of Kelso Sir
Walter Scott attended Kelso Grammar School in 1783 and he said of the town: "it is the most beautiful if not the most romantic village in Scotland". Another attraction is the Cobby Riverside Walk which goes from the town centre to
Floors Castle along the banks of the Tweed passing the point where it is joined by the River Teviot. Kelso has two bridges that span the River Tweed, "
Rennie's Bridge" was completed in 1803 to replace an earlier one washed away in the floods of 1797, it was built by John Rennie of Haddington, who later went on to build
Waterloo Bridge in London, his bridge in Kelso is a smaller and earlier version of Waterloo 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, the
Riot Act was read, three years later tolls were abolished. Hunter's Bridge, a kilometre downstream, is a modern construction built to divert vehicles around the town and so take much of the heavy traffic that has damaged Rennie's bridge. Famous people from Kelso have included the suffragette
Georgiana Solomon who was born here in 1844, the civil engineer Sir
James Brunlees (1816–1892) who constructed many railways in the United Kingdom as well as designing the docks at
Avonmouth and
Whitehaven.
Sir William Fairbairn (1789–1874) was another engineer who built the first iron hulled steamship the
Lord Dundas and constructed over 1,000 bridges using the tubular steel method which he pioneered.
Thomas Pringle the writer, poet and abolitionist, was born at nearby Blakelaw, a farmstead four miles (6 km) to the south of the town where his father was the tenant.
Donald Farmer, a
Victoria Cross recipient, was born in Kelso. ==Notable people== •
James Ballantyne, printer •
Horatius Bonar, poet and hymn writer •
Jane Lundie Bonar (1821–1884), hymnwriter •
Sir James Brunlees, engineer •
Peter Crawford, land surveyor •
Sir William Fairbairn, engineer •
Donald Farmer, Victoria Cross recipient •
Ross Ford, former rugby union player •
John Jeffrey, former rugby union player •
Alistair Moffat, journalist •
Tom Nevin, boxer •
Scott Newlands, Rugby Union •
Will H. Ogilvie (1869–1963), poet •
Oscar Onley, cyclist •
Sir Matthew Pinsent, rower •
Thomas Pringle, poet •
Sir William Purves, banker •
Alan Tait, dual rugby international •
Adam Roxburgh, former rugby union player •
Sir Walter Scott, writer •
Robert Smith, physicist •
Jane T. Stoddart, writer and editor •
Jennie Kidd Trout, Canadian Physician, the first woman in Canada to practice medicine, born in Kelso. •
James Thomson, poet and composer •
William Glass (1786-1853), founder of
The Settlement on
Tristan da Cunha ==Film, music and literature==