Innerleithen

About Innerleithen

The small town of Innerleithen sits at the confluence of the River Tweed where it meets the Leithen water. Inver is a common prefix for Scottish place names as it is means “mouth of river” in Gaelic.

Largely a commuter town of Edinburgh, the area still attracts many visitors and is popular among mountain bikers. This is due to the town being surrounded by tall halls such as Pirn Craig, Lee Pen, Plora Craig and Caerlee Hill and has hosted many national events. The remains of an iron age fort are visible on Caerlee Hill, indicating that the area has been occupied since pre roman times. The settlement is said to have been originally founded by the pilgrim monk St. Ronan in around A.D 737. The legend around St. Ronan was brought to life by Walter Scott when he wrote about the town in his novel St. Ronan's Well. There are ceremonies devoted to this in the St. Ronans Borders Games, also known as 'Games Week’, in the first and second week in July.

The area is also well known for it’s fly fishing of both trout and salmon. The fish ladder is situated close by to the golf course, and is a popular stopping point for both locals and visitors to watch the autumn and winter runs of salmon.