Newcastleton

Newcastleton
Newcastleton
	Newcastleton Location within the Scottish Borders
Population	768 (mid 2021 est.)
OS grid reference	NY480875
Civil parish	Castleton;
Council area	Scottish Borders;
Lieutenancy area	Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale;
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	NEWCASTLETON
Postcode district	TD9
Dialling code	013873
Police	Scotland
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
UK Parliament	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk;
Scottish Parliament	Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire;
	List of places UK Scotland 55°10′45″N 2°49′05″W / 55.17905°N 2.81807°W

Newcastleton, also called Copshaw Holm, is a village in Liddesdale, the Scottish Borders, a few miles from the border with England, on the Liddel Water. It is within the county of Roxburghshire. It is the site of Hermitage Castle.

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.

In 2020, the local community purchased 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) of Langholm Moor for £3.8m from Buccleuch Estates.^[2]^[3]

Amenities

A community-owned unmanned fuel station opened after much community fund raising in 2018.^[4]^[5]^[6]

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 also a children's playground.

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.^[7] 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.^[8]

Other events

A traditional music festival is held every year in Newcastleton, around July.^[9] The Holm Show is an annual traditional agricultural event.^[10]

Transport

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

Economy

Agriculture and forestry is the main provider of employment, many people also travel to Carlisle, Hawick & Langholm for work.

Buccleuch Estates have an office in nearby Langholm and own much of the land surrounding Newcastleton.^[11]^[12]

Local media

Newspaper

The local newspaper is the Eskdale & Liddesdale Advertiser.^[13] The paper is commonly referred to locally as 'The Squeak'. Established in 1848, the newspaper was the first penny newspaper in Scotland.

References

^ "Research and data".
^ "Historic community buyout of part of Buccleuch Estate". 3 November 2020.
^ "Community land buyout on the Buccleuch Estate looks doomed". 25 June 2020.
^ "Village celebrates petrol pump return". 29 March 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
^ Barry, Maggie (15 March 2018). "Villagers in Newcastleton man the pumps". dailyrecord.
^ "First fuel in remote Scottish Borders village for first time in a decade". News and Star. 29 March 2018.
^ "About". Copshaw Common Riding. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
^ "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.
^ "Scottish Borders folk music".
^ "Copshaw is holm to its 124th village show". www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk.
^ "Buccleuch and Langholm initiative agreed historic buyout".
^ Carrell, Severin (2 November 2020). "Scottish village buys large part of Langholm Moor from Duke of Buccleuch". The Guardian.
^ Eskdale and Liddlesdale Advertiser

External links

Media related to Newcastleton at Wikimedia Commons

[1] "Research and data".

[2] "Historic community buyout of part of Buccleuch Estate". 3 November 2020.

[3] "Community land buyout on the Buccleuch Estate looks doomed". 25 June 2020.

[4] "Village celebrates petrol pump return". 29 March 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.

[5] Barry, Maggie (15 March 2018). "Villagers in Newcastleton man the pumps". dailyrecord.

[6] "First fuel in remote Scottish Borders village for first time in a decade". News and Star. 29 March 2018.

[7] "About". Copshaw Common Riding. Retrieved 9 August 2019.

[8] "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.

[9] "Scottish Borders folk music".

[10] "Copshaw is holm to its 124th village show". www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk.

[11] "Buccleuch and Langholm initiative agreed historic buyout".

[12] Carrell, Severin (2 November 2020). "Scottish village buys large part of Langholm Moor from Duke of Buccleuch". The Guardian.

[el-13] Eskdale and Liddlesdale Advertiser

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