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Photo: Taken by User:Supergolden, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This was a "peel tower", a fortified turret that served as a lookout and signal tower against raiders. It was built circa 1500, fell into disrepair in the 18th century but was partly restored in the 1980s. Although there are opening hours and an entrance fee, you can pretty much see it gratis by looking over the fence.
Smailholm Tower is a peel tower at Smailholm, around five miles (8 km) west of Kelso in the Scottish Borders. Its dramatic situation, atop a crag of Lady Hill, commands wide views over the surrounding countryside. The tower is located at grid reference NT637346, just west of Sandyknowe farm, and is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument in the care of Historic Environment Scotland. In June 2007, it was awarded the maximum "five-star" status as a tourist attraction from VisitScotland, a rating bestowed on only eight other sites in Scotland.
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Sumptuous 18th-century pile built by Robert Adam, the most complete example of his work, and home of the 14th Earl of Haddington. Set in extensive gardens laid out in 1910.
Grand mansion built in 1720 by William Adam, and embellished with cod-castellations in the 19th century. There may have been an earlier turret, but Floors was designed for sumptuous living not defence. It's home to the Duke of Roxburghe and has extensive gardens - these are open all year, dogs on leads welcome.
Ruins of a medieval castle established by David I and birthplace of Alexander III. The castle was strategically important from the 12th to the 15th centuries and the adjoining town of Roxburgh (of which nothing is now visible) was a royal burgh and centre of agricultural trade with Europe. The ruins are scrappy, as the Scots destroyed it in the 16th century to put it beyond English use. The main remnants are the earthwork mound topped by stone fortifications, and the main gate on the west side.
Built 1128-1143 by the Tironensian monastic order (who'd split from the Benedictines), this was once one of the wealthiest and grandest monasteries in Scotland. But it suffered repeated attack and destruction, and was in a poor state even before the 1560 Reformation. All that remains is the west tower and the transept, still a striking piece of Romanesque architecture.
This is a National Hunt course with jumps races Sep to May.