Monday 9 November 2009

Kelso, in the Borders, is unique, in Scotland, in having a French-style, cobbled town square fed by four cobbled streets...a minefield for wearers of high-heeled shoes to traverse! When I was first married, well over 40 years ago, we lived fairly close to here and did our banking in the town. Then, when driving across the square, everyone took their own route and at times it could resemble "dodgems" but now routes are marked out with flower tubs.
In the collage the photos in the top row show, from left to right,
(a) the row of elegant buildings on the north side of the square, (b) the well kept gates and lodges leading to the William Adams designed Floors Castle, home of the Duke of Roxburgh and used as the film location of the birthplace of Tarzan! and (c) the view up the northward leading cobbled street from the Square.
Middle right photo shows the Town Hall in the Square and bottom right is a view to one of the churches down a side street.
The left hand bottom photo shows the remains of the 12th century reformed Benedictine abbey which suffered much in the on-going wars between Scotland and England and now not a lot is left standing.
The town stands near the confluence of the rivers Teviot and the famous salmon fishing river Tweed. There are two bridges over the Tweed, one being of recent origin and the other over two hundred years old. An earlier bridge was swept away in a flood. This later bridge was built by John Rennie who later built Waterloo Bridge over the Thames in London.
Kelso is also famed for its Ram Sales, held every September and its Racecourse.
It is twinned with Kelso in Washington, USA and Orchies in France.
For other folks' "worlds" look here.
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7 comments:

Sylvia K said...

What a marvelous post! Love your photos as always, but did so enjoy reading the history! That is what -- to me -- makes posts so interesting as well as giving me a chance to learn something I didn't know before.I do realize that a lot of people just want to look at the photos and move on to the next post. Great one!

Enjoy your week!

Sylvia

My name is Riet said...

LOve those photo's. I am so glad I get to see different parts of the world through photo's

Janie said...

An interesting introduction to Kelso. I like the architecture of the city.

Gail said...

Such wonderful photos, thanks for allowing me to enjoy your world.

I choose the pup on the far right.

Pat said...

I love these photos of the lovely old buildings of Kelso as well as the history behind them.

Chris said...

Thank you for the visit to Kelso Anne, I find the history very interesting. The gateway is my favourite. Would love to look round the town.

Karen said...

Love the photographs. Thanks so much for telling us about Kelso--makes me want to visit!