Eskbank Walk Highlights E2: Maidens & Ice

A 17th century grotto hides the entrance to an icehouse which has a brick built egg-shaped pit which was filled with ice in winter to store meat and other perishables.

Maiden Bridge was named as Margaret Tudor stopped here in 1503 on her way to Newbattle Abbey to meet her future spouse, king James 1V. This marriage paved the way for the Union of the Crowns a hundred years later.