Ashiestiel

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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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).

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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