Jethart

**Jethart** or Jeddart, is a toun an umwhile ryal burgh in the Scots Borders an historically in Roxburghshire.

## History
Bishop Ecgred o Lindisfarne foondit a kirk at Jedburgh in the 9t century, an Keeng David I o Scotland made it a priory atween 1118 an 1138, hoosin Augustinian monks frae Beauvais in Fraunce. The aibey wis foondit in 1147, but mairch wars wi Ingland in the 16t century left it a ruin.

The deeply releegious Scots keeng Malcolm IV dee'd at Jethart in 1165, aged 24. His daith is thocht tae hae been caused bi excessive fastin.

David I biggit a castle at Jethart, an in 1174 it wis ane o five fortresses cedit tae Ingland. It wis an occasional ryal residence for the Scots. It wis demolished in 1409. 

In 1258, Jethart was a focus of royal attention, with negotiations atween Scotland's Alexander III and England's Henry III over the succession to the Scottish throne, leaving the Comyn faction dominant. Alexander III was married to Yolande in the abbey in 1285.

Its proximity to England made it subject to raids and skirmishes by both Scottish and English forces but its strategic position also brocht the town valuable trade. At various times and at various locations the town supported a horse market, a cattle market, a corn market and a butcher market. Farm workers and servants also attended hiring fairs seeking employment.

Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed at a certain house in the town in 1566 and that house is now a museum.

The title "Lord of Jedburgh Forest" was granted to George Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus on his marriage to the Princess Mary, dochter of Robert III in 1397. It is a subsidiary title of the present Earl of Angus, the Duke of Hamilton. The Duke of Douglas was raised to the position of Viscount Jedburgh Forest, but he died without an heir in 1761.

In 1745, the Jacobite army led by Prince Charles Edward Stuart passed through the town on its way to England, and the Prince also stayed there. The Castle Prison opened in 1823.

In 1787, the geologist James Hutton noted what is now known as the Hutton Unconformity at Inchbonny, near Jedburgh. Layers of sedimentary rock which are tilted almost vertically are covered by newer horizontal layers of red sandstone.  This was one of the findings that led him to develop his concept of an immensely long geologic time scale with "no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end."

The Scots name for the town is part of the expression "Jeddart justice" or "Jethart Justice", in which a man was hanged first, and tried afterwards.

Several notable people were born in the town, including Mary Somerville (1780–1872), the eminent scientist and writer, after whom Somerville College, Oxford is named.

Ithers include Conservative MP Michael Ancram in 1945. James Thomson (1700&ndash;1748) who wrote "Rule Britannia", was born in Ednam, a village only twelve miles away, but he was educated in Jedburgh. David Brewster, physicist, mathematician, scientist, writer and inventor of the kaleidoscope, was born in Jedburgh in 1781. The popular preacher Rev. Robert Aitken (1800 - 1873) was born in Crailing near Jedburgh. General Sir Bindon Blood was born nearby in 1842. Alexander Jeffrey (F.S.A. Scot.) was a solicitor in the town and was also the county historian. He died in Jedburgh in 1874. The author and broadcaster Lavinia Derwent was born in a farmhouse a few miles outside Jedburgh in 1909.

The toun's best kent rugby sons are the scrum-haufs, Roy Laidlaw an Gary Armstrong. Umehile Scotland rugby team caiptain Greig Laidlaw an aw hails frae Jedburgh.

## References