Ruff Dugger - Sponsor Me!

Ex-Borders Pet Rescue resident "Boston" the Shih Tzu is taking part in Ruff Dugger at Traquair on 20th May 2023 raising money for Borders Pet Rescue! Ruff Dugger is trail / mud / obstacle run you take part in with your dog. It tests your fitness and team working skills to the max! Running through forest tracks, scrambling hills, mud ditches, rivers and as this particular event is taking place at Traquair House - navigating the maze too! Boston would be delighted if you could help him reach his target by sponsoring him!

Corsbie Tower

Corsbie Tower

Corsbie Tower (or "Corsbie Castle") seems to have belonged at an early period to the Cranstouns of Oxenford, and in 1635 it was still in their possession. Beyond that there doesn't seem to be much history known about this tower, sadly.

Despite the lack of known history, it is an interesting ruin as you can still see the rounded corners which are pretty uncommon.

Corsbie Tower  is situated in the middle of a bog so definitely not somewhere to visit in the rain!

The site itself has links to the Bronze Age as a Bronze Axehead dated 700-800 BC was found here, there is also the site of an Iron Age hill fort nearby. 
 

Twizel Castle

Twizel Castle

"Twizel Castle is a curious affair. It began life as a plain old mansion house/tower, almost became a sort of mock castle and ended up being a man-made ruin as its masonry was plundered by its owner for a new home" (from northeasthistorytour.blogspot.com)

"Twysill Castle" was first recorded in 1415. In 1496 it was destroyed by a Scottish army led by James IV of Scotland and was then left to ruin.

In 1561 a survey noted 'there has been one tower, or pele, which is of ancient time decayed and cast down, and there remains one part or quarter thereof, and a barmkin about it'.

In the early 1700's work started in building a five level mansion on the site of the old castle. This work lasted until 1822 when part of this building was destroyed to supply stone for a new mansion at Tillmouth Park 

Monteath Mausoleum

Monteath-Douglas Mausoleum
"The Monteath Mausoleum is a large landmark in the Scottish Borders near the village of Ancrum. The listed building can be seen from the A68 road just north of Jedburgh. It was built in 1864 and renovated in 2018" (from wiki)

The mausoleum was to be sealed forever hiding the two angels who guard the tomb of Thomas Monteath-Douglas and with 2 stone lions protecting the entrance. You can get a key to enter the actual Mausoleum and (under normal circumstances) there are open days where you can get tours of the site.

"Who was Monteath Douglas?

Thomas Monteath (1788 – 1868) was an army officer in the Bengal Infantry. Born in Jamaica to a Scottish father and English mother, he rose progressively through the ranks, becoming increasingly senior as he distinguished himself in campaigns in India. In 1865 he was awarded the KCB for long service to the Empire.

In 1850 he inherited the fortune of his cousins Archibald and James Monteath (whose mausoleum now stands in the Glasgow Necropolis) together with the estate of Douglas Support (Lanarkshire), which came to his paternal grandmother Jean Douglas’s family through a labyrinthine series of wills and inheritances from the Douglas of Mains family line. He appended the Douglas name to his own in 1851.

In 1826 he married a widow, Lucinda Florence Boleau in Meerut, India. She died in 1837. Their eldest daughter Amelia married Sir William Scott of Ancrum in 1861 and died in 1890. The last known descendant of  Monteath Douglas died in Ancrum in the 1960’s.

In 1864, Thomas Monteath Douglas commissioned the architects Peddie and Kinnear to design his mausoleum on an imposing site at Gersit Law, overlooking the lands of his son-in-law, where the battle of Ancrum Moor had taken place during Henry VIII’s ‘rough wooing’ in 1545. Monteath Douglas died in 1868, and came to rest here, having secured for himself a solitary and commanding position over the surrounding landscape for future generations to look upon with awe.

Sadly, the mausoleum did not fare well in the 20th century after two World Wars, changes in land ownership and a different attitude to Britains colonial past. It was listed in Scotlands 'Buildings at Risk' register, but few people knew of its existence or location. By the turn of the new millenium, the building was abandoned, covered in vegetation and largely forgotten" (from Friends Of The Monteath Mausoleum)

View out towards Peniel Heugh and the Waterloo Monument