Ashiesteel, a mansion in the N of Yarrow parish, Selkirkshire, on the S bank of the Tweed, 5½ miles WSW of Galashiels. Long a seat of the Russells, of Indian military fame, it was tenanted from 1804 to 1812 by their kinsman Walter Scott, then Sheriff of Selkirkshire. It stands on a beautiful reach of the river, backed by green Peel Hill (991 feet), Ashiesteel Hill (1314), and South Height (1493); and is a Border tower with five additions of different dates. The house in Scott's day possessed its present centre and W wing; the N bedroom was his library and dressing-room; a ground-floor room at the end of the W wing was drawing-room; and what is now a passage was both the dining and his writing room, in which were composed the Lay of the Last Minstrel, the Lady of the Lake, and Marmion, as well as about a third of Waverley. The present owner is Miss Russell, daughter of General Sir James Russell, K. C.B. (17811859), and grand-daughter of Col. Wm. Russell (d. 1802).
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