Eyemouth Area

Manderston

Fishing Boat at Burnmouth

Coldingham Priory

Area Main Page

Take the A1 north from the English border at Berwick-upon-Tweed and you can reach Edinburgh in not much more than an hour, and en route see almost nothing of the area you are passing through. And that's what most visitors to Scotland do, as a result missing out on a fascinating area. You can browse books about The Scottish Borders in our Bookshop (this may take a moment to load).

Inland from the A1 lie the Lammermuir Hills, with the villages of Gifford to their north and Duns to their south. Duns used to be the county town of Berwickshire, an odd arrangement made necessary when Berwick-upon-Tweed itself ended up on the English side of the border after changing hands for the last of many times in 1482 (see our Historical Timeline). Inland from Berwick-upon-Tweed is Paxton House and the nearby Union Chain Bridge, while on the English side of the border is Norham Castle, where many key moments in Anglo-Scottish history were played out.

Close to Duns is the viewpoint provided by the 218m high Duns Law, while within the town itself is the Jim Clark Room, a commemoration to the twice world motor racing champion. Two miles east of Duns is Manderston, the epitome of the Edwardian country house, a little further east again is the Norman Edrom Arch. Seven miles south of Duns is its long term rival for the title of county town of Berwickshire, Greenlaw, while south again is Hume Castle.

North of Duns are a series of small village on the southern flank of the Lammermuirs. Thse include Longformacus and Abbey St Bathans, both on the route of the Southern Upland Way.

The first settlement on the coast north of the English border is Burnmouth, a village mostly hidden at the foot of the cliffs surrounding its harbour. A few miles north is Eyemouth, a busy and attractive fishing port and seaside resort whose fortunes and tragic misfortunes have been closely linked to the sea since the 1200s.

The Eyemouth Museum provides an interesting insight into local life and is home to a tapestry recording the disaster of 1881 in which 189 fishermen, including 129 from Eyemouth, were killed in a sudden storm. From Eyemouth the A1107 provides a quieter alternative to the A1 for those heading north, passing through Coldingham, complete with the church and other remains of Coldingham Priory.

Just north of the fishing village of St Abbs, at St Abb's Head, the coast turns to follow a generally westwards direction along the southern shore of the Firth of Forth. West of St Abbs the A1 runs past Cockburnspath and close to the hidden gem of Cove and nearby Dunglass Collegiate Church.