JEDBURGH, a burgh town of Scotland, and the prin cipal town of the county of Roxburgh, is pleasantly situat ed on a declivity on the north side of the river Jed. From historical evidence, it appears that a village, castle, and church, had been founded, at New Jedworth, now called Jedburgh, before the middle of the ninth century.* As Roxburgh, originally the principal town of the county, was often possessed by the English, and the village reduced to ruins by the frequent sieges of the castle, the seat of the judicatories was transferred to Jedburgh after the reign of David the First. The natural beauty of its situation, as well as its vicinity to the borders, attracted the frequent residence of some of the princes and persons of high dis tinction in both nations, as the town occasionally fell into the hands of the English or the Scots. Here the pious David founded, or, according to the opinion of some his torians, rebuilt, A. D. 1138,a monastery, which he dedica ted to the holy Virgin, and appropriated to canons regular of the order of St Augustin, imported from Beauvais in France. A church had been erected at Jedburgh during the Saxon period, in the ninth century : and as the lower story and gable wall of the monastery, still remaining, ex hibit beautiful specimens of the Saxon architecture, it af fords a strong presumption of their remote antiquity.; Great additions, during successive ages, were made to the revenue of the abbots and monks, by the liberal donations of the heirs of the throne, and of opulent barons and in dividuals belonging to both kingdoms. Before the expira tion of the 12th century, the churches of .lncrurn. Long newton, Oxnam, Eckford, Crailing, Nisbet, Hobkirk, Lid del, or Castleton, had all become the property of the abbey of Jedburgh, and various accommodations of fuel, fish, Sze. were also acquired in distant districts of the country. The increasing emoluments of the monastery of Jedburgh were beheld with a jealous eye by the bishops of Glasgow, to whose diocese it belonged, and occasioned frequent dis putes and litigation between them and the abbots, which were at length terminated by the interposition of royal au thorit).$ A convent of Carmelites was founded at Jed burgh by the donations of the citizens and neighbouring inhabitants in. 1513, which gives colour to a conjecture,
that the constant rage of hostile incursions from the neigh bouring kingdom did not intrude upon the tranquillity of religious commtmities, and that even the savage spirit of the border warriors was overawed by a reverence for su perstitious pageantry, and the display of consecratedgi an i deur. The names of all the streets and closes in the town of Jeclburgh, and of the adjacent fields, denote the ancient occupancy and predominance of the ecclesiastical orders ; Canongatc, Abbot's Tower, Abbey close, Dean's Close, Friars, Prior Meadow, Monklaw, Virgin, Lady's yards, &C.:. A part of the ruins of the Abbot's Tower, at the head of the Abbey Close, and of the castle on the hill at the west entrance to the town, have been lately remov ed. The only building of antiquity now remaining, with the exception of the abbey, is a house at the bottom of the town, celebrated on account of its having been the resi dence of Queen Mary, October 1566, when she held a jus tice court at Jedburgh, and from whence she made a visit to Bothwell at his house in Liddisdale, distant from Jed burgh 17 Scots miles, and returned the same day.
All the lands, baronies and estates, vested in the Abbey of Jedburgh, were conferred by James VI. 1662, on Sir Andrew Kerr of Fairnieherst, and converted into a tempo ral lordship, together with the title of Lord Jcdburgh.' It is to be regretted, that the superstitious veneration, which in barbarous ages had protected the religious edi fices, lost all its influence on the Protestant reformers, whether of warlike or ecclesiastical characters. The abbey, as well as the town of Jedburgh, was burnt and de molished by Lord Surrey, 1 3 2 3, on his second incursion into Scotland. But, as has been observed, the ground or low er parts of the monastery escaped devastation at that time, nor (lid it afterwards sustain any damage from the fanatical rancour of domestic reformers. Jedburgh has the honour of parochial precedency, being the oldest ish in Scotland of which any historical record has been transmitted to posterity.