KELSO, a market town of Scotland, in the county of Roxburgh, is situated on the north bank of the Tweed, at its confluence with the Tiviot. In ancient writings it is called Falco, and sometimes Kelkow, &c. but its etymolo gy is quite uncertain. Kelso extends about half a mile along the sloping ground, on the bank of the river ; and the plan of the town is uncommonly striking and conve nient. A spacious square is near the centre. from which six streets diverge in different directions. Pennant, who visited Kelso in 1772, observes, that it is built much after the manner of a Flemish town. He perhaps alludes not so much to the general aspect of the town, as to the awkward fashion which then too much prevailed, of placing the gables instead of the Ironts of the houses towards the street. This clumsy contrivance has now given way to a better taste, and the square and principal streets contain many neat, and some elegant shops and dwelling houses, built of the beautiful freestone of Sprouston quarry. Slates are now substituted for thatch, which used to be employed in covering the older buildings. The square was for many years deformed by an old and ruinous town-house, which was taken down several years ago. In March,1816, the foundation of a new and elegant one was laid, which is now nearly finished, (Jan. ISIS.) The building, carried on by subscription, under the liberal patronage of the Duke of Roxburgh, contains on the ground floor a piazza, surround ed by arcades, which is intended for a market-house. The principal story, adorned with simple Ionic columns, and surmounted by a balustrade, contains the town-hall, and other apartments.
The greatest ornament of the town is the abbey, found ed by David I. about the year 1128, of which a large part has resisted the ravages of time, and the desolations of bor der wars. This pious prince, before he succeeded to the throne. and A% bile he was earl of Cumberland, had planted a colony of monks, of the order called Tyronensis, at Sel kirk. These he attempted to establish at the ancient city of Roxburgh ; but finding, as we are told, in the preamble of the charter, that they could not be properly accommo dated there, he removed them to the church of the Holy Virgin, at Calcow, (Kelso.) . This church was delivered up to the inward], for this purpose, by Robert, bishop of St. Andrew's, in whose diocese it then was. In the deed of conveyance, he declares it " salutam et ab omni subjec tione ct exactione liberam," and allows the monks and ab bots of Kelso to receive ordination, and other sacraments of the church of Rome, from any bishop they pleased in Scot land or Cumberland. For their accommodation, David caused to be built a magnificent abbey and monastery, in the Saxon style, by artists brought from various countries. By the charter of the re-establishment from the royal found er, which makes part of the chattulary deposited in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, as well as by other politi cal and historical documents, it appears that its posses sions, privileges, and immunities, were great. The abbey had its original chat ter of confirmation from Pope Innocent II. In the chartulary already mentioned is to be found, a bull of Pope Alexander III. allowing the abbot to wear a mitre, and other pontifical distinctions, and to be present at all general councils. Innocent III. granted some im
portant privileges to the abbey, and in particular exempt ed the abbot from all episcopal jurisdiction. He and his clergy, notwithstanding their removal, retained the church es of Selkirk and Roxburgh, " and the tythes with the schools of Roxburgh." They had various churches grant ed to them at different times ; among others, those of Sprouston, Makerston, Greenlaw, Hume, Keith, Gordon, Ste. &c. The Tyronensian monks are said to have been particularly attentive to agriculture and the arts; and to have maintained within their monasteries husbandmen and mechanics, the profits of whose labour formed a part of the funds of the establishment. Many persons of distinction have held the office of abbot, among others James Stuart, natural sort of James V. The rental contained in the char tulary is curious, but much too long for insertion in a work of this nature. Upon the forfeiture of Francis, Earl of Bothwell, admiral of Scotland, James the VI. granted the superiority of the abbey to Sir Robert Ker of Cessford, the ancestor of the dukes of Roxburgh. Although this vener able structure was in a great measure defaced and demo lished, in consequence or the civil and religious struggles that prevailed, especially at the glorious xra of the Refor mation, yet the principal part of it was probably early used as a Protestant place of worship ; and in the seventeenth century, it underwent considerable additions and repairs, in order to fit it for a Presbyterian church. From this lime it was the parish church, till the year 1771, when a false alarm being spread during public worship, that the build ing was falling, it was never again used. This alarm was the more easily excited, as there was previously a popular fear, grafted on a traditional prophecy of Thomas the Rhymer, that the abbey would fall when it was at the full est. (Vide notes to Scott's Minstrelsy of the Bordcr, vol. in.) From this time the building was neglected; till the late duke William of Roxburgh caused an ugly modern aisle, and a part of the modern wall, to be removed; and the present duke James has had almost the whole of the mo dern deformities taken away, by which means the transept, and many windows and side arches of the original abbey, are displayed. The style of the building is Saxon, with a slight mixture of Gothic. The central tower is about ninety feet in height. There is none of that exuberance of ornament, for the quantity and nicety of execution of which the neighbouring abbey of Melrose is remarkable, and there are no remains of niches for images or statues. But the arches are clustered with admirable strength and beauty, and those which support the lantern are truly mag nificent. (See CIVIL ARCHITECTURE, Plate CLXVII. Fig. 2.) Kelso, though the most populous town in the county of Roxburgh, is not the county town. It was erected into a burgh of barony, as is believed, in 1605. It is under the jurisdiction of a baron bailie, and fifteen stent-masters, or town councillors, of whom a majority (eight) are nomi nated by the duke, or his bailie ; and the remainder by the five incorporated trades, and the merchant and butcher companies, one from each.