NEW PUBLICATION - Free to access at http://www.sair.org.uk 

"The Origins of the Settlements at Kelso and Peebles, Scottish Borders: Archaeological excavations in Wester and Easter Kelso and Cuddyside/Bridgegate, Peebles by the Border Burghs Archaeology Project and the Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust, 1983-1994"

by P J Dixon, J R Mackenzie, D R Perry and P Sharman, with contributions by G Armstrong, D Bateson, A Cox, A Crowdy, B Ford, D Gallagher, D W Hall, D Henderson, B Moffat, C Smith, P S Spoerry, D H Tarling and C Wickham-Jones, Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports 2, Historic Scotland, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and the Council for British Archaeology, 2002

This publication reports on archaeological work in two of Scotland's less well-known medieval burghs - Kelso and Peebles. The excavations at Wester Kelso/Floors Castle established that the original medieval burgh of Kelso or Wester Kelso was much further west than previously believed, being situated well inside the present Castle policies.  As to the relationship of that early settlement to the abbey and the other settlement of Easter Kelso, some light was shed on the question of when the two settlements became linked along the present Roxburgh Street.  Combining the archaeological, cartographic and documentary evidence, it seems clear that Wester and Easter Kelso had been united by the 16th century into a single settlement.

The results of the excavations in Peebles call for a re-appraisal of the supposed date of the settlement of the peninsular ridge between the Tweed and Eddleston Water.  Traditionally, this is not held to have occurred until the 15th century.  However, at both sites (Bridgegate and Cuddyside) occupation in the form of stone structures can be dated to the 14th century at the latest, with probable earlier dumping of domestic refuse in the 12th and 13th centuries.  It seems possible, if not probable, that settlement on the ridge dates from the foundation of the royal castle on Castle Hill under David I (1124-53).  It is noteworthy that all eight medieval buildings excavated at the two Peebles sites were of stone construction.  Peebles tolbooth - the civic centre of the burgh - is the only medieval tolbooth site in Scotland to have been excavated.  

The Medieval pottery imports recovered at Wester Kelso show that the burgh's origins date to the 12th century, soon after the transfer of the Tironensian abbey from Selkirk to Kelso.  At Peebles Bridgegate, the presence of similar material, although residual, hints that occupation on the south and east side of the Eddleston Water could also have begun as early.  The results of the excavations have shown that in both Kelso and Peebles much archaeological information can be retrieved on their medieval and post-medieval origins and growth, even in areas of the burghs previously thought to have little significance.

Free to access at http://www.sair.org.uk (where the purpose of the series is explained).

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