Stow of Wedale, or more often Stow, is a village 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 ...

(historically

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...

), north of

Galashiels Galashiels (; sco, Gallae, gd, An Geal Àth) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive ...

. In the 2011 Census the population was 718. It is served by

Stow railway station Stow is a railway station on the Borders Railway, which runs between and . The station, situated south-east of Edinburgh Waverley, serves the town of Lauder and village of Stow of Wedale in Scottish Borders, Scotland. It is owned by Network R ...

The name

The name Stow is an

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

word '' stōw'' meaning 'holy place' or 'meeting place', whilst Wedale is probably derived from the words '' wēoh'' (or ''wīg'') meaning 'shrine' and '' dæl'' meaning 'valley'.

History

There has been a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

at Stow since the 7th century, but the earliest example still visible today was built in the late 15th century on the site of the Church of

St Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

which was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

on 3 November 1242. The church used today, St Mary of Wedale, was built in 1876 and features a 140-foot-high

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

. Our Lady's Well is situated south of the village and was rebuilt in 2000. A rare example of a

packhorse bridge A packhorse bridge is a bridge intended to carry packhorses (horses loaded with sidebags or panniers) across a river or stream. Typically a packhorse bridge consists of one or more narrow (one horse wide) masonry arches, and has low Parapet#Bridge ...

, built in the 1650s, can be found in Stow.

Stow of Wedale Town Hall Stow of Wedale Town Hall is a municipal building in Earlston Road, Stow of Wedale, Scottish Borders, Scotland. The structure, which serves as a community events venue, is a Category B listed building. History The building was commissioned by Ca ...

was completed in 1857. In 1870,

James Thin James Thin was a Scottish bookseller, stationer and publishing company. It was, until 2002, the principal academic bookshop in Edinburgh, with its main premises opposite Old College, University of Edinburgh on South Bridge. It also had branch ...

purchased a plot of land in the village and had a house built which was completed in 1873 and was named Ashlea. This house is still a private residence but is not owned by the Thin family.

Famous residents

*Sir

John Rose Cormack Sir John Rose Cormack FRSE FRCP (1 March 1815 – 13 May 1882) was a Scottish physician and medical journalist. He established several notable British journals: the ''Edinburgh Monthly Journal of Medical Science''; the ''London Medical Journ ...

(1815–1882), born and raised in Stow *Sir

Walter Mercer Sir Walter Mercer KBE FRSE FRCSEd FRCPE LLD (19 March 1890 – 23 February 1971) was a Scottish orthopaedic surgeon. He was President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 1951 to 1956. He was affectionately known as 'Wattie.' His c ...

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(1890–1971) orthopaedic surgeon

Gallery

File:St. Mary's of Wedale Parish Church - geograph.org.uk - 2232233.jpg, St. Mary's of Wedale Parish Church File:Pack-horse bridge over the Gala Water, Stow - geograph.org.uk - 3148811.jpg, Pack horse bridge across the Gala Water, at the south end of Stow File:Stow Town Hall (geograph 5401009).jpg,

References

Sources