Roxburgh Barns

An assortment of human bones was unearthed in 1939 during road widening at a junction near Roxburgh Barns steading.

Members of the local archaeological society excavated at the site and, although many of the bones were disordered, they concluded that a number of bodies had been placed into a trench complete and had been disturbed at a later date. One almost complete skeleton offered a clue as to the nature of this discovery: its arms were behind the back as if the hands had been tied together above the wrists. It was claimed that several skulls showed marks compatible with axe or sword cuts.

One possibility explanation of this site is that it was a medieval execution site, or the burying place for the executed. If this were an execution site, it would have lain at the side of the road to the old burgh of Roxburgh and would have served as a grisly reminder to passers-by of the penalties for breaking the law.

Text prepared by RCAHMS as part of the Accessing Scotland's Past project

NT73SW 26 7036 3315.

(NT 7029 3315) 'Bronze Age burial'.

RCAHMS 6" map, 6 January 1950.

Skeletons were found during road widening in March 1939 at the junction of the St. Boswell's-Roxburgh and Kelso-Roxburgh roads. Excavation between the north bank of the new road and the edge of the steep slope to the River Tweed showed that the burials were in a shallow trench about 50 yds long within 15 feet of the edge of the slope. The position of one skeleton showed that the arms had been tied above the wrists. In one place ten or more skulls were found together without other bones. The only object found, a bronze ring, was later lost.

M I Hope 1939.

Probably a mediavel place of execution. (Information from R B K Stevenson, Keeper, National Museum Antiquities of Scotland). The burials lay immediately opposite the road from Roxburgh.

Information from OS recorder (SW) 18 November 1963.

There is nothing to be seen at the site. From OS recorders (SW) description, the burials would have been found at NT 7036 3315.

Visited by OS (RDL) 29 November 1963.