Discover Historical Newcastleton in the Heart of Liddesdale

As its southern edges Liddesdale has two boundaries, one with the debatable land at the Mere Boundary, the other with England at Kershope.

Approaching Liddesdale from Canonbie you will find farms at Harelaw and the smallholdings known as Caulside spread along the slope on the west side of the valley with magnificent views in to England,. Across the road from Caulside are such farms as Bankhead and Whitlawside, famous as haunts of thieves in the raiding days. A walk up the nearby Mere Burn brings you to a prehistoric 'long cairn' burial site and beside it the historical standing stone where the debatable land bounds with the Liddesdale high on the hill.

To the east, at Kershope, the border leaves the Liddel and takes off into the hills, once wild open moorland, and now forest. At Kershopefoot the March Wardens used to meet to settle international disputes. The Foster Clan, living at nearby Stonegarthside, dominated the English side. The Armstrong's on the Scottish side, and they were sometimes closely related. In more recent times, English couples, anxious to get married, walked across the Kershope burn for a ceremony on a hillside or in a shepherds cottage under the easier Scottish rules. The wilds of Kershope were also summer shieling country long ago, and rising from the Burn is Caerba Hill, crowned with a prehistoric settlement.


The focal point of Liddesdale today is the village of Newcastleton, brought into being the by the Buccleuch family, the local landowner, at the end of the 18th century. It occupies flat ground beside the river and looks across to Whithaugh, historic home of the Liddesdale Armstrong's. The village fields or allotments can been seen to the south on what used to be farms and the hill to the west includes ground once used by villagers as common grazing for their cattle.

Douglas Square in the centre of the village has always been the scene of local events such as the hiring fairs of the past the traditional music festival of today. Handloom weavers, joiners, tailors, shoemakers and cloggers were among the inhabitants who served the wider community of both Liddesdale and other districts. The main 'Waverley' railway line, which closed in 1969 as a result of Lord Beaching's review, skirted the western edge of the village.