Bullseye
A Turnbull Clan Publication
Founder: John
Turnbull, Scotland
Founder: Dorothy Berk, United States
President, Wally Turnbull
Janet Turnbull Schwierking, Editor
Volume 5, Issue 8, August 2004
Hawick and Bedrule, Part II by Wally TurnbullWednesday morning May 19th we pushed back the curtains and looked out to see Hawick waking up to another perfect Borders day. The summer sun was up early but still low, catching the tops of the hills and sending shadows to play with the colors of the slopes.
We hurried through breakfast and nosed our car into the rush hour traffic of a half dozen or so vehicles, reminding ourselves “left side, left side.” We drove down High Street into the center of Hawick and found a car park conveniently located behind the Visitor Information Center. But then, everything in Hawick is conveniently located as the town is not big though it is the largest in the Borders, sitting at the juncture of the Teviot River and Slitrig Water. Hawick Sings The Scots love to sing. There is practically no place in Scotland about which there is not a song. We are told, however, that no other town has anywhere near the hundreds of unique songs that Hawick boasts. It is said that only heaven has more songs that Hawick. These songs stir the riders and spectators alike in the annual Common Riding. “Oceans may sever our sons from their native land, Firm beats their hearts for the homes of the free, Leaps still the Hawick blood, free as the gushing flood, Unstemm'd as the torrents that rush to the sea.” In 1513 most of Hawick’s men were killed at the Battle of Flodden. The following year, when the town was threatened by a raiding party of English troops they were fought off by |
the callants (boys) of the town who captured the English flag in the process. This event is commemorated with an annual June Common Riding, in which several hundred riders gather to ride around the outer limits of the town. Drumlanrig Tower The Hawick Visitor Information Centre is located at the west end of High Street in Drumlanrig Tower which was built as a peel tower house and home for the Douglas family. Later, it was the home of Anne, Duchess of Monmouth and then the Tower Hotel. Now, it belongs to the Scottish Borders Council and houses exhibits showing the history of Hawick and the Tower itself. We enjoyed visiting the Drumlanrig Tower museum and browsing its small gift shop which is well stocked with books about Hawick and the Borders but realized that we needed to keep moving to make our lunch appointment with James and Audrey Knight in Bedrule. Bedrule Mill
The Knights home in Bedrule is difficult
for first time visitors to find so James met us at the Auld Crossed
Keys Pub in Denholm. We followed him home down a winding country lane
which might have been wide enough for two cars if it were not for the
encroaching hawthorn hedges all dressed-up in their springtime best
whites. The Knights live in the old Bedrule Mill next to the Bedrule River. The thick stone walled mill was used to lathe wooden bobbins for the woolen textile industry in Hawick but has not turned in many years |
