St Cuthbert's Way Part III

Crossing the Teviot

Leaving Harestanes, a walk through the woods took me to the Teviot suspension bridge then the path took a left turn to follow the river. Left was to be the motif for the day.

From the bank of the Teviot the path turns to the Jed Water then crossing that river, it resumes the straight and narrow that is Dere Street. Like the path of righteousness, it eschews any deviation to make life easier, climbing and descending steeply in a straight line passing through what is still called the Roman Wood.

Peniel Heugh from the Roman wood

I crossed the Oxnam water under the site of the long gone Roman fort at Cappuck, home for a while to the Twentieth Legion, then left again to leave Dere Street and climb up to bring the Cheviots into view.

There in front of me was Cessford Castle, the formidable keep of the Ker family, the fore bearers of the Duke of Roxburghe.

The Kers were well known for their left-handedness giving rise to the local description of any left hander as being “kerry-fisted” or “kerry-pawed”.

The village of Cessford which nestled around the castle was cleared after the Enclosure Acts when the local landowners, the Macdougall family, like so many others throughout Scotland, moved the people from their small- holdings into organised villages and consolidated their lands into larger more economic units which became the basis for the modern farming system. The land did become more productive and there were winners but there were also losers and, in the old Statistical Accounts kept by the parish ministers, the number of paupers was shown as increasing. The Clearances didn't just happen in the Highlands.

Site of old Cessford village

Taking another diversion to the left, I followed the Cessford Burn into the wooded dene below the old village and, after a deal of scrambling and being stung by nettles and pricked by thistles, managed to find Habie Ker's cave.

The cave entrance

Habie, or sometimes, Hobie Ker was Robert Ker (1570-1650) head of the Ker family and Warden of the Middle March, charged with controlling the lawless reivers of the Border lands. He was renowned for his ruthlessness and his summary executions, a feature known locally as Jedddart Justice after the old name for Jedburgh.  There was a tree close by his castle known as the Crow Tree for obvious reasons

The cave is man made and was constructed as a hiding place though Robert Ker doesn't sound like the type of man who would hide from anyone.

Cessford Castle

Cessford Castle is still impressive even after seven centuries and several attacks. Its massive walls withstood cannonade and attempts to blow them up and, eventually, it was burnt from within after being surrendered.

After the castle, it was hard road walking into Morebattle but the Cheviot views helped to take the mind off the feet.

Is this magnificent ash a descendant of Habie Ker's Crow Tree?