A selection of place-names from the Whiteadder area, in East Lothian and the Scottish Borders. Researched and read by Liz Curtis.

Abbey St Bathans and Bunkle

Friarsnose, Gamelshiel and Gifford

The Lammermuirs by Alex Strnad

Cove by Alex Strnad

Frank Millar remembers the cattle markets of times past. Hear more oral history testimony from the area here https://dunsoralhistoryproject.co.uk

Cattle markets in the Duns area

Greenlaw or 'Grinlae' Moor is an area of heather moorland with a couple of small bodies of water and is classed as both a “Wetland of International Importance” and a “Site of Special Scientific Interest”. It lies just north of the A6105 between Greenlaw and Duns, nestled at the foot of the Lammermuirs. 

I was visiting one of my regular clients and asked where her husband was and she said “He’s on his way hame – just comin’ doun frae Grinlae Moor” and that idea just cried out to be a song. Who could be coming down the Duns Road from Grinlae Moor? Why were they coming? And what had happened etc? Though in the song the subject is a young woman who has first rejected her lover only to be then mistreated by his replacement. 

The viola backing was kindly added by Stephen Tees who has lived in the Kelso area now for a decade or so and originally hails from Aberdeen. 

About the artist: Alan Connochie is a singer-musician-songwriter involved with Kelso Folk & Live Music Club and helps organise the regular Friday night sessions. Although from the central Borders and living in Kelso, he previously worked for 17 years as a home service insurance agent with my area being mostly in Berwickshire so from Kelso up to Gordon, Westruther, Greenlaw, Longformacus, Gavinton, Swinton, Norham and all the areas in between. He says 'I simply fell in love with the area and people and that just had to come out in the songs.'

Grinlae Moor by Allan Connochie

This song was written A quick song as a Valentine's Day pressie for my wife, Feb 14th 2005. In the general tradition of Scots oldies. 
Lyrics:
The Banks o' Bonny Tweed
It was by the banks o' bonny Tweed
My love and I did roam
It was by the banks o' bonny Tweed
We found for us a home
Though far horizons call to us
We have here all we need
Where time runs deep and the great fish leap
By the banks o' bonny Tweed

It was on the banks o' bonny Tweed
Our children once did play
And from the banks o' bonny Tweed
Life sent them on their way
Yet still these hills will call the back
If makin' no great speed
As the heron glides across the tide
By the banks o' bonny Tweed

It is by the banks o' bonny Tweed
My love and I will stay
And by the banks o' bonny Tweed
Shall greet each dawin' day
Like birds in winter we may fly
On that we're both agreed
But return to nest where life is best
On the banks o' bonny Tweed

About the artist: David is a solo singer-songwriter playing British fingerstyle steel and nylon string guitar, and historic instruments. Scots and Irish influences with original melodic settings. He is involved in running the Kelso Folk Cobbles Sessions.

The Banks o' Bonny Tweed by David Kilpatrick

Music, poetry, ballads and rhymes, from the Whiteadder river valley in East Lothian and the Scottish Borders.

Whiteadder Festival