Lauder

Welcome to episode 33 of Hidden Histories of the Scottish Borders.

My name's David, and today we're heading to Lauderdale, just a couple of miles east of Lauder itself, to the fragmentary remains of a tower that is easily overlooked from the modern A697 road.

It's called Old Thurlestone Tower, although it is sometimes referred to as Old Thurlestone Castle.

And there's an important distinction to make at the outset.

Exactly what that early castle looked like is uncertain, but it would certainly predate the ruin we see today.

Its location was significant.

Thurston stood in Lauderdale along one of the most important routes running northwards through the borders towards Edinburgh.

For centuries anyone travelling between the Scottish capital and the southern borders had to negotiate this landscape.