The well cared-for Smailholm Tower is all that now remains on this spectacular site. There is no record of its building, but it seems likely that the lower floors were completed in the 1460s
This page features two locations with strong links to Sir Walter Scott: Smailholm Tower, just north of
Kelso,
and Scott's View, which looks up and down the River Tweed by Melrose. The Tower was woven into much of Scott's writing as a result of his stays at his paternal grandfather's farm, Sandyknowe, which, at the time, included Smailholm Tower within its boundaries...
The tower was originally surrounded by a series of buildings around a yard with an adjoining chapel, only these little walls remain of those earlier buildings
...Scott's View lies about half way between the tower and
Abbotsford,
the mansion Scott built in the 1820s. At a bend of the Tweed, just to the east of Melrose, the view up and down the river, with the Eildon Hills as backdrop, is certainly one of the finest in southern Scotland.
Smailholm Tower
The views from Smailholm Tower, and the village which nestles just below it, range from The Cheviot in...
...Northumberland to Carter Bar southwards, and the Lammermuirs and Moorfoots to the north
Seen from the south, Sandyknowe farm, and the houses that have sprung up beside it, sits by Lady Hill on which Smailholm Tower stands. Smailholm Village lies just over a mile to the north-east
The commanding situation of the Tower in silhouette
And the Eildon hills make their appearance to the west
The sense of continuing rural life, that must have inspired Scott,
now has newer forms for traditional rhythms Scott's View
Morning mists clearing...
...from Scott's View...
...to reveal the Eildon Hills
From Scott's view to the hills in full sunlight
Looking southwards down to the river...
...and northwards, from the viewpoint
Struggling a little to encompass the hills and the sweep of the River Tweed below
Looking down to the river, one of the grey fisherman's boats will be seen again, down stream, on a later page
The same view, as in the photo above, but with winter the skeletal trees stand in what were lush surroundings
Looking north-west up the broad Melrose valley towards the Moorfoot Hills
A dead framing of the hills...
...and a sunset lighting them and an urn...
...That urn belongs with the monster statue (31 feet/9.4 metres high) of William Wallace, that discreetly overlooks the Tweed and Eildons from the Bemersyde Estate. It was erected in 1814 just near Scott's View, although that was a few years before the writer frequented the area
Trailers...
The next Picture Posting page is to show photographs from around two rather special bridges just near Scott's View.
The next page
of the Mosaic Section is to be headed 'Variety'.
Or go to the contents Go to the contents of the Mosaic Section. of the Mosaic Section.
The previous page had even more photos of those
To a very different river with its hills in Thanh Hoà Province, Vietnam
...guide to this site