The public buildings include the grammar school (built in 1883 to
replace the successor of the school in the abbey), founded by William
Turnbull, bishop of Glasgow (d. 1454), the county buildings, the free
library and the public hall, which succeeded to the corn exchange
destroyed by fire in 1898, a loss that involved the museum and its
contents, including the banners captured by the Jethart weavers at
Bannockburn and Killiecrankie. The old market cross still exists, and
there are two public parks. The chief industry is the manufacture of
woollens (blankets, hosiery), but brewing, tanning and iron-founding are
carried on, and fruit (especially pears) and garden produce are in
repute. Jedburgh was made a royal burgh in the reign of David I., and
received a charter from Robert I. and another, in 1566, from Mary Queen
of Scots. Sacked and burned time after time during the Border strife, it
was inevitable that the townsmen should become keen fighters. Their cry
of "Jethart's here!" was heard wherever the fray waxed most fiercely,
and the Jethart axe of their invention--a steel axe on a 4-ft.
pole--wrought havoc in their hands.
"Jethart or Jeddart justice," according to which a man was hanged first
and tried afterwards, seems to have been a hasty generalization from a
solitary fact--the summary execution in James VI.'s reign of a gang of
rogues at the instance of Sir George Home, but has nevertheless passed
into a proverb.
Old Jeddart, 4 m. S. of the present town, the first site of the burgh,
is now marked by a few grassy mounds, and of the great Jedburgh forest,
only the venerable oaks, the "Capon Tree" and the "King of the Woods"
remain. Dunion Hill (1095 ft.), about 2 m. south-west of Jedburgh,
commands a fine view of the capital of the county.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account