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Inside the Trimontium Museum: Roman cavalry armour, helmets, a painted shield and a silver face-mask helmet in dark cases lit red.
Scottish Borders

Trimontium Museum

A museum on Melrose's Market Square telling the story of Trimontium, the Roman fort a mile and a half east at Newstead.

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Welcome

For the Romans in the Borders, start in Melrose at the Trimontium Museum.

Trimontium means the place of the three hills, after the Eildons, and no Roman fort and town north of Hadrian's Wall was bigger. The Romans reached it around AD 79 and kept coming back to it for a hundred years or more. In the dark gallery you'll find weapons and armour, engraved gems and silver coins, and an ornate bronze armlet from the Iron Age people the Romans met here. Some of the replicas can be handled, children can dress up in helmets and hunt for missing Roman soldiers, and the Trimontium Experience takes you round the fort in virtual reality. Afterwards, walk out to the fort site itself, free and open all year, where you can still make out the grassy hollow of the most northerly amphitheatre yet found in the Roman Empire. From April to October the museum leads guided walks out there every week.

A short drive awayThe HoebridgeA restaurant in an old inn at Gattonside, across the Tweed from Melrose, with a seasonal menu and a garden, open for dinner from Wednesday to Saturday.7 min by roadSee itWhitewashed dining room with black chairs, wine racks and pendant lights
Before you go

A ticket lasts a year, so you can come back.

Where
On the Market Square in Melrose, TD6 9PN.
Open
Every day, 10am to 4.30pm, to the end of October. From 1 November to 12 December, Tuesday to Saturday, 10.30am to 4pm. Shut for the winter from 13 December until the middle of February.
Tickets
£8 adults, £7 over-60s and students, £4 children aged 5 to 15, under-5s free; a family ticket for two adults and two children is £20.
Booking
Walk-ins are always welcome. Booking ahead is a good idea in the school holidays, and the guided walks, the virtual reality and the handling sessions must be booked.
Parking
The museum has no car park of its own. The Abbey car park, which charges, is a short walk away, and there is free parking for up to an hour across the square.
By train and bus
Tweedbank station is 20 to 30 minutes on foot by a path along the Tweed. Buses from Galashiels stop outside.
Access
A street-level entrance with a ramp to reception; the gallery and shop are on one level, and there is an accessible toilet on the ground floor.
Dogs
All dogs are welcome in the museum.

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Where it is

On the Market Square in Melrose, TD6 9PN.

Close byMelrose and the Tweed.
  1. Melrose AbbeyMelrose AbbeyThe magnificent red sandstone ruin of Scotland's first Cistercian abbey, founded in 1136, where Robert the Bruce's heart is buried.Under a mile 2 min by road
  2. Harmony GardenHarmony GardenA peaceful walled garden of lawns, scented borders and fruit and vegetable beds round a Georgian house in Melrose, with views of the abbey and the Eildons.Under a mile 2 min by road
  3. The Rhymer's Stone, a small upright memorial stone on a cobbled base in front of bushes.Rhymer’s StoneA memorial stone of 1929 near Melrose marking where Thomas the Rhymer is said to have met the Queen of Elfland under the Eildon Tree.2 miles 4 min by road
  4. Abbotsford, Home of Sir Walter ScottAbbotsford, Home of Sir Walter ScottSir Walter Scott's romantic house by the Tweed near Melrose, which he built and filled with his library and collections, and where he died in 1832.3 miles 6 min by road
  5. Leaderfoot ViaductLeaderfoot ViaductA soaring nineteen-arch railway viaduct of 1865 over the Tweed near Melrose, 130 feet high and restored in the 1990s.3 miles 6 min by road
  6. Scott’s ViewScott’s ViewSir Walter Scott's favourite view, from Bemersyde Hill over the Tweed valley to the three peaks of the Eildon Hills.5 miles 9 min by road
  7. Dryburgh AbbeyDryburgh AbbeyA remarkably complete medieval ruin by the Tweed, with some of the best Gothic church architecture in Scotland and the grave of Sir Walter Scott.7 miles 13 min by road
Directions
Burts Hotel in Melrose, a white-painted 18th-century inn with black window surrounds and red window boxes.RestaurantsBurts HotelA step away
The white lattice deck of the Chain Bridge hanging across the River Tweed from its stone tower, with a heron in the shallows below.AttractionsThe Chain Bridge0.4 miles
Whitewashed dining room with black chairs, wine racks and pendant lightsRestaurantsThe Hoebridge2.6 miles
Stone tower with sash window above a white-framed door and lanternAttractionsOld Gala House4.1 miles
The Great Tapestry of Scotland's modern pale stone gallery with a zigzag roofline on a sunny street corner in Galashiels.AttractionsThe Great Tapestry of Scotland4.3 miles
Empty bar stools face shelves of spirits behind a panelled counterRestaurantsBuccleuch Arms4.7 miles
Café interior with wooden tables, chalkboard menu and a "Deli & Home" signShoppingThe Mainstreet Trading Company5.0 miles
The giant red sandstone statue of William Wallace with sword and shield on a tall plinth against a blue sky.AttractionsWallace Statue6.3 miles
Modern entrance with vertical "Lochcarron" lettering beside a stone church buildingAttractionsLochcarron Visitor Centre6.9 miles

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The Daily for 22 October, from Scotland with love. An aerial view of the Kylesku Bridge curving across a sea loch at sunset, Sutherland

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Stay nearby

Places to stay near the museum, and when each is next free.

A grey stone farmhouse with several chimneys stands against rolling hills, a wildflower meadow in the foreground.The Scullery
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Yarrow
  • 13 miles from Trimontium Museum
Free 13–15 NovThe House in the Hill at dusk, its turf roof over walls of local stone and glass, a bedroom lit inside and the hot tub at the corner.The House in the Hill
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Jedburgh
  • 15 miles from Trimontium Museum
Free 29–31 OctPlaces to stayEvery stay in the Scottish BordersAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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