Well, before I post anything else, I want to show you an email I received today, concerning this photo that I posted here about this time last year. See it here. Loved the description, and the bit of comparatively recent history. Thanks CD.
" Huge thanks for posting this pic, it was my best climbing tree from age 7-16. We had a rope on the branch that reaches out and we kept it up top when not in use so that it was fairly secret (though I don't think we put it there).
Rather than getting on at ground level you mounted it while standing on the wall and did what age 7 felt like a death defying leap off the wall with your legs straight out so they just missed the ground as it flew down the bank and out over the Tweed. Thrilling.
Years of tree climbing built up strong arms which came in handy as that part of the Tweed is also where aged 8-10 I was to be seen 'rescuing' rowing boats between May and August. My mum worked at 'the Boats' which were just up river at the other end of the path that this beech is on (boat shed may still be there).
There was a barrier rope to mark where people should turn back but quite often someone would struggle and end up heading towards the weir in a panic, at which point I was dispatched in a separate boat to nip down and tow them back.
Being towed by a child was especially embarrassing for men who'd taken their families out for a treat but I absolutely loved doing it. There were two jetty's, one either side of the river but the one that you set off from seems to be gone now. There was also a Pitch 'n' Put there, just below the embankment that has the stone entrance to what we were told was an ice store for Neidpath Castle in the past.
Thanks for bring back lots of great memories.
CD"
CD is right. The jetties have gone, though I now wonder if what I know as the fishing jetty was perhaps the one on the other side? CD? I only know of the putting green that used to be on Tweed Green, but I know where CD is talking about. The stone ice store is still there, but I wonder again if it was more likely to be the store for Hay Lodge, as it's quite far from Neidpath Castle? Hope to hear from you again, CD. I'd like to hear more of your stories.
Hi Evee, good to see you back again! It was interesting to hear from CD about the boats on the Tweed. As you know I lived in Peebles from 1956 but never heard of any row boats being there. It would be good if we could find any pictures of the boats. I know the Victorians and Edwardians were very fond of row boats but it went out of fashion.
ReplyDeleteI remember there was a tree with a rope on it just up from where the horses cross the Tweed at Beltane time and in summer the boys used to swing on it and drop into the water. However there was a serious accident there when someone dived in and hit a submerged fence post and I think council banned swimming in Tweed after that. Expect people now swim in the public pool where a Tweed mill once stood.
I remember the night it caught fire, people were worried that it would spread to the church.
I remember playing on that putting green on Tweed Green, but I think it was gone before I left Peebles in 1969. Pity because the tourists liked playing on it. It was in front of the War Memorial Hospital where my mother worked for a few years. Whats in the old hospital now?
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