JEDBURGH (jed'bilr-9), royal burgh, parish and county town, Roxburghshire, Scotland. Pop. (1931), 3,057; on Jed Water, a tributary of the Teviot, 56/ m. S.E. of Edinburgh by the L.N.E. railway, via Roxburgh and St. Boswells (49 m. by road). There have been many variants of the name, while locally the word is often pronounced Jethart. The town is situated on the left bank of the Jed, the main streets running at right angles from each side of the central market-place. Of the renowned group of Border abbeys—Jedburgh, Melrose, Dryburgh and Kelso—that of Jed burgh is the stateliest. David, prince of Cumbria, founded a priory here for Augustinian monks from the abbey of St. Quentin at Beauvais in France, and in 1147, after he had become king, erected it into an abbey dedicated to the Virgin. Repeatedly damaged in Border warfare, it was ruined in 1544-45 during the English invasion led by Sir Ralph Evers (or Eure). The estab lishment was suppressed in 1559, the revenues being temporarily annexed to the Crown. After changing owners more than once, the lands were purchased in 1637 by the 3rd earl of Lothian. Latterly five of the bays at the west end had been utilized as the parish church, but the 9th marquess of Lothian built a church, and presented it to the heritors in exchange for the ruined abbey. In 1913 it was taken over for the nation by the Ancient Monu ments Commission.
The abbey was built of Old Red sandstone, and is a beautiful example of the Norman and Transition styles. The west front contains a great Norman porch and a fine wheel window. The tower, at the intersection of the nave and transepts, is of unusu ally massive proportions. With the exception of the north piers and a small portion of the wall above, which are Norman, the tower dates from the end of the 15th century. The whole of the south transept has perished. The north transept, with early Decorated windows, has been covered in and walled off, and is the burial-ground of the Kerrs of Fernihirst, ancestors of the marquess of Lothian. The earliest tombstone is dated 1524; one of the latest is the recumbent effigy, by G. F. Watts, R.A., of the 8th marquess of Lothian (1832-1870). All that is left of the choir, which contains some very early Norman work, is two bays, corre sponding to the design of the nave. It is supposed that the aisle,
with decorated window and groined roof, south oi the chancel, formed the grammar school (removed from the abbey in 175I) in which Samuel Rutherford (thoo-1661), principal of St. Mary's college. St. Andrews. and James 'Thomson. author of The Seasons, were educated. The door from the south aisle into a garden. formerly the cloister, is a copy of one which had decayed. It was designed by Sir Rowand Anderson. under whose superinten:lerice re.storation in the abbey was carried out.
The castle stood on high ground at the south end of the burgh. or Erected by David I. i.: was one of the strong holds ceded to in 1174• under J treaty of Faiaise. for the ransom of William Lion. It was. however. so often cap tured by the Engiish became a menace rather than a pro tection. and the demolished it in 14o9. It was occa sionally used as a roya: residence. The site was occupied in 1S23 by the county prison. now known as the castle. which gradually fell into disuse a ± acquired by the A house exists Backga:e in which Mary Queen of Scots in one in Ca:Klee-ate which Prince Charles Edward occupied in : 74 . and one in Canongate where Sir David Brewster was born.
Tye grammar S.C17.001 (built in to replace the successor of the school in the abbey was founded by Witham Turnbull. bishop of Glasgow d. . The old _arket. cross still eins:s. The chief indu.stry i. :he manafact.dre of woollens tweeds. etc.).
bu: are carried on. and fruit (especially pears are in repute. Jedburgh was made a royal burgh in the 7=7. of David I. and received a charter from Robert I an...1 in :66. from Mary Queen of SCC15. Sacked and bur: time after time during :he Border strife, the townsmen became keen fighters.
"Jeddart justice." according to which a rnan was.
hanged rirst and tried afterwards.. seems have been a hasty generalization frt.77_ a solitary facz—:e execution in James VI reign of a gang of rogues a: ie ins:I:rice of Sir George Horie. b nevertheless passed into a proverb.