Gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

JEDBURGH.
5'J9
JAMES' TOWN, a small village in the up-
per part of the parish of Westerkirk, district of
Eskdale, Dumfries-shire. It stands on the
Meggot Water, and was built for the residence
of miners in the vicinity.
JED, or JED WATER, a small river in
Roxburghshire, rising in Carter Hill, in the
upper part of the parish of Southdean. After
a tortuous course tending northward, it passes
the town of Jedburgh ; and, about two miles
below, drops into the Tiviot, the well known
tributary of the Tweed. The Jed is an excel-
lent trouting stream, and the scenery on its
banks is reckoned very beautiful. The vale
through which it flows is not spacious, and
therefore presents no such view as that of the
Tweed at Kelso. But, as it is serpentine and
irregular, its views, if not so extensive or im-
posing, are much more varied, infinite, and even
picturesque. At eveiy step one takes along
the banks of the stream, he discovers a novel
and striking variety in the general tone of the
landscape. On this account the tourist will
find as much gross amount of good landscape
in a walk of two miles along the Jed, as he
will find it possible to obtain even in the High-
lands, in a whole day's ride. If better authori-
ty be wanting, reference may be had to Burns,
who speaks somewhere of " Eden scenes on
crystal Jed," and has expressed the highest
satisfaction with this part of his tour through
the Arcadia of his native land. Thomson al-
so eulogizes the " sylvan Jed," on whose banks
he spent the years of his boyhood and early
youth, in the parish of Southdean.
JEDBURGH, a parish in the county of
Roxburgh, consisting of two detached por-
tions, situated in the territory betwixt the Ti-
viot and the heights of the border fells. The
lower division lying on either side of the Jed,
forms the great body of the parish. The se-
cond, which is the smallest division, is the dis-
trict of old Jedburgh. In this division there
was anciently a chapel, opposite to Dolphin-
ston Mill. In the upper portion of the
parish, is the barony of Edgerston. The
barony of Upper Crailing, attached to the east
side of the lower division, was anciently a se-
parate parish. At the elevated extremity of
the upper part of the parish, is the Reid Swire,
where a sanguinary border fight took place, on
the 7th of July 1575. The two old parishes
of Jedburgh are the most ancient parochial di-
visions in Scotland, of which any record exists.
The country here is for the greater part hilly
and pastoral, with cultivation only in the vales,
and chiefly on the Jed and Tiviot. The
lower division is now finely planted in many
places, and the district is generally under an
excellent course of improvement.
JEDBURGH, a royal burgh, the seat of a
presbytery, and the capital of the above parish,
as well as the county town of Roxburghshire,
is agreeably situated on the left bank of the
Jed water, at the distance of forty-six miles
(by Lauder) south of Edinburgh, ten west of
Kelso, ten east of Hawick, and twelve north
of the borders of England. The town is of a
very ancient date, and was originally entitled
Jedworth, from Jed, the appellation of the river,
and weorth, the Saxon term for a hamlet. In
the course of time it has been perverted into
its present designation ; but, throughout a very
extensive district in the south, the old appella-
tion is partly preserved in the name of Jeddart,
or Jethart, which are exclusively used by the
common people. The name of Jed has led
some antiquaries to suppose that it was the ca-
pital town of the people denominated the Gade-
ni, who, in the period immediately subsequent
to the dissolution of the Roman power in Bri-
tain, possessed the central part of the marches,
between Cumberland and Lothian. The con-
sequence of the town was considerably enhanc-
ed in the twelfth century, by the foundation of
a monastery by David I., to the canons-regular
of which establishment he gave the churches of
the two parishes of Jedburgh, with the tithes
and other dues. David also gave to the canons
the chapel of Scarsburgh, lying in a recess of
the forest, to the east of the Jed ; and in a
later epoch, the monastery was put in posses-
sion of the dependencies of Restennet in An-
gus, and Cannoby in Dumfries- shire. Thus ere-
riched by such a splendid religious establish-
ment, the importance of the town was secured
by the erection of a castle, the strongest and
most extensive on the borders. In the year 1 285,
Jedburgh was the scene of the festivities which
attended the second marriage of Alexander III. ;
when a masker, resembling the usual skeleton
figure of death, joined in one of the dances,
and had such a powerful effect upon the nerves
of the queen, and the rest of the revellers, as
to cause the ball to be suddenly closed. Though
afterwards ascertained to be a mere jest, this
strange apparition made a deep impression up.
on the popular mind, and was afterwards held