Jedburgh

NT62SE 46 647 201 to 654 211.

Jedburgh is a place of great antiquity. As early as 854, Ecgred, bishop of Lindisfarne, had formed two settle- ments upon the River Jed, calling them both 'Gedwearde'. This duplication reappears in the charter granted by David I to Jedburgh Abbey between 1147 and 1150 where two Jedburghs are included among the villae of the parish, the one that later became the burgh being distinguished from its neighbour by the phrase "ubi castellum est", the reference being to the Norman castle replaced by the 19thC jail (at NT 6476 2018: NT62SW 35). In later charters, too, an "Old Jedward" frequently appears as a territorial unit. The position of the second Jedburgh cannot now be identified with certainty. The OS map marks "Old Jedward" some four miles up the Jed Water (see NT61SE 4), but this seems an intrinsically improbable position and the Ordnance Survey Name Book (ONB) contains no valid evidence for the existence here of a town. On the other hand, Jeffrey records the finding of Anglo-Sxon coins not only in the neighbourhod of the Abbey, but also in that of the Bongate (name: NT 654 211) (see NT62SE 20 and NT62SE 21 ), where they would have been some 500 yds from the present market place. This, taken in conjunction with the existence of an early cross (NT62SE 16) in the same locality, suggests that the other Jedburgh may have lain just N of the site perpetuated by the medieval burgh, and on the right bank of the river.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 1951.