KELSO HERITAGE SOCIETY Logo courtesy of A. Binnie April 2021 NEWSLETTER Welcome to the April 2021 issue of our Newsletter. Until we are able to host speaker events, we are producing a monthly newsletter with articles of local historical interest, quizzes, update information etc. We would welcome your feedback. We are also holding online talks which are proving to be very popular with our members. The events are being shared with Dunse History Society who in turn share their events. The next event will take place on Tuesday 20th April when Piers Dixon will present - 'Deer parks, traps and hays: hunting and hunting forests in medieval Scotland'. If you wish to register for this event please email [email protected] by Friday 16th April 2021. The details for joining the meeting will be sent to you on 19th April 2021. 250th Anniversary of the birth of Walter Scott In 2021 we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Walter Scott. Various events are being arranged throughout the year in Edinburgh by the Walter Scott Club and in The Borders by the Abbotsford Trust. However Walter Scott has a strong family link to Kelso which is often overlooked: The following article gives an insight into his years spent in Kelso - Walter Scott & Kelso Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh in August 1771, the son of a lawyer, but his family's roots lay in the Borders. They were descendants of the famous Reiver Wat Scott of Harden. Scott's great grandfather, “Beardie” Scott a keen Jacobite, ended his days living in Kelso in the house overlooking the churchyard [now Stewart's work store] where he died in 1729. His grandfather set up as a gentleman farmer at Sandyknowe, next to Smailholm Tower. It was here that the infant Walter Scott was sent when he was about 18 months old. He had been struck by a serious fever, perhaps polio, which left his left leg paralysed. His parents hoped that the country air would restore his damaged health. So, for several years he was cared for by his grandparents and his Auntie Janet at Sandyknowe. His first memories were of living with them in the shadow of Smailholm Tower. His grandmother told him tales of the Border Reivers and Auntie Janet read stories to him. In 1775-6 Janet took him to the theatre in London and to Bath to take the health-giving waters. By 1779 he was fit enough to return to Edinburgh where he attended the High School, but his health remained delicate and in 1783 he was once again sent to the Borders, to be cared for by Auntie Janet. She was by then living in “a small house situated very pleasantly in a large garden to the eastward of the churchyard of Kelso, which extended down to the Tweed. It was then my father's property ...” It is now known as Waverley Lodge, at the corner of the Knowes. 1 Young Walter had often spent holidays here and now he stayed for much of a year in Janet's care. He attended Kelso Grammar School which stood roughly where the Abbey Row Centre is today. The school master, who rejoiced in the name of Lancelot Whale*, was according to Scott “an excellent classical scholar, a humourist and a worthy man. … I made considerable progress under his instruction.” Here also he became friendly with one James Ballantyne, the son of a local merchant, of whom more anon. Unable to take part in physical activities, he read enthusiastically any books he could get his hands on. One source was the library of Mrs Waldie of Hendersyde, whose family's town house was Commercial House in Bridge Street. “My appetite for books was as ample ... as it was indefatigable. Above all I first became acquainted with Bishop Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry. As I had been from infancy devoted to legendary lore, it may be imagined with what delight I saw pieces of the same kind.” Scott recalled reading this book while lying beneath a huge platanus tree in his aunt's garden. His stay in Kelso also inspired him in other ways. “To this period also I can trace the awakening of that delightful feeling for the beauty of natural objects. The neighbourhood of Kelso, the most beautiful if not the most romantic village in Scotland ….The meeting of two superb rivers, the Tweed and the Teviot ...the ruins of an ancient abbey, the more distant vestiges of Roxburgh Castle... From this time the love of natural beauty, more especially when combined with ancient ruins … became with me an insatiable passion.” Scott returned to Edinburgh to complete his education at the High School and the University, eventually becoming a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1792. But his visits to Kelso continued. He spent many holidays with his uncle Captain Robert Scott who retired from the sea and took up residence at Rosebank House in 1787. He spent his time on country pursuits, riding hunting and fishing, often with his friends, the Walker brothers from Wooden. They had a signalling system across the river to arrange for outings for such activities as hare coursing and duck shooting. Now reasonably fit, he took the chance to explore the wider Borderland and started collecting old ballads. His letters include an amusing account of a visit to St James's Fair. According to Scott, the Kelso people resented the fact that officials from the royal burgh of Jedburgh had the right to open the fair. When these gentlemen arrived riding three abreast the shout went up that this was because they were so poor they only had one set of riding boots between them. Insults were followed by turfs leading to a proper punch up fuelled, he said, by whisky! It was also during this time in his late teens that he had his first romantic encounter, with a local girl whom we know only as Jessie. She was apparently the daughter of a small trader in Kelso – and therefore rather down the social scale from young Walter Scott, gentleman and prospective advocate. Aware of the disapproval of both their families, they met up secretly and exchanged letters for a few months, and Scott wrote her poems in praise of her beauty. Another important encounter was when he met up again with his old school friend James Ballantyne. In 1796 Ballantyne set up a new weekly newspaper, the Kelso Mail, with its office and print works in Bridge Street. In 1799 Ballantyne invited Scott to visit his works, with momentous results. Scott remarked that he was surprised Ballantyne did not get some book printing work to keep his presses busy all week. Ballantyne took up the idea and the result was Scott's first printed work “Apology for Tales of Terror”, a limited production circulated to a few of his friends. Following its success Scott suggested “I have been for years collecting old Border Ballads, and I think I could with little trouble put together such a selection ...as might make a neat little volume ...I will talk to some of the booksellers in Edinburgh and if the thing goes on you shall be the printer.” The result was the printing of The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border at the press in Bridge Street in 1802. It was a great success and marked the start of his career as a writer of poetry and later of novels. With Scott's encouragement, Ballantyne moved his business to Edinburgh. He became the printer of all Scott's works and for the rest of their lives the two men were friends and business partners. James's younger brother John also acted for a while as Scott's publisher and agent. John was a keen fisherman who built Walton Hall at the top of Roxburgh Street as his country retreat. Scott visited him there in 1820 while it was being built. Alas, John died shortly after without ever living there. In 1804 Uncle Robert died, followed soon after by Auntie Janet. Walter Scott inherited the Rosebank estate – and promptly sold it off. Why?? In 1799 he had secured the post of Sheriff depute of Selkirkshire, which provided him with a steadier income than working at the Bar. He was now a married man. He needed to set up his home within easy reach of the court in 2 Selkirk. He first rented Ashiesteel which was much more convenient than Kelso; later of course, he built his own world-famous home at Abbotsford. Rosebank was just not in the right place. Also, as he amusingly remarked, Rosebank is situated so near to the village of Kelso as to be hardly sufficiently a country residence; besides it is hemmed in by hedges and ditches, not to mention Dukes and Lady Dowagers which are bad things for little people.” Scott visited Kelso one more time, in 1827 “where I saw not a soul to acknowledge former acquaintance.” By then he was old and tired, working furiously to pay off the huge debts he had incurred after the financial crash in 1826. His wife was dead and his health was failing. He died at Abbotsford in September 1832. His old friend James Ballantyne died a few months later in 1833. Contributed by Christine Henderson – see footnote Beardie’s House circa 1700 James Stewart’s work store - 2014 *Lancelot Whale (Rector Kelso Grammar School 1780-1788) was the son of Andrew Whale, parochial schoolmaster at Earlston, He had taught at Channelkirk and Hamilton. Whales’ most famous pupil was Sir Walter Scot who wrote “ he was an excellent classical scholar, a humourist and a worthy man … in pursuit of knowledge and taste he was far too good for the situation he held, which only required that he should give his scholars a rough foundation in the Latin Language.” Tiring of the puns on their name, the family later spelled it Wale and then Wales.