Newtown St Boswells ( sco, Newtoon; gd, Baile Ùr Bhoisil ) is a village in the historic county of Roxburghshire which houses the administrative centre of the Scottish Borders

council area {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A council area is one of the areas defined in Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and is under the control of one of the local authorities in Scotland created by that Act. ...

. The village lies south of the

Eildon Hills Eildon Hill lies just south of Melrose, Scotland in the Scottish Borders, overlooking the town. The name is usually pluralised into "the Eildons" or "Eildon Hills", because of its triple peak. The high eminence overlooks Teviotdale to the Sout ...

on the Sprouston and Newtown burns, between the larger settlements of St Boswells to the south-east and Melrose to the north-west.

History

Newtown St Boswells is an old settlement, well-established by the 16th century. The town has been known at various times as Newtoune, Newtown of Eildon, Neuton and Newtown of Dryburgh. It lies split between the

civil parishes 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. ...

of Melrose and St Boswells. Historically, Newtown St Boswells was a centre for milling grain, with

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

s on its burns. It became a regional centre of communication and an exporter of

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

after the opening of its

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

. This importance has declined since the closure of the station in 1969. Scottish Borders Council Headquarters at Newtown St Boswells (geograph 4367455)

Scottish Borders Council Headquarters at Newtown St Boswells (geograph 4367455)

Roxburghshire County Council established offices at Newtown St Boswells in 1896, and subsequently moved its meeting place there from

Jedburgh Jedburgh (; gd, Deadard; sco, Jeddart or ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and the traditional county town of the historic county of Roxburghshire, the name of which was randomly chosen for Operation Jedburgh in s ...

in 1930. A large new building was added to the site in 1968. From 1975 to 1996, the offices served as the administrative centre for Borders Regional Council. Since the 1996 the offices have been the headquarters of

Scottish Borders Council Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

and known as the Council Headquarters.

Education

The village is served by Newtown Primary School, which is a feeder school to

Earlston High School Earlston High School is a secondary school in Earlston, 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, Du ...

, about away in

Earlston Earlston ( sco, Yerlston; gd, Dùn Airchill) is a civil parish and market town in the county of Berwickshire, within the Scottish Borders. It is on the River Leader in Lauderdale, Scotland. Early history Earlston was originally called ''Arc ...

. The primary school also has nursery provision for preschool-aged children. A Borders College campus at the southeastern tip of the village specialises in

agricultural education Agricultural education is the teaching of agriculture, natural resources, and land management. At higher levels, agricultural education is primarily undertaken to prepare students for employment in the agricultural sector. Classes taught in an ...

References

External links

RCAHMS/Canmore: Newtown St Boswells, St Boswells Station and Granary
Villages in the Scottish Borders {{Borders-geo-stub