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Greenlaw is a town and civil parish situated in the foothills of the
Lammermuir Hills The Lammermuirs are a range of hills in southern Scotland, forming a natural boundary between East Lothian and the Borders. The name "Lammermuir" comes from the Old English ''lambra mōr'', meaning "moorland of the lambs". Geology The Lammer ...
on Blackadder Water at the junction of the A697 and the A6105 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. At the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 661.


History

Greenlaw was first made the
county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...
of Berwickshire in 1596. At that time, Greenlaw was situated about south of the present village, atop a hill - the 'Green Law'. This area is now known as Old Greenlaw. In 1661, county town status was lost to
Duns Duns may refer to: * Duns, Scottish Borders, a town in Berwickshire, Scotland ** Duns railway station ** Duns F.C., a football club ** Duns RFC, a rugby football club ** Battle of Duns, an engagement fought in 1372 * Duns Scotus ( 1265/66–1308) ...
by an Act of Parliament. When Patrick, Earl of Marchmont attained the barony of Greenlaw in the 1670s, he made it his business to restore what he saw as the rights and privileges that came with the barony. In 1696 he succeeded: an Act of Parliament was passed, laying down in statute that the town of Greenlaw should be the Head Burgh of Berwickshire. However, attempts were made in 1739, 1790 and 1810 to take the rights and privileges from Greenlaw and make Duns the county town once more. Though unsuccessful in their primary aim, the grounds were laid for an 1853 Act authorising Sheriff and Commissary Courts to be held at Duns. Another courthouse, known as County Buildings, was subsequently built at 8 Newtown Street in Duns in 1856. When Berwickshire County Council was created it held its first meeting on 22 May 1890 at County Hall in Greenlaw, when it decided by 18 votes to 12 that all subsequent meetings should be held at Duns. Greenlaw was still considered the official county town after 1890, despite the county council meeting in Duns and courts being held at both towns. An Act of Parliament in 1903 finally revoked Greenlaw's status as county town and declared Duns to be the county town for all purposes. There is also a fine church, built in 1675, on earlier foundations. The corbie step gables preserve a feature of the architecture of that period. The church was expanded during the eighteenth century and completed in its present form around 1855. After Greenlaw became a county town in 1696, the church tower was planned as a tolbooth or prison and was completed by 1712. Its style was adapted to present the appearance of a Church Tower. It is unique in structure – square rising to a height of and ending in a corballed parapet from which an steeple rises. The old iron gate or yett is the original one of 1712. A Court House also completed in 1712 stood on the west side of the tower, therefore by 1712 there stood by the side of the Church, a Tolbooth and Court House, hence the rhyme:
"Here stands the Gospel and the Law, Wi' Hell's Hole atween the twa"
A new jail was built in the town in 1824. This was used throughout the Victorian period but was taken out of use in the 20th century and demolished in the 1960s.
Greenlaw Town Hall Greenlaw Town Hall is a municipal building in The Square, Greenlaw, Scottish Borders, Scotland. The structure, which served as the county headquarters of Berwickshire in the 19th century, is a Category A listed building. History As the then cou ...
, completed in 1831, is a listed building from its county town era and was one of the buildings shortlisted in the 2006 BBC television series ''
Restoration Village ''Restoration'' was a set of BBC television series where viewers decided on which listed building that was in immediate need of remedial works was to win a grant from Heritage Lottery Fund. It first aired in 2003. The host of all three series w ...
''. Greenlaw Golf Club (now defunct) first appeared in the mid-1920s. The club disappeared some time in the 1950s.


Facilities

Shops include the Blackadder Mini-market, Romanes pharmacy, Waldie's butchers and the Village Store. The Post Office closed in 2010 and Greenlaw is now served by a mobile post office. There was a branch of the
Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Bank ...
, but this closed in 2014. Since 1992 the village has been home to 'STOPS', the Scottish Theatre Organ Preservation Society, which Charitable Trust created its base in a custom converted building now known as the New Palace Theatre Organ Heritage Centre, in the 75 seat multi-purpose auditorium of which is housed the world famous Hilsdon organ from the Edinburgh Playhouse as well as the Hilsdon organs of the Palace Picture House, Edinburgh and the Picture House, Paisley. The Centre draws visitors to Greenlaw from all over the world and the resident organist of the Centre, Larry McGuire, was one of the two people ultimately responsible for saving the Edinburgh Playhouse from demolition in 1975. An amateur Weather Centre was established at the Centre in 2006, the data from which was launched as bordersweather.co.uk, which website was initially conceived to give travellers to the Centre an idea of what weather to expect during their visit. The website has grown and is now a respected member of a nationwide chain of independent weather stations and its webcam is viewed by thousands daily during periods of snow. The web designer of the site also established the Interactive Independent Climate Change Project which records data from a number of amateur Weather Stations around the UK, some of whom have data going back for over 25 years. Greenlaw Castle was a manor house located to the east of the town. It was owned by a branch of the Home family, including the surgeon Robert Boyne Home (1713–1786), father of
Sir Everard Home Sir Everard Home, 1st Baronet, FRS (6 May 1756, in Kingston upon Hull – 31 August 1832, in London) was a British surgeon. Home was born in Kingston-upon-Hull and educated at Westminster School. He gained a scholarship to Trinity College, C ...
and Anne Hunter. It ceased to be used as a laird's house in 1729, and was demolished around 1820.


Geography

Places nearby include Eccles,
Legerwood Legerwood is a village by the Eden Water, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, near Lauder, near the Southern Upland Way. Legerwood Kirk is outside the village and has been there since at least 1127. Places nearby include Boon Farm, Gor ...
, Gordon,
Westruther Westruther is a village on the B6465, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, on the lower slopes of the Lammermuir Hills, in the former Berwickshire. The largest town nearby is Gordon. Places nearby include Duns, Greenlaw, the Lammermuir ...
, Polwarth, Fogo,
Leitholm Leitholm ( sco, Leithowm) is a village in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, north-west of Coldstream, in the former county of Berwickshire. Other places nearby include the Crosshall cross, Duns, Eccles, Ednam, Fogo, Greenlaw, Hume Castle ...
and
Duns Duns may refer to: * Duns, Scottish Borders, a town in Berwickshire, Scotland ** Duns railway station ** Duns F.C., a football club ** Duns RFC, a rugby football club ** Battle of Duns, an engagement fought in 1372 * Duns Scotus ( 1265/66–1308) ...
.


Climate

Greenlaw has an
oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
( Köppen: ''Cfb''). There is a
Met Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope E ...
weather station located at
RAF Charterhall Royal Air Force Charterhall or more simply RAF Charterhall is a former Royal Air Force station located in the Scottish Borders and the historic county of Berwickshire between the village of Greenlaw and Duns. It was originally a First World W ...
, to the east.


Notable residents

Notable people born in Greenlaw include: *George Linen (1802–1888), Scottish-American painter *Williamson Blyth (1827–1897), violin-maker, musician and tinsmith * Thomas Gibson (1825–1901), Ontario politician *Prof George Gibson
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 ...
(1858–1930), mathematician thought to be the nephew of the above


See also

* List of places in the Scottish Borders * List of places in Scotland


References


External links


RCAHMS: Burgh: GreenlawScottish Borders Council: Greenlaw Settlement ProfileScottish Borders Council: Local Plan Amendment 2008Greenlaw Primary SchoolGreenlaw Parish Church, Prison tower and Old Market CrossBlackadder Holiday ParkBorders Family History Society: GreenlawGEOGRAPH image: Greenlaw Town HallGEOGRAPH image: Renovation work at Greenlaw Town HallThe Blackadder Hotel Bar and Restaurant
{{authority control Towns in the Scottish Borders Berwickshire Parishes in Berwickshire Former county towns in Scotland