This post features the remaining Gem Towns of Edinburgh & Leith (counted as one), Haddington, Kelso and Culross as well as Dunbar, Dunfermline and North Berwick. This trip was in April 2026.
Edinburgh
This is just a snapshot of Edinburgh, there’s lots more to see…
Old Town and Royal Mile:
Princes Street:
St Giles Cathedral:
Other Churches:
Other Scenes:
Posh Streets:
Haddington
The market town of Haddington is about 30km from Edinburgh, situated on the banks of the River Tyne and known as ‘the hidden toun’ – it’s also Gem Town…
High Street and Market Street:
The town centres around the High Street and Market Street which are linked with traditional wynds and closes (a “wynd” is a narrow street or alley)…
The town house dates from 1748 and was designed by William Adam, who designed the original Floors Castle…
St Mary’s Collegiate Church:
St Mary’s Church, dates from the 14thcentury, although not completed until 1462. It is one of the three great pre-reformation churches in Lothian and the largest parish church in Scotland. The other two great pre-reformation churches are St Giles, Edinburgh and St Michael’s, Linlithgow. It has a turbulent past and was ruined during the siege of Haddington in 1548-49. John Knox, leader of the Scottish Reformation who was born in Haddington pushed for repairs. Major restoration was undertaken in the 1970s, returning the church to its former glory and, at the time of my visit, was closed for further remedial work…
River Tyne:
The River Tyne is a river that rises in the Moorfoot hills in Midlothian near Tynehead. It then continues 48 km in a north-eastern direction and empties into the North Sea at Belhaven Bay. The catchment is predominantly farmland due to the fertile soils found in East Lothian.There are two Tyne rivers in Great Britain: this one and the more famous one that flows through Newcastle upon Tyne…
Other Scenes:
Built in 1802-3 for Henry Davidson, Sheriff Clerk and later acquired by William Dods, Provost and Seed Merchant. It was bought by the Bank of Scotland in 1855 – it is due to close in June, 2026…The RBS branch is also early 19th century but purpose built as a bank…When is a palace not a palace? There are conflicting claims regarding the location of Haddington’s ‘palace’. On the one hand there is the Court Street site marked by a plaque on the wall of the court building: ‘This is the site of the Royal Palace occupied by King William I and here his son Alexander II of Scotland was born 24th August 1198.’ On the other, a site on an area that was formerly Haddington House garden, now known as St Mary’s Pleasance, where an information panel states with equal certainty ‘early Royal charters reveal that the garden was part of a King’s Palace and Royal Garden relating to David I of Scotland…
Kelso
According to https://www.visitkelso.com/ “The welcoming market town of Kelso, nestling in the heart of the Scottish Borders, offers so much to see and do in both the town and stunning surrounding countryside. Located in easy travelling distance of Edinburgh, Newcastle and Carlisle, it’s easy to see why Kelso is Bordering on Brilliant.” – that’s overselling it somewhat. Edinburgh to Tweedbank is about an hour by train and from there you need to catch Bus 67 to Kelso, which is also about an hour. You then need to hope that the bus and train are running to time as the connection is bizarrely (and perversely) tight…
But Kelso is a Gem Town, so needs must and the bus journey is nice as you go through Melrose (amongst otherplaces), which seems more attractive and interesting than Kelso. But what do I know…
Kelso is a thriving market town known for Floors Castle, the abbey and its handsome cobbled streets and town square. Kelso also has a racecourse, which was built in 1822 by the Duke of Roxburghe. The original stand which he had built is still used today. It was targeted unsuccessfully by a group of Suffragette arsonists in 1913. There are several race meetings each year which attract large crowds…
The Town Square:
The Town Hall, on the east side of Kelso Square, was built in 1816 to replace an earlier one. Originally it had an open arcade for market stalls on the ground floor, but this disappeared during rebuilding during 1904-06. In this building, until 1975, Kelso Town Council ran the affairs of the town, and its courts dealt with petty criminals. Today it is used for Community Council meetings and exhibitions…
Kelso Abbey:
Kelso Abbey was founded in the 1100s and was one of Scotland’s largest and wealthiest religious houses. The abbey was founded by monks invited by King David I. Originally settling at Selkirk, the monks relocated to Kelso in 1128, moving close to David’s new castle at Roxburgh.Little remains of the once-sprawling monastery precinct. But what survives of the church is one of the most spectacular architectural achievements in medieval Scotland. Sadly, the church wasn’t open to visitors…
Floors Castle:
Floors Castle is the largest inhabited castle in Scotland and is home to the 11th Duke of Roxburghe. Designed by William Adam, construction began in 1721. In the 1830s, the 6th duke commissioned William Playfair to make significant alterations to the exterior. See: https://www.floorscastle.com/
Other Scenes:
The bridge over the River Tweed was built by John Rennie who later built London Bridge. The bridge was the cause of local rioting in 1854 when the Kelso population objected to paying tolls even when the cost of construction had been covered…Kelso lies near the confluence of the River Tweed and the River Teviot…
Dunbar
Dunbar is on the North Sea coast about 30miles (48km) east of Edinburgh and from the English border north of Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Dunbar is famed as the birthplace of John Muir and has a great fishing heritage. It still has two harbours; Victoria and Cromwell. In days gone by, the main catch was herring – the ‘silver darlings’. The ruins of Dunbar Castle sit at the entrance of Victoria harbour. Dunbar is also home to the Belhaven Brewery. Founded in 1719, it is the oldest working brewery in Scotland…
The Harbour:
The Town:
I took advanatage of Dunbar’s reputation as the sunniest place in Scotland and sat outside the Eagle Inn, watching the world go by with a pint of Innis & Gunn lager while waiting for the train back to Edinburgh…The church of St Baya was designed by Gillespie Graham in 1821 and faithfully reconstructed in following a devastating fire in 1987. The colourful and modern interior includes the early 17th-century monument to the Earl of Dunbar and some fine stained glass by Shona McInnes and Douglas Hogg. Limited opening hours outside services. St Baya is a little known 10th century Scottish saint venerableThis plaque on the Black Agnes pub tells the story of Black Agnes Randolph and her defence of Dunbar Castle against the Earl of Salisbury and the English in 1338 (note the discrepancy). Despite their defeat in 1314 by King Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn, English forces returned to Scotland in 1338 intent on conquering the Scots. On 13 January they arrived outside the gates of Dunbar Castle. This should have been a reasonably easy castle for them to take as its lord, Patrick Dunbar, Earl of Dunbar and March, was away with the Scottish army fighting an English army in the north. However, the castle was under the command of Dunbar’s wife Lady Agnes Randolph, Countess of Moray, nicknamed Black Agnes for her dark hair and complexion. With only a handful of men left behind by her husband Agnes had pledged herself to defend the castle – see: https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/Black-Agnes/
John Muir’s House:
John Muir was born in Dunbar in 1838 and was an inventor, botanist, geologist, glaciologist, farmer and artist. He achieved fame as a best selling writer, explorer and environmental campaigner. Muir is credited with the establishment of the National Park System and the Sierra Club. He educated Americans about the value of the country’s wilderness and inspired wilderness advocates. See: https://www.jmbt.org.uk/ and https://www.nps.gov/articles/john-muir.htm
North Berwick
North Berwick is a seaside resort and harbour town located on the south side of the Firth of Forth where it meets the North Sea. It’s core lies around the harbour, built into a rocky promontory projecting between the town’s sandy bays. There has been a harbour of sorts in North Berwick from at least the 1100s and for the following 500 years this was the location of a ferry crossing. A steady stream of pilgrims to St Andrews took advantage of a crossing that dramatically shortened their journey…
The Harbour:
A celtic cross memorial to Catherine Watson who, in 1889, swam out to sea to rescue two boys and a girl. The children had been swept out to sea by the tide at. Tragically, Catherine died in the attempt but the children were saved by the coastguard…The Seabird Centre – a marine conservation and education charity with this award-winning visitor centre https://www.seabird.org/
The Beach:
St Andrew’s Old Church:
One of 3 churches in the town named after St Andrew. This one opened in 1664, the body of the church is still largely intact (though roofless) along with its west tower, and is surrounded by a graveyard containing a monument to Covenanter John Blackadder, who died on the nearby island of Bass Rock after being imprisoned there in the 1680s. His name is given to the 1880s replacement church – St Andrew Blackadder – on St Andrew Street.St Andrew Blackadder – named after John Blackadder (1615-1685). See: https://www.standrewblackadder.org.uk/our-history/
The Town:
The Lodge is a collection of houses dating from the 17th century, now divided into flats. It forms the entrance to an 11-hectare park…This building is owned by the GEO Foundation – a non-profit organisation that promotes sustainable golf…
Dunfermline
Dunfermline is an ancient settlement located in an easily defended site on rising ground a little over two miles north of the River Forth. The name comes from the Gaelic “Dun Fearam Linn” which translates as “the fort in the bend of the stream”. It became Scotland’s eighth city in 2022 as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
It is famous, amongst other things, for the Abbey, its place in Scottish history and for being the birthplace of Andrew Carnegie…
The Abbey and Palace:
The Abbey and the ruins around it are all that remain of a Benedictine Abbey founded by Queen Margaret in the eleventh century. After the reformation Dunfermline ceased to be an Abbey, but since the nave of the church continued to be used as the local parish church, much of it has survived. The present parish church, to the east of the Old Church, was added in the nineteenth century….Legend has it that, when King Malcom III married Queen Margaret in Denfermline in 1070, she liked the place so much she decided to set up a religious community here, bringing in Benedictine monks from Canterbury to form its core. This first priory at Dunfermline centred on a church, probably built by extending the existing church in which Margaret and Malcolm had been married. The community remained a modest one in Margaret’s time and it was their son, David I, who turned it into an abbey in the years following 1128.The heart of David’s Abbey was the Abbey Church and the remains of the original nave built from 1128 still stand. The new Abbey Church was built in 1821…King Robert the Bruce is buried here, and, hopefully, you can see King Robert carved in stone around the top of the tower…The nave of the original Abbey church dates from 1128…The new addition dates from 1821. For more information see: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/dunfermline/abbeypalace/index.html
Abbot House:
The current Abbot House appears to date from the 16th century but there seems to be no definitive history of the building. For anyone vaguely interested, see: https://royaldunfermline.com/Resources/abbot_house.pdfFollowing five years of closure, Abbot House underwent a programme of renovation. The ground floor houses a gift shop, a coffee shop and a book nook with local, Scottish, and antique books. There is also a workshop space available to hire for classes and exhibitions…The house is no longer used as a heritage centre but an area on the first floor is planned aimed at telling the story of Abbot House. The top floor is rented out to local artists and designers and used for studios…
Andrew Carnegie Birthplace, Museum and Library:
Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline on November 25, 1835 and in 1848 his family emigrated to America where they settled in Pittsburgh. By the age of 30, Carnegie had amassed business interests in iron works, steamers on the Great Lakes, railroads, and oil wells. He subsequently built the Carnegie Steel Corporation into the largest steel manufacturing company in the world…In 1901, Carnegie sold his company to JP Morgan and retired to devote himself to philanthropic activities…The Dunfermline library is the first of 2,509 Carnegie libraries endowed throughout the world. It opened in 1883 with extensions completed in 1922 and1993…This ugly addition to the library was added in 2017 – unbelievably, it was awarded ‘Scotland’s best building’ (the Doolan Prize) in the same year. It houses a cafe, art galleries and a museum…
Pittencrieff Park:
The imposing statue of Andrew Carnegie. Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline before emigrating to America and making his fortune. He gifted the park to the public in 1903…Pittencrieff House, a beautiful 17th-century Lairds House and the former family home of General John Forbes.The sails of the Firth of Forth road bridge visible in the distance…
The City:
Dunfermline City Chambers houses Council services for Dunfermline and West Fife. The building was constructed in 1875–1879, encompassing French, Gothic and Scots baronial architectural styles while also featuring a prominent clock tower… The Guildhall and Linen Exchange is a Wetherspoon pub and hotel, where I stayed. The foundation stone for the imposing classical-style building was laid in 1807 and the spire added in 1811; it was originally designed as a guildhall and linen exchange. The name of Dunfermline was once synonymous with fine-quality table linen, providing employment for most of the town’s population… The sad remains of the Dunfermline Mercat Cross. It was moved to this position in 1992. The unicorn that used to sit proudly atop the monument was toppled and destroyed by vandals in November 2022. There are plans to restore it…There isn’t much street art in Dunfermline…There are plans for a mural of Robert the Bruce…
Culross
Culross (koo-ross) is Scotland’s most complete example of a burgh of the 17th and 18th centuries. White-harled houses with red-tiled roofs line the steep cobbled streets which run from the market cross to the hilltop abbey. In the centre is the ochre-coloured palace with original painted woodwork and restored 17th- and 18th-century interiors.
Culross is often used as a film and television location…
The Burgh:
Culross Townhouse dates back to 1626 – once a toll booth it is now the visitor’s centre…Similar to Mercat Crosses found across Scotland, the Culross iteration dates back to the 17th century. Though rebuilt in 1902 to preserve its integrity, the cross marks the heart of the town. Its head has four distinctive sides, including the Culross coat of arms, the initials and coat of arms of its restorer, and a monogram for King James VI, alongside a unicorn – Scotland’s national animal…Looking down to the Firth of Forth towards Bo’ness…
The Palace:
Culross Palace was built for Sir George Bruce. The west block dates from 1597 and the north wing was built in 1611. Built using local sandstone, the walls of the Palace were harled to protect the stone from harsh weather…The term ’Palace’ was first noted in the 19th century, likely due to a mix-up with the term ’Palatial House’ found in the property deeds. While it was never a royal residence, King James VI did pay a visit to Sir George Bruce here…
The Abbey:
Culross Abbey was built in the 1200s as part of a Cistercian monastery and survived until the Reformation, when the abbey church became the parish church. Culross is said to have been the site of an early Christian community led by St Serf and of which St Kentigern (Mungo) was a member…
