Today we set off down the A72 again but this time towards Jedburgh and the last of the 4 Abbeys, Jedburgh is actually only 10 miles from the boarder with England and it is where Mary Queen of Scot’s spent some time and it is said to have been a turning point of her life. We started (as we normally do) at tourist information which is right outside the Abbey, our first stop was Newgate which has an arch, clock and steeple but which was previously the prison still houses the courthouse, opposite this is the market square with its cross and the toll building where people used to pay their rents and taxes. It was then time to climb the hill to the castle. This was actually ruined by the Scots in the 16th century so that it couldn’t be used by the English during one of the many attempts to take control of Scotland. In the 1800’s it was rebuilt as a jail which at the time was a model prison and very forward thinking! It was formed on the basis that the warden lived on the premises, rather than away from the ‘stench and depravity’ normally associated with prisons. Prisoners were allowed to leave their cells during the day, but they were not allowed to talk unless they were debtors in which case they were allowed to read the paper and talk to others as long as they didn’t ’cause a disturbance’. The prison was well worth a visit as they have restored a lot of the cells and you can definitely see what it would have been like, although unfortunately they haven’t restored any of the wardens living quarters which consisted of 3 rooms, 2 for the warden and one for his deputy who he had to pay for out of his wages. We then continued the walk around the town and through the park to the Abbey. This was founded in the 12th century and took 120 years to build! As with a number of the ruins we have seen it was in remarkably good condition. Once we had finished walking round the Abbey we stopped for lunch then set off the Mary Queen of Scot’s visitor centre which was actually the house that Mary stayed in when she came to Jedburgh in 1566 for a month to oversea the district court. While at Jedburgh she rode to Hermitage Castle (30 miles) to meet with her advisor (and future husband) the Earl of Bothwell and back in a single day and fell into a bog on the way back which caused a fever from which she nearly died. This is believed to be a turning point in Mary’s life as she later married the Earl – a Protestant, who was suspected of murdering Mary’s second husband so they could marry, although there isn’t any evidence to confirm this. This building like many others in Jedburgh had a ‘left-handed’ staircase. Jedburgh is the only place we have been to (that I can remember) where spiral staircases are left-handed. It is said that the local family, the Kerrs of Ferniehirst Castle, were all left-handed and this enabled them to wield their sword more easily.
