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Celebrating salmon fishing tradition

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A museum dedicated to over two centuries of rod and line salmon fishing on the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders is proving a popular call for visitors to Kelso.

The brainchild of a team of volunteer salmon fishing experts and enthusiasts from the region, the River Tweed Salmon Fishing Museum is about as close to fishing heaven as you get.

It features over 2,000 objects that explore the history and heritage of salmon fishing on the Tweed, and its influence in the social and economic development of the eastern Borders.

The techniques underlying modern rod and line salmon fishing were developed on the River Tweed and date back to the mid 18th century. The sport is now enjoyed in salmon rivers across the globe and is estimated to be worth over £20 million to the Scottish Borders economy every year.

Objects on display range from maps, models, books, illustrations, film and photographs to rods, reels, fishing flies and a replica 19th century fishing bothy, complete with tweed-clad boatman.

Pride of place is also given to a newly-commissioned carving of a 69 ¾ lb salmon caught on the Tweed by the Earl Home, circa 1735. It is the sport’s largest British salmon for which there is credible evidence.

The importance of 19th century writers in increasing the sport’s popularity is also explored and visitors can learn about the lifecycle of the salmon.

The Tweed’s flora, fauna, bird and insect life is showcased as part of underlining the importance of caring for the river’s diverse habitat.

The River Tweed Salmon Fishing Museum took three years and over £70,000 to plan and create, with £35,700 of funding coming from the Fallago Environment Fund that shares the benefits of the Fallago Rig Wind Farm in the Lammermuir Hills with projects across the Scottish Borders. 

The Museum has also benefitted from a £10,000 grant from the Scottish Borders Council Communities Fund as well as a number of private donations.

The attraction, to be staffed by volunteers, is open seven days a week from and will be free of charge for visitors.

River Tweed Salmon Fishing Museum trustee, Bill Quarry said; “This Museum is a celebration of a sport whose techniques were developed right here in the Borders and which are now used and enjoyed all over the world. 

“As well as highlighting the fascinating history of rod and line salmon fishing, we hope that the Museum will also help to raise awareness and appreciation of the river, its heritage and fragility and of the need for all of us to help to play our part in its conservation.”

Fallago Environment Fund Chairman, Gareth Baird (top) said; “The River Tweed is famous for its salmon fishing but many people are unaware of just how important the Borders is in the sport’s history. The Fallago Environment Fund is delighted to help to tell this important story through the creation of a Museum that will inform, inspire and provide another great reason for people to visit the area.”

The River Tweed Salmon Fishing Museum is located in the Town Hall, in the centre of Kelso. It will open seven days a week – Monday- Saturday 9am-4pm, Sunday 10am-1pm. The museum will close between December 10 and February 1.

More information at www.salmonfishingmuseum.com
Photographs – Paul Dodds

Wallace stands tall in the Scottish Borders

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There may be as much Hollywood as there is historical fact in Mel Gibson’s ‘Braveheart’ but it does nothing to diminish the stature of Scotland’s national hero, Sir William Wallace.

To the English he was an outlaw and murderer while in Scotland he is credited with laying the foundations for an independent Scotland under Robert the Bruce.

The son of a Scottish knight and minor landowner he came from a family whose motto was ‘Pro Libertate’ of For Freedom, and during an eight year period from 1297 until his capture in 1305 he waged his campaign against the English.

From his base in Ettrick Forest, he employed highly successful hit and run tactics against a more powerful foe – deeds that inspired others such as Andrew Murray in the north and fanned the flames of revolt throughout Scotland.

With much of Scotland marching down the path to liberation Wallace and Murray faced their sternest test in 1297 when they met an English army in open battle at Stirling Bridge.

They achieved a stunning victory leaving the English with 5,000 dead on the battlefield, including the despised treasurer Hugh Chessingham.

Wallace was appointed Guardian of Scotland in 1298, a ceremony that Selkirk claims to have taken place at its Kirk ‘o the Forest. In the years that followed Wallace laid waste to towns in northern England but was betrayed and eventually captured.

Taken to London for trial, the outcome a foregone conclusion, Wallace was found guilty and sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered. His head was impaled on a spike and displayed at London Bridge, his right arm on the bridge at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, his left arm at Berwick, his right leg at Perth, and the left leg at Aberdeen.

Edward I may have believed that with Wallace’s capture and execution, he had at last broken the spirit of the Scots. He was wrong. By executing Wallace so barbarically, Edward had martyred a popular Scots military leader and fired the Scottish people’s determination to be free.

The first memorial in Scotland to be built in Wallace’s memory was at Bermersyde, Dryburgh. It was paid for by David Steuart Erskine, the 11th Earl of Buchan and unveiled in 1814.

It remains an impressive piece of public art: 21ft of red sandstone, on a 10ft plinth, placed on a commanding position overlooking Dryburgh Abbey and the Tweed Valley towards the Eildon Hills.

It is easily reached, travelling through St Boswells to a left turn about a mile down the road following the Wallace Statue signs. There is a small car park and then a short walk through woodlands to the statue.

A short drive away is Scott’s View, a magnificent vista of the Borders countryside and said to be the favourite view of Sir Walter Scott.

Friends of Monteath Mausoleum turn back time

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As imposing structures go, the Monteath Mausoleum ranks among the Scottish Borders best.

Its presence, just off the A68 past Lilliardsedge Holiday Park, deservedly puts it on nodding terms with the Eildon Hills to the north and its near neighbour to the east, the Peniel Heugh Waterloo Monument.

But size is no guarantor of fame and the Monteath Mausoleum is more likely to prompt the question “what’s that” from those in passing cars than it is a knowledgeable answer.

For the record this magnificent mausoleum was constructed for General Sir Thomas Monteath Douglas (1788 – 1868) an army officer in the Bengal Infantry. Born in Jamaica to a Scottish father and English mother, he rose progressively through the ranks, becoming increasingly senior as he distinguished himself in campaigns in India. In 1865 he was awarded the KCB for long service to the Empire.

In 1864, Thomas Monteath Douglas commissioned his mausoleum to be built on land overlooking the site of the battle of Ancrum Moor (1545) during Henry VIII’s ‘rough wooing’ campaigns. He died in 1868, and his resting place secured a solitary and commanding position over the surrounding landscape: one that future generations still look upon with awe.

The entrance is guarded by two life-sized stone lions, one awake and one, curiously, asleep. Inside the crypt two huge sculpted angels stand guard by the tomb. Above them, a star-studded, domed roof filters pale green light into the chamber.

After falling into serious decline and disrepair a group of local people, now officially the Friends of Monteath Mausoleum, decided to turn the clock back. They secured funding for a restoration programme in 2018 and work began in October of that year. By the Spring of 2019 the building had been fully restored with new glazed stars in the roof, new oak doors and the whole building made fully watertight. Volunteers then took over to tidy the site, restore the lawns and install new pathways to improve public access.

During the long lockdown, Friends of the Monteath Mausoleum have produced an Audio Guide for visitors to the monument which can be streamed live or downloaded onto mobile phones.

The spectacular Victorian mausoleum on Lilliards Edge near Ancrum has remained accessible for walkers and cyclists during lockdown, although the crypt is currently unavailable.

Photographs with thanks to Phil Wilkinson and Border Aerial Photography.

Scotland’s tragic Queen remembered

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The utter despair of a life in captivity was summed up by Mary Queen of Scots thus – “Would that I had died in Jedburgh.”

She was thinking back to a short but memorable visit to the Border town in October 1566, where, as Queen, she was to preside and administer justice at local courts. In the event she fell victim to a fever and nearly died.

Her illness had been brought on as a result of an arduous 60-mile ride to visit her future lover and husband the Earl of Bothwell at his stronghold at Hermitage Castle.  Mary, among other things, always had a fateful capacity to live life dangerously.

Her brief but eventful stay at Jedburgh, however, served to give the town another
splendid tourist attraction. The house where she is said to have lodged, a short walk from the Abbey, is now the much visited Mary Queen of Scots Visitor Centre.

The impressive 16-century building belonged to the Kerr family, who lived in nearby Ferniehirst Castle, and its rooms contain tapestries, oil paintings, furniture, arms and armour and some of Mary’s possessions  (The house itself has an interesting feature, a left-handed staircase built for the Kerrs in the 16th century, to enable them, as left-handers, to wield their swords more easily).

It maps out her life from childhood in France, her return to Scotland to reign as Queen, her captivity in England and eventual execution at Fotheringhay Castle in Northampton in 1587. The Jedburgh display includes a lock of her hair and her death mask.               

It was common practice to make a mask from the severed head as soon as possible after death.

The example (left) was found by the late Dr Charles Hepburn of Glasgow, in Peterborough, where Mary was first buried.

The memorabilia also includes jewellery, historic documents and a watch that she lost on her way to see Bothwell, amazingly retrieved from a hole in the ground some 250 years later.

A painted panel typifies the turbulence that followed Mary through life. It depicts Mary, Lord Darnley her second (murdered) husband, Lord Bothwell (later her third husband) and David Rizzio, her (also murdered) secretary.

Interest in Mary has never waned and the centre, opened in 1987 on the 400th anniversary of her death, is rated as one of  Scotland’s top visitor attractions,

Mary Queen of Scots House is in Queen Street, Jedburgh, open from March to November, daily, from 10am-5pm. Admission is free.