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

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh () is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the northwest, and Berwickshire to the north. T ...

in south-east

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It is at and straddles the B6397 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 Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

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

Scottish Borders Council The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the ...

History

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

Kingdom of Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

and was named from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

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 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

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 and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

, 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 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 (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...

passed through Smailholm in 1303 on his march to

Lauder The former Royal Burgh of Lauder (, ) 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. Etymology Alt ...

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 (Scottish Gaelic, Modern Gaelic: ''Daibhidh I mac haoilChaluim''; – 24 May 1153) was a 12th century ruler and saint who was David I as Prince of the Cumbrians, Prince of the Cumbrians from 1113 to 112 ...

. 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. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...

s to the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monks of Coldingham Priory who held the church until the

Scottish Reformation The Scottish Reformation was the process whereby Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland broke away from the Catholic Church, and established the Protestant Church of Scotland. It forms part of the wider European 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Fr ...

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 (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

. The present church has undergone major renovations and renewals 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, 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 or Brainston Moor was fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland and resulted in an English victory ...

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 () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, 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 und ...

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 (film director), Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt and Christopher Lee. The screenplay is by Anthony Shaffer (writer ...

''. * 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