SAIR 2:The origins of the settlements at Kelso and Peebles, Scottish Borders: archaeological excavations in Kelso and Floors Castle and Cuddyside/Bridgegate, Peebles by the Border Burghs Archaeology Project and the Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust, 1983–1994

by PJ Dixon, JR Mackenzie, DR Perry and P Sharman

with contributions by G Armstrong, D Bateson, A Cox, A Crowdy, B Ford, D Gallagher, DW Hall, D Henderson, B Moffat, C Smith, PS Spoerry, D H Tarling and C Wickham-Jones, and illustrations by Eric Cadow, Frank Moran and Dave Munro

ISBN 0-903903-71-7

Published in March 2003 by The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in association with The Council for British Archaeology and Historic Scotland, in Adobe Acrobat format. Available free of charge (see Terms & Conditions of Use).

Report Summary

This is a report on archaeological work in two of Scotland's less well-known medieval burghs of Kelso and Peebles. The excavations at Wester Kelso/Floors Castle established that the original medieval burgh of Kelso or Wester Kelso was much further west than previously believed, being situated well inside the present Castle policies. That early settlement at Wester Kelso appears to have been abandoned in the 14th or 15th centuries, at the same time that the royal burgh of Roxburgh was deserted, probably as a result of the English occupation of Roxburgh Castle. The other settlement of Easter Kelso, near the abbey, survived and expanded northwards from the abbey along Roxburgh Street. The finding of a possible building terrace in Phase 1 at 13–19 Roxburgh Street indicates that settlement along the southern end of that street could date to as early as the 13th or 14th centuries. Combining the archaeological, cartographic and documentary evidence, it seems clear that 'Easter' Kelso, now Kelso, had expanded from the market area around the abbey northwards towards the Floors estate by the early 18th century.

The excavations in Peebles have provided important information on the origins of the settlement of the peninsular ridge between the Tweed and Eddleston Water. The results obtained from the excavations at the two sites in Peebles indicate that settlement of the ridge began in the 12th century, soon after the establishment of the royal castle and burgh by David I (1124–53). At both sites, after initial dumping of rubbish, possibly to raise the ground level to counter flooding, occupation, in the form of stone structures, can be dated to the 14th century at the latest, with probable earlier dumping of domestic refuse in the 12th and 13th centuries. The street of Bridgegate was apparently laid out in the 13th or 14th centuries when the excavated site was divided into three properties aligned on that street, two of which had stone buildings erected on them. Alternatively, Bridgegate may have been the initial focus of settlement on the east side of the Eddleston, providing the access route from the east into Old Town, where a pilgrimage centre had been established at the Cross Kirk in 1261, and the location of the tolbooth (Bridgegate Building 4) in it suggests that this street was originally more important than High Street. It is noteworthy that all eight medieval buildings excavated at the two Peebles sites were of stone construction. Peebles tolbooth, the civic centre of the burgh, is the only medieval tolbooth site in Scotland to have been excavated.

The medieval pottery imports recovered at Wester Kelso show that the burgh's origins date to the 12th century, soon after the transfer of the Tironensian abbey from Selkirk to Kelso. The pottery finds also suggest that Wester Kelso was deserted in the 14th century or soon after. At Peebles Bridgegate, the presence of similar material, although residual, hints that occupation on the south and east side of the Eddleston Water could also have begun as early. The results of the excavations have shown that in both Kelso and Peebles much archaeological information can be retrieved on their medieval and post-medieval origins and growth, even in areas of the burghs previously thought to have little significance.

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Report Contents

(each section can be downloaded as a separate PDF file by clicking on the section title)

	Title Page
	Table of Contents
	Abstract	D R Perry
	List of Illustrations
	Acknowledgements	D R Perry
1	General Introduction	D R Perry
2	Kelso: Introduction	D R Perry
3	Kelso sites: 13-19 Roxburgh Street	P J Dixon & D R Perry
4	Kelso sites: Chalkheugh Terrace	P Sharman & D R Perry
5	Kelso sites: Wester Kelso / Floors Castle	P J Dixon & D R Perry
6	Peebles: Introduction	D R Perry
7	Peebles sites: Bridgegate	P J Dixon & D R Perry
8	Peebles sites: Cuddyside	J R Mackenzie
9	The Finds	various authors
10	Conclusions	D R Perry
11	Appendices	D H Tarling / P S Spoerry
12	Bibliography