguage.com - Names in Scots - Places in Scotland".
● ^ Mac an Tàilleir, Iain (2003) Placenames. (pdf) Pàrlamaid na h-Alba. Retrieved 20
January 2010. Archived from the original on 24 October 2004.
● ^ "Kelso, Scottish Borders". City Population. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
● ^ "Weather January".
● ^ Moffat, A., (2006). Kelsae: A History of Kelso from Earliest Times. page 12. Birlinn
Ltd. ISBN 1841584576
● ^ "Vol 2 (2003): The origins of settlements at Kelso and Peebles, Scottish Borders
archaeological excavations in Wester and Easter Kelso and Cuddyside/Bridgegate,
Peebles by the Border Burghs Archaeology Project and the Scottish Urban
Archaeological Trust, 1983--1994 | Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports".
journals.socantscot.org. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
● ^ Westwood, Jennifer (1985), Albion. A guide to Legendary Britain. Pub. Grafton
Books. London. ISBN 0-246-11789-3. P. 378.
● ^
● Jump up to:
ab
● The Law Commission & the Scottish Law Commission (2012), Statute Law
Repeals: 19th Report (PDF), Law Commission, pp. 321–323, archived from the
original (PDF) on 13 April 2012, retrieved 25 April 2012
 ● ^ "PROPOSED REPEALS RELATING TO TWO PENNIES SCOTS ACTS" (PDF).
www.scotlawcom.gov.uk. Scottish Law Commission. 11 September 2009. Retrieved
16 January 2022.
● ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "The Square, Kelso Town Hall (LB35828)".
Retrieved 10 October 2021.
● ^ Dictionary of Scottish Architects: Robert Lorimer
● ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "Kelso Bridge (58470)". Canmore. Retrieved 6 July
2021.
● ^ Matthew, H. C. G. (2004). "Stoddart, Jane Thompson (1863–1944), journalist and
author". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University
Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/53271. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
● ^ "Filming Locations for Greystoke, the Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)".

Further reading[edit]
● Moffat, Alistair (2006), Kelsae: a history of Kelso from earliest times, Birlinn,
ISBN 978-1-84158-457-7

External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Kelso,
Scottish Borders.

Wikivoyage has a travel

guide for Kelso.

● Kelso Scottish Borders

● Kelso Songs
● Photos of Kelso
● Coin Hoard Article
show

● v
● t
● e

River Tweed, Great Britain

show
Authority control

Categories:

● Kelso, Scottish Borders

● Towns in the Scottish Borders
● Parishes in Roxburghshire
● Populated places on the River Tweed
● 1128 establishments in Scotland