Innerleithen – United Kingdom

Author:
  • 68 High St, Innerleithen EH44 6HF
  • 1 Peebles Rd, Innerleithen EH44 6QX
  • 45 High St, Innerleithen EH44 6HD

 

About Innerleithen

There is a small town and parish called Innerleithen in the Tweeddale committee region of the Scottish Borders. Peeblesshire, now known as Tweeddale, was the historic county in which this area was located.

Innerleithen means “confluence of the Leithen” in Scottish Gaelic, referring to the point where the Leithen River meets the Tweed. Many Scottish placenames, like Inverness and Inverurie, have the prefix “Inner-/Inver-” (Inbhir-). Here, the roughly west-east-flowing Tweed meets the northward-flowing Leithen Water.

There was settlement in the area where the town now stands long before the Romans arrived. On top of Caerlee Hill, you can make out the ruins of a defensive ditchwork that was built during the Iron Age. Although locals may assume that the ditchworks atop Windy Knowe are part of a rare round Roman hill fort, they are more likely to be from an indigenous Iron Age hill fort. Aerial images taken in the 1950s show crop markings that point to the existence of a semi-permanent Roman marching camp in the flood plain along the river Tweed at Toll Wood (near Traquair) and at nearby Eshiels.

According to legend, St. Ronan, a wandering pilgrim monk, arrived at Innerleithen in a coracle on the River Tweed in the year 737 A.D. and built the town. From Iona to Holy Island, monks almost definitely followed the Clyde and Tweed valleys’ natural path. On the slopes of the Leithen valley was discovered a Celtic stone with cup and rings/channels, known as the Runic Cross (although there are neither runes on it, nor any indication that it was a cross shaft

Hotels in Innerleithen

  1. Traquair Arms Hotel

Address: Traquair Rd, Innerleithen EH44 6PD, United Kingdom

  1. Caddon View

Address: 14 Pirn Rd, Innerleithen EH44 6HH, United Kingdom

  1. OYO St Ronan’s

Address: High St, Innerleithen EH44 6HF, United Kingdom

  1. Corner House

Address: 1 Chapel St, Innerleithen EH44 6HN, United Kingdom