Eddleston ( gd, Baile Ghille Mhoire) is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

area of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It lies north of

Peebles Peebles ( gd, Na Pùballan) is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in June 2018 wa ...

and south of

Penicuik Penicuik ( ; sco, Penicuik; gd, Peighinn na Cuthaig) is a town and former burgh in Midlothian, Scotland, lying on the west bank of the River North Esk. It lies on the A701 midway between Edinburgh and Peebles, east of the Pentland Hills. Na ...

on the A703, which passes through the centre of the village. Nearby is the

Great Polish Map of Scotland The ''Great Polish Map of Scotland'' is a large (50 m x 40 m) three-dimensional, outdoor concrete scale model of Scotland, located in the grounds of the Blackbarony, Barony Castle Hotel, outside the village of Eddleston near Peebles in t ...

, a large terrain map. The

Eddleston Water Eddleston Water is a small river north of Peebles, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland which joins the River Tweed at Peebles. It is also known locally as "The Cuddy". Eddleston Water rises near Mount Lothian and passes through Waterheads, ...

runs through the village. According to the 2001 census, there were 129 households, with a population of 335 people, 47% male and 53% female. Eddleston contains a few farms outside of the village centre.

Barony Castle Black Barony, also known as Blackbarony, Barony Castle, and Darnhall, is a historic house at Eddleston in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. The house is currently operated as a hotel, and is protected as a Category B listed building. Nearb ...

(also known by its earlier name of Black Barony), in the village, dates back to the 16th century, and was the property of the Murray Baronets, as was nearby

Cringletie Cringletie is a Scottish Baronial house by the Eddleston Water, around south of Eddleston in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, in the former Peeblesshire. Designed by David Bryce and built in 1861, the house is a Category B listed buildin ...

, which is now a hotel.

Etymology

Eddleston's earliest recorded name was ''Penteiacob'', in

Old Welsh Old Welsh ( cy, Hen Gymraeg) is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic ...

Brittonic Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to: *Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain *Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic *Britons (Celtic people) The Br ...

, and meant "headland of James's house". The Anglo-Gaelic of ''Gillemorestun'' of the 12th century AD meant "town of St Mary's lad", and gave rise to the current

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

name for the village, ''Baile Ghille Mhoire''. It became ''Edulfstun'' in 1189 when it was granted to Edulf, son of Utred. This became ''Edoluestone'' (circa 1200) and ''Edwylstone'' (circa 1305), and was eventually fully

Anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

to Eddleston by the 14th century.

The Great Polish Map of Scotland

The

is a three-dimensional concrete map in the grounds of the Barony Castle Hotel. It was constructed by

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

geographers in the mid-1970s. The map was conceived partly in recognition of the hospitality afforded to Polish soldiers during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The idea for the map originated with Jan Tomasik who was the proprietor of the hotel from 1968 to 1981. It was constructed over a three-year period from 1974. In September 2012 the Scottish Culture Secretary announced that the map had been awarded

category B listed This is a list of Category A listed buildings in Scotland, which are among the listed buildings of the United Kingdom. For a fuller list, see the pages linked on List of listed buildings in Scotland. Key The organization of the lists in th ...

status.

Eddleston Primary School

Eddleston primary school has been put in abeyance in 2022 following a significant drop in attendance; there is no secondary school, with pupils normally moving on to attend Peebles High School. The school moved to its current building in 1992.

Film record

The Cinema Museum in London holds several home movies shot by Dr. A.G.W. Thomson in the village in the late 1930s, Ref HM154-16

References

* Mulholland, H (1970), ''The microlithic industries of the Tweed Valley''

External links

National Archives of Scotland record of Eddleston

RCAHMS record of Eddleston Railway BridgeScottish Borders Council leaflet: Improving the Eddleston Water for People and WildlifePeebles Old Parish Church of ScotlandWeb Historian site for Eddleston ParishBorders Family History Society: Eddleston
{{authority control Villages in the Scottish Borders Peeblesshire Parishes in Peeblesshire