39-609: Drumelzier ( / d r ə ˈ m ɛ l j ər / ), is a village and civil parish on the B712 in the Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders . The area of the village is extensive and includes the settlements of Wrae , Stanhope , Mossfennan and Kingledoors . To the north is Broughton and to the south the road passes Crook Inn to Tweedsmuir . Powsail Burn (also called Drumelzier Burn) runs through Drumelzier to become
78-471: A gang of shepherds. Merlin Sylvestris was baptised and thus converted to Christianity by Saint Kentigern at the 'altarstone' near the village and is said to have died through his 'three deaths' here also. Legend has it that he prophesied his own death of falling, drowning and stabbing. It is said that he was chased off a cliff by shepherds where he tripped and fell, impaled himself on a fishing rod on
117-576: A small business which eventually grew into the largest truck company in the British Empire. The company still exists as part of the Leyland DAF group. The archives of Albion motors can still be found in Biggar. In the summer of 1940 several thousands of Polish soldiers were stationed here, having been evacuated after the collapse of France. The singer Richard Tauber , whose wife Diana Napier
156-615: A tributary of the River Tweed . Stobo Castle hotel and health spa are in the area, as is Dawyck Botanic Garden , one of three "Regional Gardens" of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh . The name is recorded as Dunmedler (circa 1200); Dumelliare (1305); Drummeiller (1326); Drummelzare (1492) and Drummelzier (1790). The name may derive from the Gaelic for 'bare hill'. Alternatively, it has been suggested that
195-675: Is a river 97 miles (156 km) long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the River Tweed. The Tweed is one of the great salmon rivers of Britain and the only river in England where an Environment Agency rod licence is not required for angling . The river generates a large income for the local borders region, attracting anglers from all around
234-665: Is expected to be completed during 2028. Biggar, South Lanarkshire Biggar ( Scottish Gaelic : Bigear [ˈpikʲəɾ] ) is a town, parish and former burgh in South Lanarkshire , Scotland , in the Southern Uplands near the River Clyde on the A702 . The closest neighbouring towns are Lanark , Peebles and Carluke . Biggar occupies a key location close to two of Scotland's great rivers,
273-673: Is named after the bard; Celticist A.O.H. Jarman suggests that instead his original name Myrddin was derived from Carmarthen's Welsh name Caerfyrddin . Stories of the life of Myrddin Wyllt can be found in the Black Book of Carmarthen (1250 A.D.), written in a Brythonic Celtic language. In the Welsh tradition of his life he is said to be a wild man of the woods, prophet and Bard as written in Vita Merlini (1150). The Merlin of
312-699: Is run by the Purves Puppets family. Biggar Corn Exchange , now also used as a theatre, was completed in 1861. Ian Hamilton Finlay 's home and garden at Little Sparta is nearby in the Pentland Hills . The town hosts an annual arts festival, the Biggar Little Festival. The town has traditionally held a huge bonfire at Hogmanay . Biggar was the birthplace of Thomas Gladstones , the grandfather of William Ewart Gladstone . Hugh MacDiarmid spent his later years at Brownsbank, near
351-680: Is set here. The town was once served by the Symington, Biggar and Broughton Railway , which ran from the Caledonian Railway (now the West Coast Main Line ) at Symington to join the Peebles Railway at Peebles. The station and signal box are still standing but housing has been built on the line running west from the station and the railway running east from the station is a public footpath to Broughton, part of
390-549: The North Sea at Berwick-upon-Tweed . The river east of St Boswells runs through a drumlin field . It is the relic of a paleo- ice stream that flowed through the area during the last glaciation. Major towns through which the Tweed flows include Innerleithen , Peebles , Galashiels , Melrose , Kelso , Coldstream and Berwick-upon-Tweed , where it flows into the North Sea . Tweed tributaries include: The upper parts of
429-573: The catchment of the Tweed in Scotland form the area known as Tweeddale , part of which is protected as the Upper Tweeddale National Scenic Area , one of 40 such areas in Scotland which are defined so as to identify areas of exceptional scenery and to ensure its protection from inappropriate development. Despite that the catchment straddles the border between Scotland and England, management of it – in terms of water quality, bio-security, and ultimately protection of
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#1732773247726468-519: The 12th century manuscript Vita Merlini Silvestris ( Cotton Titus A xix) was originally called Lailoken , a warrior so traumatised by the scale of the slaughter he witnesses at the Battle of Arfderydd (Arthuret) in 573 that he retreats to the Great Wood of Caledon , where he lives as a wild man. In this tale, the captor of Lailoken is the local king Meldred. Lailoken's madness has endowed him with
507-540: The 12th century, in return for the promise of support, King David I gave the lands of Biggar to Baldwin, a Fleming leader. He built a motte and bailey castle, which can still be seen north-west of the High Street. The first permanent crossing of the Biggar Burn was also built. It is thought that there has been a church at Biggar since the 6th or 7th century, although the first stone kirk was built in 1164, on
546-470: The Biggar Country Path network. This town has two schools, one primary, and one secondary. The secondary school, Biggar High School , also admits pupils from surrounding small towns and villages. Biggar Primary is a small school, located on South Back Road, with a current roll of 238 pupils. The High School, located on John's Loan and adjacent to the primary, shares its sports facilities with
585-594: The Clyde flowing to the west, and the Tweed flowing to the east. Stone and Bronze-age artefacts have been found in the area but the strongest evidence of settlement occurs on the hills surrounding the town. One of these is Bizzyberry Hill where Iron Age remains dating back almost 2,000 years have been found. The present day A702 follows the route of a Roman road , which linked the Clyde Valley with Musselburgh . In
624-580: The Crusades to find his wife nursing a baby. The wife explained that one day she had been walking beside the Tweed when the river spirit appeared and ravished her. The Baron appears to have accepted the explanation; however, less convinced locals applied the nickname 'Tweedie' to the child, who became Baron Drumelzier. The family name of the Barons was Tweedie. One of the Merovingian Kings of France
663-519: The Hays family by marriage. The castle probably dates from the late 15th or early 16th centuries and may have been built by the Tweedies of nearby Drumelzier. The remains indicate a rectangular castle with curtain-walls that enclosed a courtyard with a tower-house at the south corner; circular towers were located at the north and west angles. An anonymous 17th-century account indicates that Tinnis Castle
702-747: The Lowther Hills at Tweed's Well near to where the Clyde , draining northwest (10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the Tweed's Well), and the Annan draining south (1.9 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the Tweed's Well) also rise. "Annan, Tweed and Clyde rise oot the ae hillside" is a saying from the Border region. East of Kelso , it becomes a section of the eastern part of the border. Entering England, its lower reaches are in Northumberland , where it enters
741-571: The River Tweed not far from the village centre. It was the ancient seat of the Tweedie family , first chartered to Roger de Twydyn about 1320. It was also part of a chain of peel towers along the Tweed Valley. The ruins of the old house are now in the midst of modern farm buildings, which have been built largely of stone salvaged from it. The fortunes of the Tweedie family declined, and in 1633
780-548: The Tweedies until Catherine was delivered to Drumelzier. In 1530, in an attempt to resolve the dispute, the Lords of Council ruled that John Tweedie should fund a chaplaincy in Biggar to say masses for the soul of the murdered Lord Fleming. In local tradition it is here, that Merlin , the great wizard of Arthurian legend , was imprisoned inside a riverbank tree by the enchantress Morgan le Fay . Many historical sites can be found in
819-611: The area, from Bronze Age forts, to medieval casts. ' Myrddin Wyllt ', 'Merlinus Caledonensis' or 'Merlin Sylvestris' (c. 540 – c. 584) is a figure in Brythonic medieval legends, regarded as a prophet, madman, pagan and a prototype for the composite representation of Merlin in Arthurian romance . In Welsh legend Merlin is said to have been born in Carmarthen , South Wales, which a popular but false folk etymology claims
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#1732773247726858-501: The exact spot, marked by a thorn tree. A prophecy is stated : "When Tweed and Powsail meet at Merlin's grave, Scotland and England shall one monarch have. The very day that James VI of Scotland and I of England was crowned the prophecy was fulfilled, with the River Tweed bursting its banks and meeting with the Powsail Burn at Merlin's Grave, something it had not done before and has not done since. Celtic beliefs included
897-412: The existence of river spirits and the need to appease them with sacrifices. Tweed said to Till, 'What gars ye rin so still?' Till said to Tweed, 'Though ye rin wi' speed, And I rin so slaw, Yet where ye droun ae man, I droun twa!'. The Tweed is wide and shallow, whilst the nearby Till is deep and narrow. A local tradition tells of a Baron of Drumelzier returning from a long involvement in
936-468: The gift of prophecy and Meldred holds him in his fortress at Drumeller in the hope of extracting prophecies which he can use to his advantage. During negotiations over his release, Lailoken draws attention to a leaf caught in the queen's wimple which he claims is evidence of an assignation with her lover in the king's garden. Lailoken secures his release, but the queen takes revenge on him for revealing her affair by arranging to have him ambushed and killed by
975-517: The last Tweedie of Drummelzier was forced to sell the Barony of Drummelzier to Lord Hay of Yester . The present Laird of Drumelzier is Alexander Hay of Duns and Drumelzier, he resides at Duns Castle , Berwickshire . The Castle was abandoned and as a ruin became a convenient quarry for building stone for the farm its ruins now stand in; the square south tower stood at its original height as late as 1972. The remains have since been mainly demolished and
1014-426: The marriage of the heiress Lady Clementina Fleming to Charles, Lord Elphinstone . Biggar Gas Works opened in 1836, producing gas from coal. In 1973, with the introduction of natural gas , the works closed. Biggar had its own railway station on the Symington, Biggar and Broughton Railway between 1860 and 1953. In 1899 farmers, Thomas Blackwood Murray and Norman Fulton, located in Biggar founded Albion Motors as
1053-537: The primary school when the occasion demands it. The annual primary Sports Day is held on the High School playing field. In 2007 local estate agent John Riley, encouraged a group of Biggar residents to launch the Carbon Neutral Biggar project, with the stated aim of becoming the first carbon neutral town in Scotland. The launch of the project, covered in both local and national media, took place at
1092-500: The salmon of the River Tweed – is overseen by a single body, the River Tweed Commission. As of 2024 , work is in progress on the development of a 113-mile (182 km) walking and cycling route following the length of the river from Moffat to Berwick-on-Tweed. The work includes new sections of path, upgrades to existing paths, bridge replacement and repairs, pedestrian road crossings, lighting and signage. The path
1131-425: The sea bed and died with his head under the water. Meldred has Lailoken buried in the churchyard to the west of his fortress, close to where the Powsail Burn (today named Drumelzier Burn, flowing just north of Drumelzier Kirk) joins the River Tweed . Pennicuick in 1715 states that Merlin was buried a little below the churchyard at the side of the Powsail Burn. Richard Brown, a minister of the parish, showed Pennicuick
1170-402: The site cleared on the grounds of safety; only the rubble-filled stump of the tower now remains. Above the village is a distinctive conical hill , known as 'Tennis, Tinnis or Tinnie's Castle', a name derived from 'Thanes Castle'. Only a few walls of the old fortalice remained when it was visited by Francis Grose in 1790; it was used as a redoubt or citadel by the Lords of Tweedie and passed to
1209-523: The site of the existing kirk. In the 14th century, the Fleming family were given lands in the area by Robert the Bruce , whose cause they had supported. The Flemings built Boghall Castle, visible as a ruin until the early 20th century, but now only represented by a few mounds. The town continued to grow as an important market town, and in 1451 it became a burgh . The market place remains the central focus of
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1248-710: The town's annual eco forum in May 2007. The group has formed links with the town of Ashton Hayes in Cheshire , which has a similar group working toward carbon neutral status for the town. The new Biggar & Upper Clydesdale Museum run by the Biggar Museum Trust opened in 2015 and the Biggar Gasworks Museum is the only preserved gas works in Scotland. Additionally, Biggar has Scotland's only permanent puppet theatre, Biggar Puppet Theatre, which
1287-551: The town. The kirk was rebuilt as a Collegiate church in 1546 for Malcolm, 3rd Lord Fleming , the last to be established before the Reformation of 1560. The Flemings found themselves on the wrong side in the 16th century, when they supported Mary, Queen of Scots . Their lands remained in the Fleming family until the 18th century when the male line of succession ended. The lands passed into the Elphinstone family in 1735 on
1326-443: The village may be named after Meldred , a sixth-century petty king or chieftain who features in literary accounts of post-Roman Britain and may have had his power base at Tinnis Castle. Drumelzier is pronounced /drəˈmɛljər/. This is due to the original Scots spelling, Drumelȝier, containing the letter yogh , which was later erroneously confused with the tailed z . The village takes its name from Drumelzier Castle, located hard by
1365-515: The world. Tweed may represent an Old Brittonic name meaning "border". A doubtful proposal is that the name is derived from a non-Celtic form of the Indo-European root *teuha- meaning "swell, grow powerful". The River Tweed flows primarily through the scenic Borders region of Scotland. Eastwards from the settlements on opposing banks of Birgham and Carham it forms the historic boundary between Scotland and England. It rises in
1404-572: Was attacked and killed by a party of men led by John Tweedie of Drumelzier while hawking in the vicinity of the village. The feud between the Tweedies and the Flemings had its roots in Tweedie's desire to secure the marriage of Catherine Frizzel, heiress of Freud in Tweedsmuir , to his eldest son, James. Catherine may already have been married to one of Lord Fleming's illegitimate sons. Three surviving members of Fleming's party were held captive by
1443-450: Was blown up by Malcolm Fleming, 3rd Lord Fleming in the course of an ongoing feud between the Flemings and the Tweedies of Drumelzier. However, in 1592 James VI ordered the demolition of "Tynneis" belonging to James Stewart, with Harden and Dryhope , belonging to Walter Scott , for their part in the Earl of Bothwell's raid on Falkland Palace . In 1524, John Fleming, 2nd Lord Fleming ,
1482-484: Was supposedly conceived under similar circumstances. As late as 1598, on the first day of May, the parishioners built Beltane fires on the local hills. On this date several parishioners were put on trial by the kirk session for carrying out this pagan act. 55°35′38″N 3°22′21″W / 55.5939°N 3.3726°W / 55.5939; -3.3726 River Tweed The River Tweed , or Tweed Water , Scots : Watter o Tweid , Welsh : Tuedd ),
1521-785: Was working with the Polish Red Cross, put on a special performance of the operetta The Land of Smiles during a two-week run in Glasgow. Later the Polish soldiers moved to the east coast of Scotland to defend the coast and to train for their deployment as the 1st Polish Armoured Division in Normandy, Belgium and the Netherlands. The fictional Midculter, which features in Dorothy Dunnett 's Lymond Chronicles novels,
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