The Burning Beacon

Cavers has a graveyard with stones from the same era as Spittal-on-Rule, though the old Cavers church is still standing and currently the main part of the building is being converted to a private home.

This church has links to Saint Cuthbert who was buried at Lindisfarne and had alot to do with introducing Christianity to the area.

It has a ruinous listed tower house which in its day was really quite beautiful.  It had six floors, and was the stronghold of the Douglas family.  This tower house is currently on the market to the right buyer, and it is hoped that any restoration would be sensitive to the tranquility of the area.

Yet another place decimated in 1545 by that right nasty Earl of Hertford, Cavers was once the place to be, rather than Hawick which was just a wee hamlet at the time.  Now it is a quiet rural area interspersed with cottages and buildings. 

The people who live at Cavers are appreciative of the quiet and rural idyll they reside in.  Though they are keen to see the historical importance of the area kept alive, they request that visitors respect this way of life when they explore the area.  (I do sincerely apologise for setting what sounded like fifty dogs off barking behind an electric fence when I went up there on my bike the other day!  Doing their job quite well those huge ferocious beasties scared the pants off me, probably a good thing as I was going to ask their owners a ream of questions, which was then avoided in case I got my leg chewed off or something, heh.)

For anyone interested in this area I'd recommend reading a book called "Cavers, a Keek in the Window" by Jean Muir, available at Hawick Library (once I return it).

Further Images of Cavers Tower House are in the Photo Gallery.

View from road to Cavers March 2009