Smailholm ( sco, Smailhowm) is a small village in the historic county of

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh ( gd, Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the north-west, and Be ...

in south-east

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. It is at and straddles the B6397

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

to Kelso road. The village is almost equidistant from both, standing northwest of the

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The c ...

town of Kelso. Since local government reorganisation in Scotland in the early 1970s, Smailholm has been part of the

Scottish Borders Council Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

History

Smailholm, in keeping with most of the south eastern part of Scotland, was part of the ancient

Kingdom of Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

and was named from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

language as ''Smael Ham'', meaning "narrow village". In early

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

times, the village was larger than it is now and was divided into three separate parts, named East Third, West Third and Overtown.

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

, as a boy, was a regular visitor to his grandfather's farm at Sandyknowe. Captain Cook's mother Jean was born in Smailholm and married his father in Smailholm Church. Before the end of the 18th century, there were two schools in the village, a parochial school and a private establishment at Sandyknowe.

St. Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Nor ...

is believed to have been born at Wrangham, a long disappeared village at New Smailholm. King

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a va ...

passed through Smailholm in 1303 on his march to

Lauder The former Royal Burgh of Lauder (, gd, Labhdar) is a town in the Scottish Borders in the historic county of Berwickshire. On the Southern Upland Way, the burgh lies southeast of Edinburgh, on the western edge of the Lammermuir Hills. Etymo ...

. Smailholm Church

Church

David de Oliford was granted the church and manor of Smailholm in the 12th century by King

David I of Scotland David I or Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim (Modern: ''Daibhidh I mac haoilChaluim''; – 24 May 1153) was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians from 1113 to 1124 and later King of Scotland from 1124 to 1153. The youngest son of Malco ...

. De Oliford subsequently granted the church and its

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

s to the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monks of

Coldingham Priory Coldingham Priory was a house of Benedictine monks. It lies on the south-east coast of Scotland, in the village of Coldingham, Berwickshire. Coldingham Priory was founded in the reign of David I of Scotland, although his older brother and predec ...

who held the church until the

Scottish Reformation The Scottish Reformation was the process by which Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland broke with the Pope, Papacy and developed a predominantly Calvinist national Church of Scotland, Kirk (church), which was strongly Presbyterianism, Presbyterian in ...

in 1560. Smailholm Kirk avoided demolition after the Reformation, and parts of an early Norman structure can still be seen in the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. ...

. The present church has had major renovation and renewal in 1632 and 1820. The church contains fine stained glass windows from 1907 commemorating Sir Walter Scott. Some of the ministers in the early years of the reformed church include David Forsyth, Archibald Oswald and James Hunter. An archaeological watching brief was carried out in the church graveyard during Summer 2022 by Border Reivers Archaeology Unit.

Smailholm Tower

Smailholm Tower in the winter

Smailholm Tower Smailholm Tower is a peel tower at Smailholm, around five miles (8 km) west of Kelso in the Scottish Borders. Its dramatic situation, atop a crag of Lady Hill, commands wide views over the surrounding countryside. The tower is located at ...

, one in a string of Borders keeps guarding the

Tweed Tweed is a rough, woollen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is usually woven with a plain weave, twill or herringbone structure. Colour effects in the yarn may be obtained ...

valley, was built not later than the early 15th century, when it was held by the powerful Pringle family, four of whom were killed at the

Battle of Flodden The Battle of Flodden, Flodden Field, or occasionally Branxton, (Brainston Moor) was a battle fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, resulting in an English ...

in 1513. The tower passed, in 1745, to the Scotts of Harden, but they left the structure in 1800. The tower fell into a perilous condition but was partially restored in the 1980s and is now in the care of

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment ...

In popular culture

* Smailholm appeared in the third case of ''Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator'', in which the titular hero investigates the mysterious ritual murder of two local girls, and discovers a shocking secret about the town à la ''

The Wicker Man ''The Wicker Man'' is a 1973 British folk horror film directed by Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt, and Christopher Lee. The screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, inspired by David Pinner's 1967 ...

''. * It features in the book by C.L. Williams titled Smailhom, in which thirteen-year-old Wynn discovers a miniature village hidden close to Smailholm Tower.

References

www.smailholm.bordernet.co.uk/

External links and further reading

Smailholm village website

RCAHMS/Canmore record for the Manor of Smailholm

RCAHMS/Canmore record for Smailholm church

RCAHMS record for Parish of Smailholm

SCRAN image: Smailholm tower
* Statistical Accounts of Scotland * Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland edited by Francis Groome

More photographs

Geograph images at grid reference NT6436
{{authority control Villages in the Scottish Borders Parishes in Roxburghshire