Join us as we discover the Celtic Saints. We started in Northumbria, where our church's patron saint, St. Aidan, lived and taught as the first Bishop at Lindisfarne. Weeks 1 to 13 charted a journey up the coast and into the interior of Northumbria as we learned about the world St. Aidan inhabited. We are in the process of posting more information about each of the Celtic saints, and how they are connected to St. Aidan.

Week 11: Hethpool to St. Boswells

 This week we walk from Hethpool to St. Boswells, a distance of 47 km.

Image: https://www.stcuthbertsway.info/long-distance-route/harestanes-to-yetholm/

We continue our walk along St. Cuthbert's Way, heading towards White Hill, where we first see the type of prehistoric settlement that is 'scooped'. Near the Scottish border, enclosures were dug into hillslopes, with the displaced dirt forming a terrace. These prehistoric field systems caused less erosion on the hills and retained more moisture for crops. Even during the Roman occupation, the Celtic peoples were still building their defended homesteads on these sites. You can see the lines of the terraces on White Hill, just above Hethpool (below).

Image: Andrew Curtis, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4017401 , no changes

We pass through the village of Kirk Yetholm (below), where the Romani gypsies settled in the 1700's. The last King of the Gypsies died in 1902 and they are no longer a separate ethnicity.

Image: Graham White, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/552439 , no changes

Then we continue climbing up and down the steep Cheviot foothills, crossing the blustery moors. The summit of Wideopen Hill is the highest point of St. Cuthbert's Way, and its mid-point (below, looking back towards Kirk Yetholm).

Image: Jim Barton, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3546799 , no changes

Heading down from Wideopen Hill, we start walking down Grubbit Law (below). 

Image: Jim Barton, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3546365 , no changes

If we followed a trail along the ridge to Hownam Law, we would see another Iron Age hill fort (below), with more cultivated terraces. It is one of the highest hill forts in Scotland, and quite large, at 22 acres, 155+ houses, 10' thick walls, and two rainwater ponds.

Image: Trevor Littlewood, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5621654 , no changes


The village of Morebattle ('mere-ba-ol' meant 'Settlement by the Lake') is at the foot of the Cheviots, near Linton Lake  - a large marshland (below). Linton is home of the Linton Worm (dragon). Both Morebattle and Linton have Iron Age hill forts.

Image: Lisa Jarvis, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/191102 , no changes


We follow the trail past sandstone cliffs and through the woodlands (below).

Image: David Purchase, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2211136 , no changes

At Jedburgh bridge we start walking along Dere Street, the Roman road which runs North through Corbridge, through Jedburgh to St. Boswells, and on to Edinburgh. 

Image: Jim Barton, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2615888 , no changes

We follow Dere Street toward St. Boswells (below).

Image: David Purchase, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2211093 , no changes

St. Cuthbert's Way leaves Dere Street here to take the scenic route and follow the River Tweed into St. Boswells. 

Image: David Purchase, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2210992 , no changes


First built on the lower meadows, around the original St. Boisil Chapel, it later relocated to higher ground and was called Lessudden (place of Aidan). It was originally built of pinkish stone like the Iron Age Hill Forts in the area. In the 1500s the name changed from Lessudden to St. Boswells, for the St. Boisil Chapel. Below is where the original 7th-century chapel was located.

Image: James Denham, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3490607 , no changes


St. Boisil (below) was a well-loved monk at the nearby Monastery of Melrose. Trained by Aidan at Lindisfarne, Boisil taught St. Cuthbert at Melrose, and they often went out together to visit the villages and talk to the people. The sick were brought to Melrose to be healed with Boisil's healing remedies and the two nearby springs containing iron salts.



St. Boswells was the site of the annual Gypsy fair, drawing Gypsies from all over Scotland, Ireland and Northern England. The village green is the largest in Scotland, at 40 acres, and hosted the 7-day Gypsy sheep fair in the 1600's and the later horse fairs in the 1800's.

Image: Walter Baxter, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1814183 , no changes


Next week we continue on the St. Cuthbert's Way to Melrose. 


[St. Oswald's Way and St. Cuthbert's Way (Rudolf Abraham), wikipedia, ancientmonuments.uk, canmore.org.uk, wikishire.co.uk]