Newcastleton

Newcastleton (Copshaw Holm), is a village in Liddesdale, the Scottish Borders, a few miles from the border with England, on the Liddel Water. It is the site of Hermitage Castle.

Newcastleton / Copshaw Holm
Newcastleton / Copshaw Holm
Location within the Scottish Borders
Population768 (2011 census)
LanguageEnglish
Southern Scots
OS grid referenceNY480875
Civil parish
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townNEWCASTLETON
Postcode districtTD9
Dialling code013873
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament

Newcastleton is 10 miles (16 km) east of Langholm, 17 miles (27 km) south of Hawick, 24 miles (39 km) north of Carlisle and 74 miles (119 km) south of Edinburgh.

History

Newcastleton was built as a result of the land clearances in the 1790s when people were forced to move from Old Castleton village. There has been a folk festival at Newcastleton since 1970. "Copshaw Holm" (another name for the village) is celebrated in the song "Copshawholm Fair", written by David Anderson in 1830, as sung by Willie Scott among others.

2020, the local community purchased 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) of Langholm Moor for £3.8m from Buccleuch Estates.[1][2]

Amenities
Newcastleton War Memorial

A community-owned unmanned fuel station opened after much community fund raising in 2018.[3][4][5]

The former Townfoot Church (erected in 1803) now houses the Liddesdale Heritage Centre, a museum devoted to the culture and history of Liddesdale. Newcastleton Forest is near the village, and is home to one of the 7stanes mountain bike centres.

Newcastleton is the location of Whithaugh Park, an outdoor activity and residential centre run by Rock UK, offering groups of young people the opportunity to try out a variety of different outdoor activities. The village also possesses the amenity of an astroturf multi-sport pitch (Polysport), as well as a gym and football pitch.

There is a nine-hole golf course on the Holm Hill.

Common riding

Since 1998, an annual light-hearted common riding was established, being held on the same weekend as the music festival. The elected principal to represent the event is referred to as The Tub, aided by the principal's Right and Left Legged men/women, wearing the village colour of yellow. Unlike other ridings in the Borders, the Copshaw Common Riding is done on bicycle.[6] The Copshie participants parody the over-formality of nearby Langholm and other pageants, by proceeding on bikes, giving four cheers instead of three, toasting with tequila instead of whisky, and not taking themselves too seriously.[7]

Other events

A traditional music festival is held every year in Newcastleton, around July.[8] The Holm Show is an annual traditional agricultural event.[9]

Transport

The village has direct bus services to Hawick and Carlisle. Newcastleton railway station provided rail services from 1862 until its closure in 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts.

Economy

Argriculture + forestry is the main provider of employment, many people also travel to Carlisle, Hawick + Langholm for work.

Buccleuch Estates have an office in nearby Langolm + own much of the land surrounding Newcastleton.[10][11]

Local media
Douglas Square, Newcastleton

Newspaper

The local newspaper is the Eskdale & Liddesdale Advertiser[12] The paper is commonly referred to locally as 'The Squeak'. Established in 1848, the newspaper was the first penny newspaper in Scotland.

Radio

Outside of the nationwide services it is possible to receive transmissions by:-

See also

References
  1. "Historic community buyout of part of Buccleuch Estate".
  2. "Community land buyout on the Buccleuch Estate looks doomed".
  3. "Village celebrates petrol pump return". 29 March 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  4. Barry, Maggie (15 March 2018). "Villagers in Newcastleton man the pumps". dailyrecord.
  5. "First fuel in remote Scottish Borders village for first time in a decade". News and Star.
  6. "About". Copshaw Common Riding. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  7. "Grassroots folk: Scotland's oldest 'trad' music festival and is proud of its down-to-earth ethos". The Scotsman. 3 July 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  8. "Scottish Borders folk music".
  9. "Copshaw is holm to its 124th village show". www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk.
  10. "Buccleuch + Langholm initiative agreed historic buyout".
  11. "Scottish village buys large part of Langholm Moor from Duke of Buccleuch".
  12. Eskdale and Liddlesdale Advertiser

Media related to Newcastleton at Wikimedia Commons

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