Jump to content

Coldstream

Coordinates:55°39′N2°15′W/ 55.65°N 2.25°W/55.65; -2.25
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, seeColdstream (disambiguation).

Coldstream
Coldstream is located in Scottish Borders
Coldstream
Coldstream
Location within theScottish Borders
Population1,990 (2022)[1]
OS grid referenceNT841398
•Edinburgh42 miles (68 km)NW
•London299 miles (481 km)SSE
Civil parish
  • Coldstream
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townCOLDSTREAM
Postcode districtTD12
Dialling code01890
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
WebsiteColdstream Community Trust
List of places
UK
Scotland
55°39′N2°15′W/ 55.65°N 2.25°W/55.65; -2.25

Coldstream(Scottish Gaelic:An Sruthan Fuar) is atownandcivil parishin theScottish Bordersarea ofScotland.[2]A formerburgh,Coldstream was where theColdstream Guards,aregimentin theBritish Army,originated.

Description

[edit]

Coldstream lies on the north bank of theRiver TweedinBerwickshire,whileNorthumberlandin England lies to the south bank, withCornhill-on-Tweedthe nearest village. At the 2001 census, the town had a population of 1,813, which was estimated to have risen to 2,050 by 2006.[3][4]The parish, in 2001, had a population of 6,186.[5]

History

[edit]
Coldstream Town Hall

Coldstream is the location whereEdward I of Englandinvaded Scotland in 1296. In February 1316 during theWars of Scottish Independence,Sir James Douglasdefeated a numerically superior force of Gascon soldiery led byEdmond de Caillouat theSkaithmuirto the north of the town. In 1650GeneralGeorge Monckfounded theColdstream Guardsregiment (a part of theGuards Division,Foot Guardsregimentsof theBritish Army). It is one of two regiments of theHousehold Divisionthat can trace its lineage to theNew Model Army.Monck led the regiment to London, helping to enablethe RestorationofKing Charles II.[6]

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Coldstream was a popular centre forrunaway marriages,much likeGretna Green,as it lay on a major road (now theA697). A monument toCharles Marjoribanks(1794–1833), MP forBerwickshire,whose ancestral home was in nearby Lees, stands at the east end of the town, near the Coldstream Bridge.Alec Douglas-Home(1903–95), who served asPrime Minister of the United Kingdomfrom October 1963 to October 1964, is buried in the churchyard of the ruined Lennel parish church, just outside the village.[7]

Notable buildings in the town include the marriage house, where weddings were conducted,[8]The Hirsel,which is the family seat of theEarls of Home,[9]andColdstream Town Hall,which is used as a library and registration office.[10]

Each year, during the first week of August, Coldstream hosts a traditional "Civic Week" where it includes historical aspects of the town's history such as the Torchlight procession and horse-rides to theBattle of Floddenbattlefield.[11]

Coldstream Priory

[edit]

The Priory of St Mary was founded before 1166 byGospatric III, Earl of Lothian.Never wealthy or powerful, the monastery nevertheless occurs frequently in the history of the border lands, being targeted several times by English forces. The monastery is the only one from the period where any charters survive thanks to the good sense of the prioress, having them copied. The house was used by both the English and Scots to gather information on each other, thanks to its location, the prioress treading a tightrope to ensure the survival of the monastery. It became a favourite of Margaret Tudor, wife of James IV, Margaret using it several times during the troubled times of the Regency.

After the Battle of Flodden, the prioress had all the bodies of the Scottish casualties (apart fromJames IV’s, which was taken to England) brought to the monastery for burial - an event commemorated annually even today, by a procession & service, involving cutting a sod of grass from the battle field and it being carried back to Coldstream; since the priory is completely lost today, the sod is symbolically ‘buried’ on the Tweed Green. The last prioress signed away her community and it ceased to exist as a legal entity in 1621, although no new novices had been permitted since the 1560 Reform Parliament. No reliable record of the number of nuns living in the house have survived.[12]Isabella Hoppringle(1460–1538) was the prioress of Coldstream from 1505 until her death. She was succeeded by her relative, Janet Pringle, the last ‘real’ prioress of the house.[13]

Bughtrig House

[edit]

In February 2020, theScottish Borders Councilannounced plans to build a museum at the family home of Vice-AdmiralBertram Home Ramsay,who mastermindedOperation Dynamo,the evacuation ofDunkirk."A former garden store will be converted at Bughtrig House in Coldstream to create the museum in his honour,"BBC Newsreported.[14]

The Ba Green

[edit]

Theborder between Scotland and Englandruns down the middle of the River Tweed, however between the villages ofWarkandCornhillthe Scottish border comes south of the river to enclose a small riverside meadow of approximately 2 to 3 acres (or about a hectare). This piece of land is known as the Ba Green. It is said locally that every year the men of Coldstream would play the men of Wark (south of the river) atba,and the winning side would claim the Ba Green for their country. As Coldstream grew to have a larger population than Wark, the men of Coldstream always defeated those of Wark at the game, and so the land became a permanent part of Scotland.[15][16][17]

Media

[edit]

Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC ScotlandandITV Border.Television signals are received from theSelkirkTV transmitter.[18]BBC North East and CumbriaandITV Tyne Teescan also be received from theChattonTV transmitter.[19]

Local radio stations areBBC Radio Scotlandon 93.5 FM,BBC Radio Newcastlecan also be received on 96.0 FM andGreatest Hits Radio Scottish Borders and North Northumberlandon 96.8 FM.

The Border Telegraph andSouthern Reporterare the town's local newspapers.[20][21]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^"Mid-2020 Population Estimates for Settlements and Localities in Scotland".National Records of Scotland.31 March 2022.Retrieved31 March2022.
  2. ^"Page 18 of 91 for the letter C".The Online Scots Dictionary.Archived fromthe originalon 8 July 2010.see Caustrim
  3. ^"Comparative Population Profile: Coldstream Locality".Scotland's Census Results Online. 29 April 2001. Archived fromthe originalon 3 April 2015.Retrieved1 September2008.
  4. ^"General Register Office for Scotland - Statistics - Publications and Data".Archived fromthe originalon 16 September 2009.Retrieved2012-04-21.
  5. ^"Census 2001: Usual Resident Population: Civil Parish: Coldstream".Scotland's Census Results Online.General Register Office for Scotland. Archived fromthe originalon 16 January 2014.Retrieved16 January2014.
  6. ^Harris, Tim (2006).Restoration; Charles II and his kingdoms.Penguin. pp. 43–44.
  7. ^Thorpe, D R (1997).Alec Douglas-Home.London: Sinclair-Stevenson. pp. 463–464.ISBN1856196631.
  8. ^Historic Environment Scotland."The Marriage House, Coldstream Bridge (LB4074)".Retrieved3 October2022.
  9. ^Historic Environment Scotland."The Hirsel (LB4069)".Retrieved3 October2022.
  10. ^Historic Environment Scotland."Town Hall, 73 High Street, Coldstream (LB23072)".Retrieved3 October2022.
  11. ^"Coldstream Civic Week".Scotland Starts Here.Retrieved3 October2022.
  12. ^ColdstreamArchived28 March 2019 at theWayback Machine;Monastic Matrix
  13. ^"Isabella Hoppringle: Biography on Undiscovered Scotland".Undiscovered Scotland.Retrieved29 March2019.
  14. ^ "Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay: Dunkirk Mastermind Museum Approved".BBC News.8 February 2020.Retrieved9 February2020.
  15. ^Crofton, Ian (2012).A dictionary of Scottish phrase and fable.Edinburgh: Birlinn. p. 25.ISBN9781841589770.
  16. ^Moffat, Alistair (1 July 2011).The Reivers: The Story of the Border Reivers.Birlinn.ISBN9780857901156.
  17. ^"(Showing Scottish border south of the Tweed) - Berwickshire Sheet XXIX.SW (includes: Coldstream) -".National Library of Scotland.Retrieved30 June2018.
  18. ^"Selkirk (The Scottish Borders, Scotland) Full Freeview transmitter".May 2004.Retrieved26 December2023.
  19. ^"Chatton (Northumberland, England) Full Freeview transmitter".May 2004.Retrieved26 December2023.
  20. ^"Border Telegraph".British Papers.23 November 2013.Retrieved26 December2023.
  21. ^"Southern Reporter".British Papers.21 January 2014.Retrieved26 December2023.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Coldstream&oldid=1245547094"