A lay-by

April 8, 2023--Ford Estate B&B

Skipping over some excursions (we'll get back to 'em), we pulled up stakes at Kingsknowes on Good Friday and headed out in the infamous Peugeot.  We would be resetting our accommodations later that evening at Ford Village B&B which sports two rooms to let, plus an attached convenience store and post office.  

April 5, 2023--Kingsknowes

Before leaving Kingsknowes, it merits high praise.  What a first-class operation.  Rated as a three-star establishment, Kingsknowes is a Victorian baronial mansion built in 1869 for Adam Lees Cochrane, a local textile mill owner (Netherdale Mill).  He built it to overlook his mill.

April 5, 2023--Kingsknowes

It was converted into a dedicated hotel long ago (in the 1960s), and has 12 rooms to let.  It also has an outstanding restaurant and pub, by the by.  Affordable, locally sourced food, quality service.  As a matter of convenience, we took our dinners there during our stay, and of course our breakfasts.  We couldn't have done better if we tried.

Fancy digs, straight up.  And really not much more expensive (in some instances less) than other questionable accommodations in Galashiels and the surrounding area.  It has what you expect a hotel to have--free WiFi, TV, parking, concierge and laundry service.  (We took advantage of the laundry, which saved us a day basically.)  

It is also convenient to those A roads at Galashiels, radiating out to all points on the compass it seems. Lastly, Kingsknowes has a listed Edwardian conservatory (Mackenzie and Moncu), albeit not open early season when we booked.  More or less contemporary with the house, with it's upgrades anyhow, the conservatory is largely unaltered.  

April 5, 2023--Kingsknowes stair

In final analysis, though, none of that mattered.  True because Kingsknowes was the only B&B Hotel who replied to my query.  No one else did; so there's that. They at least wanted our business.  We obliged.  

In our comings and goings over three days at Kingsknowes, we had gotten to be somewhat old pros at the traffic circles on the A roads in the Galashiels and Melrose area...the A7, A68, A6091.  A piece of cake...albeit not for the faint-hearted.

So, on Friday morning, we backtracked on the A68 to Earlston, and then backtracked on the A6105.  The A6105 in Earlston was chock full of parked cars halfway into the road, as they typically do in Scotland.  It was the same route that Bus 60 took us on from Berwick to Galashiels that Monday.  Seeing how the driver maneuvered was instructive, and really proved to be about the only way of negotiating the tangle.

April 7, 2023--ancient trees at Greenknowe

The A6105 took us past Greenknowe Tower House about a kilometer west of the town of Gordon.  As there was a lay-by (in local parlance) that accommodated 3 or maybe 4 vehicles, we parked in the lay-by and walked the short hike up to the tower.

April 7, 2023--Greenknowe

Striking.  And lonely.  First of all, the site is well manicured.  So, whoever is taking care of it...is.  Second, you could not help but notice the tower house is closed to public access with the chain link surrounding it.  We're told that that is a function of Historic Environment Scotland doing high masonry inspections.  

There is also an inevitable sense of age in this tower; that's the third thing.  Trees (European beech) were planted ages ago to line the drive up to the tower house much like those at Traquair.  It's anybody's guess on their age.  Perhaps as old as 400 years?  Maybe more?  What we do know is that when ownership of the tower house passed to the Pringles of Stichel in the early-1600s (1637 to be precise), Walter Pringle's memoirs mentioned gardens and formal parkland surrounding the tower and...a fine avenue of trees on the original approach to the north.  So, they're at least 400 years old.

At one time, part of the tower house's defenses were the bogs and marshes surrounding it.  However, these have long since yielded to the plow as the Borders have been tamed, reclaimed from the moss or moor to a state of intensive cultivation today.  Two-thirds of the area is now arable.  About 500 acres are in woodlands and the rest is in pastoral or wasteland.  

It is said that a moat also once defended the tower house, and that traces of it can still be seen.  We did not see it.  But then again, we weren't necessarily looking for it either.  Bottom line, the tower house's defenses ain't what they used to be.  Still, they're impressive enough.

April 7, 2023--courtyard

Not being able to access the interior, we are reduced to talking about its owners--the Gordon clan.  Known as the greatest clan in northeast Scotland, the Gordons were originally seated in Berwickshire for some 200 years.  They relocated north in support of King Robert the Bruce and the Wars of Independence.  But from the 12th to the 14th century, the parish of Gordon was the seat of the Gordon clan.  Thence after, they were seated at Aboyne Castle, Aberdeenshire.

According to one story, the Gordons are said to have been granted its estate by King Malcolm II in 1018 AD.  That is a very early date, however, given the first Gordon on record was Richard de Gordon, who granted land on his estates to Kelso Abbey in 1160 AD.  Richard de Gordon's ancestors, it has been speculated, may have been Norman and invited to settle in Scotland by King David I (1124-1153 AD) when the realm was projecting power as the famous Borders monasteries were being built.  

In any case, in compliance with the King's orders, all lands of a certain size and value were to be protected by a tower and other fortifications.  Thus, Greenknowe Tower was born.

Greenknowe bears the date 1581 in an inscription of the Seton family arms above the entrance doorway.  This would have been an extensive reworking of an older building, which was itself probably the first castle of the Gordon clan.  This, it is said, accounts for the mixture of gray and red sandstone.  The lower part of the tower is clearly constructed of different stone.  Gray was the original sandstone.     

The Seton family married into the Gordons.  In this manner, the lands of Greenknowe were gotten in the early 15th century when Alexander Seton married a Gordon heiress--Elizabeth Gordon.  The Seton family were Hereditary Armour Bearers to the King of Scotland.  So, an important family in its own right.  The Setons became wealthy through trade in coal between central Scotland and London.  It was this wealth that made them eligible to marry into noble families, which they did, accumulating lands throughout the Lothians and as far north as Aberdeen.

Nothing lasts forever.  Gordon interests shifted north to Aberdeen.  And in 1637 Greenknowe was acquired by the Pringles of Stichill, which is validated by a 1649 ratification which mentions the tower and manor place.  The Pringles made additions to the building, enlarging the windows, for example, to suit less dangerous times.

April 7, 2023--Greenknowe

Greenknowe then passed to the Dalrymple family who occupied the tower until the middle of the 19th century.  It is said that by 1830 the tower was derelict, but that may be in error a little bit.  Documents indicate that Greenknowe and the manor farm were liquidated May 15, 1862.  In any case, it fell into ruin such that the tower was transferred into state care in 1937 following some restoration work.

Lastly, a foundation of some sort exists outside the tower house.  A re-excavation of the courtyard is known to have revealed disturbed footings of a stable to the northeast.  Like so many others, rock was robbed from the outbuildings and repurposed by locals.  The outbuildings and the leveling of the hilltop for gardens speak of glory days long past, back when Greenknowe was in its prime.

April 7, 2023--Greenknowe stables (?)