Eckford is a small village located between the larger towns of Kelso and Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders. The village is in close proximity to both the River Teviot and its tributary the Kale Water, and the A698 and the B6401 which run approximately parallel to the respective rivers.
The village itself consists of around 20 houses, situated off Eckford road, the minor Well road and the historic drove road, the Loaning.
The village hall was built in 1930, funded primarily by local subscription and fund raising, and sits in the heart of the village, [1] and is its last remaining public building (previously there was also a school (1963), post office and shop). [2] The hall remains an important hub within the village and hosts events throughout the year.
The parish of Eckford consists of Caverton, Cessford and Eckford.
Eckford's church, which sits close to the River Teviot and around 3/4 of a mile from the village was closed for safety reasons in the late 2000s due to required repairs to the bell tower, the cost of which proved insurmountable. The graveyard surrounding the church remains in use, however, and contains a remarkable circular tower, used in the 19th century to guard newly buried bodies against the risk of body snatchers. [3]
The name Eckford is locally accepted to be a variant on Oakford, meaning simply a ford by oak trees. [4] It has also been suggested independently, however, to mean ford by the church. It was known as Eckeforde in 1200 and Hecford in 1220. [5] The prefix Ecc is from the Latin ecclesia meaning church.
On 17 October 1557 a Scottish army led by the Earl of Huntly halted at Eckford. There the Scottish lords held a consultation, and considering the time of year, the foul weather, and English preparations against them, decided not to attack Wark as Mary of Guise had instructed them. The next day they crossed the border and approached Wark Castle with their artillery but then returned to Scotland. [6]
The ruins of Moss Tower remain in Eckford parish. This castle was damaged by the English commanded by Lord Dacre in 1523, and again in 1544, and 1570. [7]
John Ormeston of Ormeston wrote to members English Forster family in November 1559. He was the Earl of Bothwell's bailiff, living at Moss Tower, and was worried by news that an English army was coming to Scotland to aid the Protestant Lords of the Congregation. He hoped they would warn him of any trouble. [8]
The tower later belonged to the rebel earl Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell, who used it as refuge in March 1594, and his wife Margaret Douglas stayed there. [9]
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Cessford Castle is a large ruined mid-15th century L-plan castle near the village of Cessford, midway Jedburgh and Kelso, in the historic county of Roxburghshire, now a division of the Scottish Borders. The Castle is caput of the Barony of Cessford, and the principal stronghold of the Kers/Kerrs, notorious Border Reivers, many of whom served as Wardens of the Middle March.
Liddesdale, the valley of the Liddel Water, in the County of Roxburgh, southern Scotland, extends in a south-westerly direction from the vicinity of Peel Fell to the River Esk, a distance of 21 miles (34 km). The Waverley route of the North British Railway ran down the dale, and the Catrail, or Picts' Dyke, crosses its head.
Morebattle is a village in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, on the B6401, seven miles south of Kelso, Scottish Borders, beside the Kale Water, a tributary of the River Teviot. The St. Cuthbert's Way long distance footpath passes through the village.
Crichton Castle is a ruined castle near the village of Crichton in Midlothian, Scotland. It is situated at the head of the River Tyne, 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the village of Pathhead, and the same distance east of Gorebridge.
Cessford Burn is a small stream which eventually runs to meet the Kale Water and then joins the River Teviot, finally entering the River Tweed at Kelso, Scotland.
Fatlips Castle is a peel tower in Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. Situated at the top of Minto Crags, above the River Teviot, it was built in the 16th century by the Turnbulls of Barnhills, notorious Border reivers, and owners of nearby Barnhills Tower and farm. In 1545, during the War of the Rough Wooing, the Earl of Hertford burned "Mantoncrake", or Mynto Crag.
Minto is a village and parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland in Roxburghshire county. It is located 6 miles north-east of Hawick, north of the River Teviot.
Eccles is a village and agricultural parish near Kelso in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. The village is conjoined with Birgham and Leitholm.
Caldwell is a mansion and old estate with the remains of a castle nearby. These lands lie close to the Lugton Water and the villages of Uplawmoor in East Renfrewshire and Lugton in East Ayrshire.
Gavinton is a small settlement in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south-west of Duns, the former county town of Berwickshire. The hamlet sits on a minor road off the A6105 Duns to Greenlaw road at grid reference NT767521.
Ladykirk is a village on the B6470 in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, and the former Berwickshire, just north of the River Tweed and the Anglo-Scottish border. The town was formerly known as Upsettlington, but King James IV of Scotland renamed the town Ladykirk; the church is also known as St Mary's Church or Kirk of Steill. Ladykirk stands directly opposite Norham Castle, Northumberland, England
The Rule Water is a river in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, and a tributary of the River Teviot. The Rule Water rises in Wauchope Forest and passes Hobkirk, Bonchester Bridge, Hallrule, Abbotrule, and Bedrule until it joins the River Teviot at Spittal-on-Rule.
The Kale Water is a 20 miles (32 km) long tributary of the River Teviot in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. Its feeder burns in the Cheviot Hills are the Long Burn, Hawkwillow Burn and the Grindstone Burn, east of Leithope Forest near the Anglo-Scottish Border.
The Kalemouth Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge at Kalemouth in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, near the B6401. It crosses the River Teviot just above its confluence with the Kale Water, near Eckford.
Cavers is a parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, in the former county of Roxburghshire, south and east of Hawick. The largest village in the parish is Denholm.
Cessford is a hamlet and former barony about a mile south of the B6401 road, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. The placename is from Gaelic 'ceis' and means 'the wattled causeway over the ford'; spellings vary between Cesfuird, Cesford, Cessfoord, Cessfuird, and Cessfurde.
Margaret Douglas, Countess of Bothwell was a Scottish aristocrat and courtier.
Henry Hall was a Covenanter and Church of Scotland elder. He had firm Presbyterian convictions. He tried but was prevented from joining the Pentland Rising. He fought as an officer at Drumclog and at Bothwell Bridge. He was part of a group, along with Richard Cameron and Donald Cargill, who were openly opposed to the government's religious policies. Hall was intercepted at South Queensferry where Robert Middleton, the governor of Blackness Castle, tried to arrest him along with Donald Cargill. Hall managed to hold off the governor but received a mortal headwound from the butt of a gun from a taxman after Cargill had escaped. An unsigned and probably unfinished work known as The Queensferry Paper was found on Hall which caused considerable disquiet when it was read by government supporters.
Mangerton Tower is a ruined Scottish tower castle house formerly belonging to the Armstrong family.
