Jedburgh

Jedburgh (pronounced "Jed-bur-uh") is a town in the Scottish Borders, ten miles north of the border with England. It's best known for its ruined abbey, while the countryside around is dotted with turrets and towerhouses from the medieval days of banditry.

Understand

In 2020 Jedburgh had a population of 3840: famous people from here include Mary Somerville (1780-1872) the scientist, David Brewster (1781-1868) optical scientist and inventor of the kaleidosope, and Greig Laidlaw (b 1985) the rugby player.

Visitor information

• Jedburgh Visitor information website

Get in

Nave of the Abbey

By car

Jedburgh is on the A68 which links Edinburgh to northeast England via a scenic, switchback road over the hills. The summit and border at Carter Bar is passable in all but the worst weather. If it's unsafe, the workaround is the low-level route from Newcastle via Wooler, Coldstream and Kelso.

Parking

• Canongate Car Park - free - 140 spaces just as you turn off the A68 into town centre along Canon Gate. It is suitable for cars and camper vans (no overnight) and has three EV charging spaces. There are public toilets.
• Friars Burn - free - 38 parking spaces for cars just behind the high street accessed from Friars Gate which is a narrow road.
• Lothian Park - free - 95 spaces with room for cars coaches and HGVs next to the abbey and with a good view of it, you can also walk to the river and there is a cafe and public toilets.
• Murray's Green - free - 20 car spaces directly opposite the abbey and next to the Tourist Information centre.
• Jedburgh Woolen Mill - At the north end of town there are large car parks by the Jedburgh Woolen Mill.

By bus

Buses are frequent along the main transport corridor Galashiels - Tweedbank - Melrose - Newton St Boswells - Jedburgh.

Borders Bus 68 runs hourly from Galashiels via Kingsknowes (for Abbotsford), Tweedbank (for trains from Edinburgh), Melrose and St Boswells (for Dryburgh Abbey), taking just under an hour to Jedburgh.

Borders Bus 51 runs every two hours daily from Edinburgh along the A68, via Dalkeith, Lauder (for Thirlestane Castle) and Earlston to St Boswells, where you change for Bus 68. It's quicker from Edinburgh to take the train to Tweedbank and change.

Peter Hogg Bus 131 runs Monday to Saturday to Jedburgh along A68 / A696 from Otterburn, Newcastle Airport and Newcastle. It runs south in the morning and returns north to Jedburgh early afternoon.

Hogg Bus 20 runs every hour or two from Kelso to Jedburgh (25 min) and continues to Hawick (30 min).

The main bus halt, it is too small to call it a station, is directly next to Canongate car park.

Get around

By bike

Cycling is good for the back roads, although the hills rise steeply from the Jed Valley. There is no cycle repair shop, but the hardware store may have enough for basic repairs.

By foot

If you have reasonable fitness, you can walk to the main attractions. The walking is mostly flat, pavements are plentiful, and car speed is limited to 20mph.

By taxi

Peter Hogg the bus operator also runs taxis, +44 1835 863755.

See

In town

• 1 Jedburgh Abbey, Abbey Bridge End TD8 6JQ, ☏ +44 1835 863925. Apr-Sep: 10AM-5PM, Oct-Mar: 10AM-4PM. This ruined but imposing Augustinian abbey was founded in 1138 and was a frequent _target for invading English armies. It continued in use as a parish church at the Reformation in 1560, saving it from wreckage, and it served until 1871 when a new town church was built. There is a cloister and herb garden, and a visitor centre with 8th-century carvings and artefacts excavated from the abbey grounds. In 2022 the abbey interior is closed for building safety, but you can see plenty from the street. £3.50. (updated Sep 2022)
• 2 Jedburgh Castle Jail, Castlegate TD8 6AS, ☏ +44 1835 864750. Apr-Oct: M-Sa 10AM-4PM, Su 10AM-3PM. The castle was demolished in 1409, but the site was rebuilt as a prison in 1823, and it's been restored to that period. The jailer's house depicts town history. "Jedburgh Justice" (hanging first, trial later) was a much earlier practice: lynch law for cattle rustlers. Donation. (updated Apr 2022)
• 3 Mary Queen of Scots House, Queen St, TD8 6EN (easily found on Queen Street that runs parallel to the High St.), ☏ +44 1835 863331. Mar-Oct: daily 10AM-4PM, Nov to 3PM. This is a 16th-century tower house. In 1566 Mary, Queen of Scots stayed here, and made a long excursion to visit the wounded Earl of Bothwell out at Hermitage Castle. On return she was taken seriously ill, the cause isn't known, but she eventually recovered and returned to Edinburgh. There are "Mary QoS slept here" sites all over Scotland, but that was normal for a peripatetic medieval ruler, especially one with multiple enemies that she needed to stay ahead of. Donation. (updated Sep 2022)
• Old and Trinity Church south across the main road from the abbey was the replacement of 1875. This was the mainstream Church of Scotland, but there were great schisms and sects and separate churches in that era; they made up and re-united in 2007.
• Canongate Bridge is a charming 16th-century bridge over Jed Water mid-town. It's now just a footpath, but it was the main road into town until about 1800.
• Jedburgh Library was one of many endowed by philanthropist tycoon Andrew Carnegie. The first in Jedburgh was on High St from 1894, then it re-located to this larger building from 1900.
• Greyfriars Garden on The Friars a block west of High St is on the site of the 15th century Franciscan Friary. It's been restored as a monastic garden of that time.

High Street seen from the Jail

Nearby

• 4 Timpendean Tower on A698 west is the stump of a 15th-century towerhouse. There's nowhere to park nearby.
• 5 Fatlips Castle north of the Teviot is a 16th-century peel tower. It was renovated in 2013 and is private property — you maybe don't want the slobbery traditional greeting that gave rise to the name.
• Barnhills Tower half a mile east is of similar date but well ruined.
• 6 Monteviot, Ancrum TD8 6UH, ☏ +44 1835 830830. Garden Apr-Oct: daily noon-5PM. The 18th-century mansion is the home of the Marquess of Lothian (Michael Ancram, b 1945). It's occasionally open, but not in 2022. The extensive gardens are the attraction. Assistance dogs only. Garden £6. (updated Apr 2022)
• Waterloo Monument (it is on private land; walkers may park at the Harestanes Visitor Centre and then follow the marked walk to the top of the hill). The tower is not open to the public, although a key to the monument can be borrowed at a small cost from the Lothian Estates Office in nearby Bonjedward. (updated Sep 2022)
• Ancrum Caves west of Monteviot were etched out of a bluff for Border thieves to hide their plunder. They've become eroded by landslip and are unsafe to approach.
• 7 Monteath Mausoleum is seen from A68 on the ridge north of Liliardsedge — that's probably the closest you'll view it as there's nowhere to park. It was built in 1864 for General Sir Thomas Monteath Douglas, who defended Jalalabad in the First Anglo-Afghan War of 1842.

Capon Oak Tree is 500 years old

• 8 Cessford Castle towards Kelso is the ruin of a 15th-century L-plan tower house. Its owners the Kerrs were notorious border bandits, but they went upmarket in 1650, becoming Dukes of Roxburghe, moving to Floors Castle and abandoning Cessford.
• 9 Oxnam Kirk is from the 17th century and still in use. The tiny village was on the main road 1900 years ago: the Roman Dere Street crossed the Cheviots 5 miles east of the modern A68 route. You'll need an archaeologist's eye to make out Pennymuir Camp south towards the crest. This was a Roman "marching camp", not intended as a permanent structure.
• 10 Capon Oak Tree is 500 years old and looks it, like a Struldbrugg beauty queen held together by masonry and metal beams. It's one of the last survivors of the Caledonian primeval forest. But the sandstone bluffs along the nearby riverbank show how relatively young that tree is: the strata are vertical, overlain by horizontal. The geologist James Hutton (1726-97) realised that this "unconformity" couldn't be the result of simple sedimentation. Some vast gradual upheaval had occurred, and the earth must be much older than had been supposed.
• 11 Ferniehirst Castle (two miles south of town on A68). It is a 15th-century L-plan fortified mansion. It's been much smashed up but restored in the 19th and 20th centuries. It can be visited by pre-booked guided tour in July, and occasionally hires out for functions at other times. (updated Feb 2024)
• 12 Carter Bar on A68 is the border with England. There's a large layby, and in summer ice-cream and burger vans and busking bagpipers greet the coach tours. The view south into Northumbria is a lonely moorland, north is better with the quiltwork of forests and fields, and triple-peaked Eildon hills. The ridge blocks the view west. East you look over the long spine of border hills to The Cheviot, bleak and often cloud-wreathed. See Kirk Yetholm if you want to climb it or embark on the Pennine Way.

Do

Mary Queen of Scots' House

• 1 Crafty Workshops, ☏ +44 1835 862719, info@craftsscotland.uk. M-Sa 10:30AM-5PM; Su 10:30AM-5:30PM. Craft workshops and classes, try your hand at a huge variety including glass engraving and pottery painting. (updated Sep 2022)
• Golf: Jedburgh GC is a mile southwest on B6538. White tees 5819 yards, par 69, visitor day ticket £40.

Mounthooley driving range is on A698 two miles north of town. It's open daily 8AM-8PM.

• Rugby: Jed-Forest RFC were relegated in 2024 and now play rugby union in National League Division 1, the amateur second tier in Scotland. Their home ground is Riverside Park on A68 at the north edge of town.
• Keep fit: Laidlaw Memorial Pool and Fitness Centre is on Oxnam Rd opposite Old & Trinity Church, open M-F 6AM-8PM, Sa 8AM-noon, Su 9AM-3PM.

Events

• Borders Rally is off-road car racing along the forest trails of the Cheviot hills. Flag-off and finish line are in town, see their website for spectator areas, but race marshalling is based in Newton St Boswells. It's held in May, with the next probably on 3 May 2025, tbc.
• Jedforest Sevens are a simple knock-out contest between 16 teams, next held on Sa 17 May 2025.
• Jethart Callant's Festival is a series of civic events and horse-rides "beating the bounds" in summer, culminating in a mass ride from Jedburgh on F 11 July 2025.
• EdgeFest is a music event at Liiliardsedge Caravan Park on A68 north towards Melrose, with the next probably on 30-31 Aug 2025, tbc.
• Three Peaks Ultra Marathon is next run on Sa 25 Oct 2025.

Buy

• Co-op Food is north end of High St, open daily 7AM-10PM. Most residents do their big supermarket shop in Galashiels or Kelso.
• Edinburgh Woollen Mill is north end of town on the main road, open daily 10AM-5:30PM.

Eat

Canongate Bridge

• High St has Naked Sourdough Cafe, Capon Tree (below), Taj Tandoori, Jed Baguettes, Simply Scottish, Ozkan's Grill and Forester's Arms (below).
• 1 Capon Tree Town House, 61 High St TD8 6DQ, ☏ +44 1835 869596. Tu-Sa 4-11PM. This may well be the best food you'll find in the Borders. Simple yet fresh and innovative. They also have rooms. B&B double £100. (updated Apr 2022)
• 2 Forester's Arms, 23 Castle Gate TD8 6AS, ☏ +44 1835 862380. M 4-11PM; Tu-Th noon-2:30PM, 4:30-11PM; F-Su noon-midnight. Good burgers and other pub grub in Belter's Bar. Dog-friendly. (updated Apr 2022)
• 3 The Caddy Mann, Mounthooly TD8 6TJ, ☏ +44 1835 850787. Su W Th 10AM-4PM, F Sa 10AM-10:30PM. High quality food by the golf driving range, the game is excellent. (updated Apr 2022)
• Taj Tandoori, 51 High Street (opposite the Co-op), ☏ +44 1835 869820. 4-9:30PM. Nice British Indian restaurant and takeaway. (updated Oct 2022)

Drink

• Town pubs are Carter's Rest, Belter's Bar (within Forester's, see Eat), Canon, Spread Eagle Hotel (see Sleep) and Railway Tavern.
• Kelso Gin is distilled at Ancrum, two miles north on B6400 towards Nisbet. No tours.
• Born in Scotland is a brewery, gin micro-distillery and cafe / restaurant at Lanton Mill Cottage TD8 6ST. It's off A698 between Jedburgh and Hawick and open daily 10AM-5PM; lunch served noon-3PM. They also have outlet shops at Tweedbank and Galashiels railway stations.

Sleep

Fatlips Castle, named for its slobbery greeting

• 1 Lilliardsedge, Oxnam TD8 6TZ (A68 north), ☏ +44 1835 830271. Clean, friendly caravan park and campsite open all year. Pitch £12, hook-up £32. (updated Apr 2022)
• 2 Jedburgh Camping and Caravan Park, Elliot Park TD8 6EF, ☏ +44 1835 683393. Small friendly site by rugby ground open Apr-Aug, CCC members only. (updated Apr 2022)
• B&Bs are plentiful but in 2022 most remain closed.
• 3 Royal Hotel, 21 Canongate TD8 6AN, ☏ +44 1835 863152. Simple friendly place in a 19th-century coaching inn. B&B double £90. (updated Apr 2022)
• 4 Spread Eagle Hotel, 20 High St TD8 6AG, ☏ +44 1835 863133. Small 3-star hotel with public bar. B&B double £90. (updated Apr 2022)
• 5 Glenbank Guest House, Castle Gate TD8 6BD, ☏ +44 1835 862258. Welcoming B&B in a 19th-century town villa. B&B double £75. (updated Apr 2022)
• 6 Hundalee (A68 south), ☏ +44 1835 863011. Comfy B&B on a working farm a mile south of town. No dogs. B&B double £80. (updated Apr 2022)
• 7 Jedwater Caravan Park, Willowford Lodge, Camptown TD8 6PJ (A68 south), ☏ +44 1835 840219. Clean well-run site by the river. (updated Apr 2022)

Connect

Cross into England at Carter Bar

Jedburgh has a 4G signal from all UK carriers. As of April 2022, 5G has not reached this area.

Go next

• A few miles north up A68 is Melrose and St Boswells / Dryburgh, with two ruined abbeys and the grand Abbotsford House. Further north, cross Soutra Moor and head for Edinburgh.
• Branch northeast on A698 to Kelso, with another abbey (so that's your full set of four) and Floors Castle. Then follow the border via Coldstream, Norham Castle and Paxton House to Berwick-upon-Tweed.
• Take A698 west to Hawick, and bimble along A7 the old road between Edinburgh and Carlisle.
• Roads south cross into England, the main route being A68 / A696 towards Newcastle. A scenic minor road B6357 branches off just south of town, wandering via Bonchester Bridge and Newcastleton eventually to meet A7 at Canonbie.