Hidden Histories Of The Scottish Borders
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© Thistle and Time
Description
Bringing you stories behind some of the castles, tower houses, and other historic ruins in the Scottish Borders. Each episode examines a specific site, its history, and how to visit. You'll hear about Reivers, raids, wars, and the families from our turbulent past, along with a little touch of folklore.
New episodes are uploaded every week, all hosted by David.
For detailed information about the places in these podcasts, go to https://thistleandtime.scot
New episodes are uploaded every week, all hosted by David.
For detailed information about the places in these podcasts, go to https://thistleandtime.scot
13 Episodes
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It is one of the most visually dramatic castles along the Anglo-Scottish border, and stuffed with history. It literally towers above the visitor, evoking awe and amazement that such a structure was built without modern technology. It changed hands between the Scottish and English many times. It is also a place where a queen rode, where a sheriff starved to death, and perhaps also where ghosts now roam.
Corsbie Tower is a lonely-looking 16th-century ruin in the Scottish Borders. Its broken walls are a window into the lawless nature of southern Scotland in the 1500s. This was the era of the Reivers, families of thieves whose loyalty was to kin rather than country.
This is the story of Mangerton Tower, ancestral seat of the Armstrongs. A place that, although now a broken ruin, once stood at the epicentre of some of the most dramatic and violent episodes in Border history.
Clinging to a sheer headland where the North Sea crashes against the cliffs, the scant ruins of Fast Castle are a place where history, legend, and geography collide.Once a stronghold of the Home family, Fast Castle is a dramatic reminder of the border’s turbulent past.
Today it's a romantic ruin, but the story of Elibank Castle is fascinating. Built in the final decades of the Border Reivers era, and home to the powerful Murray family, this castle gives us murder, feud, and the story of Muckle-Mouthed Meg.
The ruin of Cardrona Tower sits high on a hillside, surrounded by forest, overlooking the River Tweed. Its stones are broken, its stairway collapsed, and its courtyard long overgrown. Yet here, in this quiet clearing, lies a doorway into one of the most volatile centuries the Borders ever knew.
This fortress was constructed in the 1450s by the Kerrs of Cessford. Notorious and influential Border Reivers, the castle was their main stronghold in a network of fortified houses. Today, Cessford Castle is silent — a broken giant of red stone. But in the 15th and 16th centuries, these walls were alive with politics, treachery… and war.
Dryhope Tower is a significant ruined tower house located in the valley of the Yarrow Water, near to St Mary’s Loch. To the casual visitor, it is a picturesque ruin, but look a little deeper, and Dryhope Tower hides a turbulent history and some romantic border folklore.
This now-restored, historic 16th-century tower house looks out over Teviotdale and beyond from its lofty position, high up on Minto Crags. With commanding views and an unusual name, it has survived centuries of border conflicts, different owners, and periods of neglect.
Wallace's Tower is a ruined 16th-century tower house, situated near the small village of Roxburgh next to the River Teviot. Sitting alone in a field, its crumbling and overgrown walls conceal a brief history filled with violence and intrigue.
Rhymer’s Tower is the ruin of a 16th-century Border peel tower situated in the village of Earlston. Very little remains today, but it has a story to tell, one where history and folklore are forever bound together.
The story of Littledean Tower, built in the 16th century, attacked by an English Army, and home to notorious Border Reivers.
1The story of Fulton Tower, rebuilt from the ashes of one of the darkest campaigns in Scotland's history, the Rough Wooing. Today, Fulton Tower is a lonely ruin, standing in a field some 4.5 miles southwest of Jedburgh. But it was most likely built in the late 1500s after an earlier tower house was destroyed by English forces led by the Earl of Hertford.
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