In the gallant discharge of its duties he was dangerously wounded by a leading outlaw, whom he slew in single combat; and while yet confined to Hermitage Castle he received a visit of two hours from the queen, who rode thither from Jedburgh and back through 20 miles of the wild borderland where her person was in perpetual danger from the freebooters whom her father's policy had striven and had failed to extirpate.
About 1604 he became minister of Crailing, near Jedburgh, where he became conspicuous for his resolute opposition to the introduction of Episcopacy.
Calderwood died at Jedburgh on the 29th of October 1650.
The driest climates of the east are in Tweeddale about Kelso and Jedburgh, the low grounds of East Lothian, and those on the Moray Firth from Elgin round to Dornoch.
The bishoprics erected by him, and his many Lowland abbeys, Holyrood, Melrose, Dryburgh, Kelso, Jedburgh and others, confirmed the freedom of the Scottish church from the claims of the see of York, encouraged the i mprovement of agriculture and endowed the country with beautiful examples of architecture.