Explore The Borders

Your gateway to the brilliant borderlands

Hawick

Right at the heart of things

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The oldest part of town is aptly home to the flagship Heart of Hawick development.

It comprises the Heritage Hub, repository of ancient documents and records from the Borders, and a superb visitor centre that incorporates a bistro cafe, tourist information desk, a cinema and theatre.

It is also a popular choice for travelling exhibitions, as is the square outside for concerts, street theatre and local gatherings.

Formerly Elliott’s textile mill, the cafe features a glass floor through which visitors can view the original water wheel that once powered the machinery.

In these environmentally conscious times the wheel has been the subject of a study to see if it could be brought back to life provide power for the building.

Beautifully restored, many of the original mill features have been designed into the new facilities – but one aspect of its industrial past was not planned for.

Several people have reported seeing and sensing something paranormal on the top floor of the old mill – a presence confirmed by a local psychic and backed up by research that found that a local girl had died in an industrial accident there in the 1800’s.

At the neighbouring Heritage Hub, delving into the past attracts enquiries and visitors from all over the world. The electronic highway is particularly hot these days as more and more people piece together their family tree.

Travelling back in time has become something of a global obsession in recent years.

We are referring, of course, to the tens of thousands of people who have become descendant detectives hot on the trail for clues to piece together a family tree.

It’s a journey made easier of late thanks to the internet which has flung open doors to vast stores of information. And the electronic highway is particularly hot these days at the Heritage Hub in Hawick, a centre that acts as the guardian for Borders’ archives on just about everything you would want to know about the region’s past.

It holds all census records from 1841 (the first for which records survive) to 1901 for the four Border counties and, going further back, old parish records of christenings, marriages and burials.

The building is part of the admirable Heart of Hawick site, an award winning development built with the help of Heritage Lottery and European funding, and, appropriately, based in the oldest part of the town.

The Hub’s archive paints a fascinating and historical picture of life as it was in the Borders. Records of businesses and merchants, legal records, maps, school records, poor laws and police records sit alongside more ancient collections, much of which is stored in temperature controlled chambers.

Conservative estimates say that for every Scot resident in Scotland there are five more living abroad, an indication of the mass emigration that took place over the past 200 years or so.

Many booked a one-way passage to the brave new world that was the USA; young men like John ‘Black Jack’ Elliot, the son of William and Barbara (nee Scott) Elliot. Among the possessions he packed and took with him was a photograph album containing images of his family and cherished memories of the Border country he would never see again.

Some time ago the album came home.

It was in the possession of John’s great grandson, Bob Harris, a retired English and drama teacher now living in Rochester, New York State who was at the first stage of researching his family’s history.

He was directed to the Heritage Hub, that, wouldn’t you just know it, now occupies the site where Aitken’s photographic studio once stood. “When I inherited the photographic album I wanted to know more about the family and my Scottish roots and the Hub was a terrific source of help,” said Bob.

Stobs POW Camp

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Due to its extraordinary level of preservation Stobs Camp, approximately four miles south of Hawick in the Scottish Borders, is an internationally important First World War site.

It was an arena for Scotland’s preparation for war and the subsequent handling of First World War prisoners, both civilian and military.

Although Stobs’ military connections continued up until the early 1960s the focus of the Stobs Camp Project is the period prior to, and during, the First World War.

The ongoing community-focused project aims to better understand Stobs Camp and the role it played and to protect the camp for future generations.

Led by Archaeology Scotland the team works with many organisations, groups and individuals including Historic Environment Scotland, Hawick Archaeological Society, Hawick Callants Club, Borders Family History Society, and Scottish Borders Council Archaeological Services.

The project has surveyed the physical remains at Stobs and exploring the human stories of the soldiers who trained at the camp and the civilian and German prisoners who were interned there.

Volunteers from across the Scottish Borders, the UK, and Europe are helping to build a picture of what life was like at the camp by researching the archives, newspapers, regimental records and family histories.

Hawick the perfect choice to revive Borders whisky tradition

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In a town built on solid and stirring traditions, the Hawick community jumped at the chance to stick a new feather in its Scottish Borders bonnet.

Internationally renowned for the manufacture of high quality textiles, Hawick is now at the heart of restoring a Borders tradition that turns the clock back over 180 years.

It was in 1837 – ​the same year that Victoria was crowned queen and young Oliver Twist made his literary debut -​ that the region’s only distillery at Kelso closed down.

Now, we are delighted to say, whisky manufacturing is back – courtesy of The Three Stills Company – and the Borders Distillery is proving to be a class act.

Locals and visitors alike were able to follow the old Turnbull and Scott factory in Commercial Road into a superb distillery and visitor centre that quickly received the highest 5* accreditation from VisitScotland.

The building’s modern open plan aspects and all the trappings of a modern distillery have been sympathetically incorporated with original industrial features – a blend that has been very well received and matches anticipation of the distillery’s single malt whisky.

And the work caught the attention of judges in the Scottish Borders in the Borders Building Design Awards for 2018, where it was listed among the best.

The distillery building’s eye catching restoration, led by architects Gray Macpherson of Edinburgh, won the award in the Existing Buildings Commercial category.

Special importance was placed on incorporating original industrial features all the trappings of a modern distillery.

Celebrating success: John Fordyce and Annie Macpherson from Gray Macpherson with the Hawick distillery’s building design commendation

The firm worked closely with the team at The Three Stills Company to develop a modern open plan building.

Distilling started in March 2018, five years after the original idea first started to take shape with John Fordyce, George Tait, Tim Carton and Tony Roberts – a quartet with plenty of experience in the drinks, spirits, and manufacturing sectors.

They all shared a vision to bring distilling back to the Scottish Borders. At Hawick, they agreed, the chemistry was just right.

The Borders Distillery has access to water from the River Teviot for cooling purposes and from an on-site borehole that goes into the spirit. There’s also a ready supply of local barley, essential ingredients for future success.

Distillery tours have become very popular and they take place Monday to Saturday, every hour, on the hour from 10am to 4pm. They are organised for groups of up to 12 people and bespoke tours are available for whisky enthusiasts

The Borders Distillery set up with a core team with huge experience in producing whisky and they are now passing those skills down to a local workforce. The present one-shift operation will eventually graduate to 24-hour production with a workforce of around 18 people.

William Kerr’s Borders Gin is also available from the distillery shop. It is produced from scratch onsite using a small amount of the same new make spirit which is distilled for single malt whisky, making it stand out in an increasingly crowded gin market.

The malty, fruity new make spirit goes through further distillation in a specially commissioned Carter Head still where eleven botanicals combine with the redistilled new make to create a gin of remarkable flavour and quality.

For now, the stills are quietly and efficiently getting on with the main job in hand, working towards the next manufacturing milestone of May 2021 when the Borders Distillery will be able to call its maturing spirit Scotch Whisky for the first time.

The first casks were laid down on May 10, 2018 and the distillery is building six warehouses in Hawick where wood and spirit can slowly interact over time.

To celebrate the return of whisky distilling to the Borders for the first time since 1837, The Borders Distillery is making 1,837 casks containing 200 litres of spirit – potentially 300 bottles of whisky – available to the public for purchase.

And plenty have been taking up the offer, stamping their names on specially imported oak casks that will deliver an exclusive single cask whisky. The cost comes in at £1995.00 and includes storage and insurance for up to ten years. Duty and VAT will have to be paid upon bottling.

The Borders Distillery is a standout award winning visitor attraction and not to be missed. To find out more and book tours … ​www.thebordersdistillery.com

Hawick’s sons of speed

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Bikers from all over the UK make a beeline for Hawick’s Wilton Park museum, to pay homage to two of the town’s sporting superstars.

A decision by Scottish Borders Council to bring together permanent exhibitions, paying tribute to motorcyclists Jimmie Guthrie and Steve Hislop, proved to be inspired.

The displays chart success at the highest levels for Guthrie and Hislop who were among the greatest motorcyclist riders of their generations and whose stories both ended in tragedy.

Jimmie Guthrie died aged 40, riding his beloved Norton motorcycle and, as usual, leading the field and thrilling a crowd of 250,000 people packed into the Sachsenring circuit in Germany.

The year was 1937 and Jimmy, who had sharpened his talent for riding motorcycles in the most dangerous circumstances, as a despatch rider on the battlefields of France during the First World War, was at the pinnacle of a glittering career.

Over the previous 10 years he had raced and beaten the best collecting 32 major titles along the way.

The Hawick flying machine won grand prix year after year in Europe and a clutch of Isle of Man TT titles. Along the way he broke six world speed records between 1934 and 1936.

He was adored by motorcycling fans, even in a Germany gripped by Nazism. The inscription on his 1936 European Grand Prix trophy carries an endorsement from the highest level – the leader and Chancellor of the German Third Reich, Adolph Hitler.

At home Jimmie ran a garage business in Hawick High Street with his brother Archie. He is said to have regularly rode to Keswick and back before starting work – the distance being almost exactly that of the Isle of Man TT course.

At the Sachsenring he was on the final lap when he came off his bike on the notorious Noetzhold corner, suffered terrible injuries and died soon afterwards. The Germans laid on a special train and a military escort as Jimmie’s body made the solemn journey home to Hawick where his funeral attracted huge crowds.

Steve ‘Hizzy’ Hislop (above left) was another “quiet lad” who let his skills on the track do the talking. He got his big break when Denholm garage owner Jim Oliver got him a ride with Honda and he didn’t disappoint.

Best remembered as a double British Superbike champion, winning the title in 1995 and 2002, Steve also recorded 11 wins at the Isle of Man TT races between 1987 and 1994.

He was as good as they come on his day when everything was running right. In 2002 he rode a faultless season and when qualifying for a championship round at Donnington Park he broke Valentino Rossi’s Grand Prix lap record – on a bike 25% less powerful.

Steve died at the age 41, when the helicopter he was piloting crashed in murky weather conditions over Teviotdale in 2003.

On show at Wilton Park are the bikes they rode, trophies and the stories of the skills and courage that took both men to the top in their sport.

Both are commemorated, too, with statues in the park next to the museum and – pandemics permitting – popular memorial annual rallies.

Admission to Hawick Museum is free. For information about opening times
please ring 01450 373457.

Rough justice for the reivers

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On a fine day it’s a pleasure to sit and watch the river Teviot and Slitrig Water come together at Hawick as they start the next stage of a journey seawards.

Having drawn a zest for life from the high hills of the Borders they join forces a few yards upstream from the town’s Millenium Bridge.

But this is a meeting place with a distinctly murky past.

Here, where nature has cut a little deeper into the natural landscape, you will find the town’s infamous drowning pool or murder pool, depending which side of the law you were on.

This part of the river was used to dispense a particularly rough kind of justice to the Border Reivers.

For over 300 years, from around 1300 to 1600, the Reivers’ bloody legacy held sway

in the badlands or debatable lands either side of the border between Scotland and England. To ‘reive’ means to rob or plunder but it wasn’t the only contribution these men gave to the English language.

They also bequeathed us blackmail and bereavement, which provides a fair indication of the type of pastimes they got up to.

Hawick’s history, criss-crossed by the nefarious activities of the Reivers, records one of the most savage cases of retribution. In July of 1562 some 22 Border Reivers met a watery end in the ‘pool.’

The Reivers were in the habit of bringing their ill-gotten gains to Hawick market but on this occasion Walter Kerr, warden of Scotland’s Middle March was one step ahead. Acting on the authority of the recently crowned Mary Queen of Scots he sealed off the town and captured dozens of Reivers.

Those on the lower rungs of the social pecking order had their hands bound and were executed at the pool, their bodies held underwater by lances. Their leaders were afforded the courtesy of a trip to Edinburgh and a ‘gentleman’s’ death by hanging.

We are pleased to report that times have moved on and every March Hawick now plays host to a colourful spring  that takes place from March 25 to 27 this year. More information at hawickreivers.com

Hermitage Castle – a study in belligerence

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Hermitage Castle in the Liddlesdale Valley was once described as the embodiment of ‘sod off’ in stone.

It’s a wonderful description. Take a walk around its walls, still standing four-square against all-comers amid wild and remote countryside, and it’s obvious this structure was built to defy.

What’s more it has a history to match.

Originally a wooden defence, first mentioned in 1242, it was replaced in the late 1300’s by the imposing stone fortification now standing; a response to ever more hostile exchanges along the English-Scottish border.

The unusual architecture, designed to allow wood fighting platforms to run the length of the tops of the wall added to its all round aggressive appearance.

Over the years its been a home for William de Soulis, so hated by the locals he was boiled alive, and a tomb for Alexander Ramsay who was starved to death by Sir William Douglas in protest to his royal appointment as Sheriff of Teviotdale.

King David ll, it seems, took the hint and awarded Sir William the post!

In 1566, Hermitage, then the seat of the fourth Earl of Bothwell became entangled in in the muddled love life of Mary Queen of Scots.

On hearing the earl had been injured in a clash with border reivers, she rode 25 miles from her residence in Jedburgh, to be at his side. If walls could whisper what secrets Hermitage could tell.

Hermitage Castle is now a Historic Scotland property and well worth a visit. But, it’s a castle with many steps and is not easily accessible to visitors using wheelchairs.

Please check Historic Scotland website for opening times.