Five miles south east of Selkirk.
Lilliesleaf is an attractive village situated on a ridge overlooking the River Ale. During the days of Border warfare, that the community lay in the path of marauding raiders is indicated by the number of peles erected for the defence of its people. The remains of fourteen towers have been found in and about the village, adding to the natural defence of extensive morasses to its east and south.
For hundreds of years Lilliesleaf was the domain of the Riddell family who are believed to have been established there from the seventh or eighth century.
Within the ancient chapel two stone coffins were discovered, one containing an earthen pot filled with ashes and weapons bearing the date AD 727. The other contained the bones of a man of giant stature and bore the date AD 936. They are claimed to have been ancestors of the Riddell family but the evidence is very scanty.
In 1819 the family suffered severe financial problems and they were never able to recover their status. They had another misfortune when, in 1943, their manor house was destroyed by fire.
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