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Nothing remains standing of the town except some ruined segments of castle ramparts. Its site lies to the south of modern Kelso and Floors Castle, which lie on the other side of the Tweed. Roxburgh was superseded as the county town of the former county of Roxburghshire by Jedburgh.
Roxburgh Castle. Marchmount, the castle of Roxburgh, once the strongest fortress on the whole Border but now almost wholly demolished, lies about three-quarters of a mile W of Kelso immediately above the junction of Teviot and Tweed, these streams flanking the site on two sides.
Roxburgh Castle (Grose, 1790) Roxburgh Castle (print, 1936) A ghostly horsemen is reputedly sometimes seen riding towards the castle. Roxburgh was an important royal burgh [NT 718340], granted in 1120 by David I, and stood near the castle, and was later defended by a wall.
David I designated Roxburghshire a shire. In the 13th century the ancient county town (seat) of Roxburgh was a member of the Court of the Four Burghs. The town was abandoned when the castle was destroyed and James II of Scotland killed in 1460; it was superseded by Kelso.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
~ History ~ 1120 ~ King David of Scotland awards the burgh of Roxburgh royal status. Five years later he orders a castle to be built in order to protect the burgh, and to assert his authority in the region. The castle is called Marchmount Castle.
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County Offices, Newtown St Boswells, the former headquarters of Roxburgh County Council. Until 1975, Roxburghshire was used for local government. The original county town of Roxburgh was abandoned following the destruction of Roxburgh Castle in 1460 during the Anglo-Scottish Wars.
Professor Richard Oram. Almost invisible amongst the trees and scrub on the summit of the long ridge between the rivers Tweed and Teviot just west of their confluence at Kelso, the fragmentary ruins of Roxburgh Castle are a sad remnant of what was once one of Scotland’s greatest royal fortresses.
