New Castleton is a modern village. In an extensive mountainous parish, formerly known by the name of Castletown, but more generally by the popular title of Liddesdale, being in the vale of the Liddle water. The village, which owes its rise to Henry, Duke of Buccleuch, and has superceded the old parish village ( a little further up the vale), is 26 miles S. from Jedburgh, 20 S.E. from Hawick, and 5 N.E. from Canonby; situated in the centre of the lower and more arable part of the district, on the road which proceeds up Liddesdale. It consists principally of two long streets of neat houses, which occupy a haugh on the right bank of the Liddle. Except that a few of the inhabitants are employed by the cotton manufacturers of Carlisle[2], there is no other business worth mentioning. The parish is upwards of eighteen miles in length by fourteen in breadth. The banks of the river are covered with natural wood and extensive plantations, which afford an infinite variety of the most picturesque scenery. Within the district are the ruins of no less than five churches, and many others of castles and fortified places; but the most remarkable object in Liddesdale is the ancient castle of Hermitage, erected in the thirteenth century by Comyn, Earl of Monteith, and was one of the largest fortresses on the border: it has lately been repaired by the Duke of Buccleuch, and during this operation several small pieces of cannon were found, and , among other antiquities, a gold ring, evidently of very old manufacture, bearing the inscription – In Broderlie Amite. The places of worship are the parish church; a free school [should be free church], and two for dissenters. There are two libraries – a subscription, and a parochial, and schools connected with the churches. Fairs are held in April, May, September and November – some of them are for hiring servants.

Post Office – Elizabeth Douglas, post mistress Letter from all parts arrive ( from Langholm), every afternoon at three, and are despatched thereto at seven in the morning.

Notes

At first glance, the 1852 directory entry for Newcastleton seems little changed from its predecessor of 1837. But closer attention shows a number of small features that reflect developments and events in the village. An extra minister has crept into the list of ‘Gentry and Clergy’. This is Rev John Reid, a probationer (trainee minister) who had the pastoral care of Newcastleton’s recently established Free Church. In most places Free Church congregations came into being as a result of the ‘Disruption’, and event that split the Church of Scotland in 1843. However, Newcastleton Free Church arose in an unusual way, not as a direct offshoot of the parish church, but from a dispute in the village’s United Presbyterian Church.[3]

A bit more detail is given about the schools in the parish. Alexander Fisher is the ‘master’ of the Parochial School in Newcastleton, and we are told that there are Auxiliary Parochial schools at Saughtree and Hermitage. The directory does not mention Burnmouth School though it did exist and the census of 1851 confirms that James Lewis ( age 22) was the teacher there[4].

The number of Inn keepers and Vintners has shrunk by one. I wrote about the local inns in the Clatter in April, May and July 1985. The Grapes is the only inn recognisable today. Where were the rest? The Black Bull was at 45 North Hermitage Street[5]. The 1851 census returns ( which unfortunately does not give precise addresses), suggests that the Cross Keys stood on the corner where the bank now is[6]. The Crown was at 8 Douglas Square and its ballroom was the first meeting place of Newcastleton Free Church from 1850 until the opening of their church in Langholm Street (now the Village hall). The King’s Arms later became the Commercial and is now the Liddesdale. Location of the Buccleuch Arms – 47/48 North Hermitage Street - can confirmed by an advert in the Kelso Mail, March 7, 1833[7] and comparison of the 1851 and 1861 census returns.[8]

The list of carriers has changed. In 1852 it was no longer necessary for a carrier to travel to Edinburgh since the Edinburgh-Hawick railway line opened in 1849[9]. Carriers are still operating to Carlisle, Hawick and Langholm, but two new destinations have been added : Brampton ( 20 mile to the south east, and connected by rail to Newcastle-upon-Tyne), and Nether Oakshaw , 10 miles south close to Roadhead. At Nether Oakshaw a 2–foot coal seam was worked intermittently from the mid 19th century onwards. The Oakshaw Colliery closed in 1934 and the Oakshawford Drift Mine ceased production in 1948. The Nether Oakshaw carrier presumably transported coal supplies into Newcastleton in pre railway days. [10]