Kirk Yetholm is a village in the Scottish Borders, eight miles (13 km) southeast of Kelso and less than a mile west of the border. The first mention is of its church in the 13th century.

The Border Hotel public house is the official end of the Pennine Way. Kirk Yetholm was for centuries the head-quarters of the Romani people (Gypsies) in Scotland. The last king was crowned in 1898 and the gypsies have been integrated and are no longer a separate ethnic minority. A memorial stone can be found on the village green.

Its sister town is Town Yetholm which lies half a mile across the Bowmont Water.

Place-name meanings

Yetholm means either:

• the goats' island from Old English gat 'goat' and Old Norse holmr (island, holme)
• village with a gate - from Old English geat-ham 'gate village'

References