Hiking, Biking, Boating, Touring, Climbing, Riding, Flying, Running,
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ADVENTURE OF THE MONTH — MAY, 2004

(4th of a series)

        The classic castle, like great art, is difficult to define. Ask anyone to describe his or her idealized castle and you may get the same answer you commonly hear for great art: "I know what I like, and I’ll know it when I see it."
        We love castles—of all shapes and sizes and all states of repair. We have our favorites, too, just like we have our favorite music and painters. In this series we present castles we have enjoyed and hope our enthusiasm compels the reader to make their own pilgrimage to these great shrines of history and monuments to imagination.
        In this, our fourth entry of the series, we submit two minor castles in the Scottish Borders. Though small, isolated and unknown, these two have all the real history, dramatic settings and foreboding architecture you might want in a medieval castle. Throw in some ghost stories and legends and you have, in Smailholm Tower and Hermitage Castle, two Great Castles of Great Britain.

— NEAR MELROSE, SCOTTISH BORDERS —

        You first sight Smailholm Tower from a couple of miles off as a black monolith emerging from the rolling farm fields on the horizon. As you drive closer Smailholm grows in size, but remains a mysterious dark form silhouetted against the sky, rising from the rough grazing land of the Scottish Borders. Eventually you drive into a farmer’s gated courtyard convinced you’ve lost your way. One lane of the three spokes leading from the courtyard is has a small sign pointing the way to the tower. The way, a single track (one lane) partially paved, pothole strewn farm road leads uphill and across what looks to be more of a partially exploded minefield than expansive range. Odd mounds of rock jut skyward from the ground. Cattle graze around them. The road snakes between them. In the rapidly decreasing distance Smailholm Tower sits atop one of them.

        The Tower—all stones on top of stones in this witch’s castle topography from "The Wizard of Oz"—is more than a little frightening. Vertical, narrow, cold, and alone, it’s easy to imagine Smailholm as a prison for a princess awaiting discovery by her prince charming, a dungeon for a king awaiting release via payment of a ransom, or home to a dragon or a one-eyed giant awaiting his next meal.

        Curiously, Smailholm Tower was mostly a family residence. Built in the 15th century, the 4-story tower was the fortified home of the Pringle family. Families living on both sides of the wild Scotland/England border needed strongholds for protection from marauding bands of cross-border, cattle-stealing "rievers". After the Middle Ages, at a time when the English Civil War made life nerve-wracking all over Britain, "Beardie" Scott—great grandfather of the great writer from the Borders Sir Walter Scott—bought the old tower for his family home. By the start of the 18th century, however, the Scott family had left Smailholm to ruination and moved to nearby Sandyknowe Farm.

        As a boy, Walter Scott was captivated by the old family castle on their farm’s rocky plateau. His later writings, including his greatest adventure of medieval knights and castles, "Ivanhoe", frequently include imposing, scary fortresses in wildly romantic settings. One look at Smailholm and you will understand where Scott first got his ideas.

        Today Smailholm Tower is operated by Historic Scotland trust. The tower’s interior has been reconstructed into a model of the medieval Pringle residence, and includes a costumes and tapestries relating to the history and legends of the Scottish Borders.

LOCATION: Smailholm Tower is located 7 miles east of the Borders town of Melrose (site of Home At First cottages) on the B6397. Follow signs at Sandyknowe Farm, off the B6404.
   ADDRESS: Smailholm, near Kelso, Roxburghshire, TD5 7PH
    TELEPHONE: +44 (0)1573 460365

OPEN:
    1st April – 30 September: Daily: 9:30AM-5:30PM
    October: Saturday to Wednesday 9:30AM-4:30PM
     November – March: Saturday & Sunday 9:30AM-4:30PM.

ADMISSION: (subject to change)
    Adults: £3.50/adult
    Seniors (60+): £2.80/senior
    Children 5-16: £1.75/Children

VISIT HERMITAGE CASTLE — GO TO PAGE 2            HOW TO TRAVEL TO THE SCOTTISH BORDERS

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