Cessford, Scottish Borders

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.

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. A site at Cessford Burn has the remains of an ancient farmstead attached to Cessford Castle in the historic county of Roxburghshire (now an administrative area of Scottish Borders Region), between Kelso and Morebattle, in the parish of Eckford. The extant foundation stones of the dwellings, which can be seen to this day, are situated on the north bank of the Cessford Burn. Seven shiels, or thatched cottages, once housed the families of the farm steward, the shepherd and the ploughman. The farmstead was burned to the ground by the English many times, including the border campaign of the Earl of Surrey in May, 1523 and again by the Earl of Hertford in 1545, and during the Rough Wooing of Mary, Queen of Scots, by Henry VIII of England. The families living in these shiels were in the service of the Kers of Cessford, latterly the Dukes of Roxburghe, who were granted by Royal Charters of both James I of Scotland and James II of Scotland, to hold these lands of the Crown. This encompassed Cessford (or Kerr) Castle, the dwellings at Cessford Burn, and the castleton of Cessford, lying just outside the north gate to the castle. Cessford Castle, in ruins today, stands upon the ridge opposite Cessford Burn on the south bank. The castleton is no longer extant, but aerial photographs and Matthew Stobie's 1770 map of Roxburghshire show that the village lay hard by the castle to the northwest on the Morebattle road; about 140 souls lived in Cessford village during those times. Along the quiet, green banks of Cessford Burn is Habbie Kerr's cave, where local citizens had sought safety and shelter since the fifth century CE. Just south of Cessford Castle, there once stood an ancient ash tree known as the "Crow Tree", where summary Jeddart Justice was carried out. A branch of the old Border family Nisbet were shepherds in Cessford Burn from about 1665 until they emigrated to Canada and New York in 1822, due to the farm consolidations of the late 18th century on the Scottish Borders. Also see Nisbet, Roxburghshire.

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 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 Kale continues northwards via Upper Hindhope and Chatto to Hownam, the Hownam Rings and Morebattle Hill. At Morebattle the river turns to the west and, near Caverton Mill, the Kale receives another burn, the Cessford Burn. It continues alongside the B6401, past Grahamslaw to join the Teviot at Kalemouth and the Kalemouth Suspension Bridge.

Kalemouth is a place in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, where the Kale Water joins the River Teviot, near to Eckford, Cessford, Crailing, Kelso, and Roxburgh. Kalemouth Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge which crosses the River Teviot. There is also the Kalemouth Bridge which carries the A698 over the Kale Water immediately above its entry into the River Teviot.

Crailinghall is a village near Oxnam in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, in the former Roxburghshire. Crailinghall is on the route of the St. Cuthbert's Way and the Roman Heritage Way.

Kirkbank railway station served Old Ormiston, in the Scottish Borders, Scotland from 1856 to 1948 on the Jedburgh Railway.

Oxnam (Scots: Owsenam) is a village near Jedburgh, in Roxburghshire in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is a primarily residential village. The placename Oxnam is from Old English oxa (genitive oxan) "oxen" and ham "village", the meaning being "village where ox are bred". The name was recorded as Oxenamm in 1148, and sometimes known as Oxenham. Current local placenames include Oxnam Green, Oxnam Kirk, Oxnam Mains, Oxnam Neuk, Oxnam Pond, Oxnam Row, Oxnam Sawmill, and Oxnam School. Dere Street passes through the village. Other places nearby include Bairnkine, Camptown, Crailing, Crailinghall, Hownam, Kelso, Newbigging.

Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale (Rosbrog, Eadaraig agus Srath Labhdair in Scottish Gaelic) is a lieutenancy area of Scotland. The lieutenancy area was created on 1 April 1996, when local government was reorganised across Scotland under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. The lieutenancy area covers the combined area of the two abolished local government districts of Roxburgh and Ettrick and Lauderdale, which had been nominally separate lieutenancy areas prior to 1996, although both lieutenancies were held by John Scott, 9th Duke of Buccleuch. The lieutenancy area broadly corresponds to the historic counties of Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire, plus small parts of Midlothian and Berwickshire.

Crailing is a village on the A698, in Teviotdale, 4m east of Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, in the historic county of Roxburghshire. Places nearby include Ancrum, Crailinghall, Eckford, Hownam, Kelso, Nisbet, Roxburghshire, the Oxnam Water, the River Teviot.

Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh (Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the northwest, and Berwickshire to the north. To the southwest it borders Cumberland and to the southeast Northumberland, both in England. It was named after the Royal Burgh of Roxburgh, a town which declined markedly in the 15th century and is no longer in existence. Latterly, the county town of Roxburghshire was Jedburgh. The county has much the same area as Teviotdale, the basin drained by the River Teviot and tributaries, together with the adjacent stretch of the Tweed into which it flows. The term is often treated as synonymous with Roxburghshire, but may omit Liddesdale as Liddel Water drains to the west coast.

Wallace's Tower is a ruined 16th-century L-plan tower house, about 3 miles (4.8 km) south west Kelso, Scottish Borders, Scotland, in Roxburgh, west of the River Teviot.