Cockburnspath

History

The area has many archeological remains which indicate it has been lived in and fought over since the Bronze Age. It lies close to the old invasion route from England into Scotland. Cockburnspath was originally known as "Colbrand's Path", after a folkloric giant. Sir Adam de Hepburn (d. before 1371), in the reign of David II, had a charter of the lands of Traprain, and Southalls and Northalls (united as Hailes) in Haddingtonshire, as well as the lands of Mersingtoun, Cockburnspath, and Rollanstoun in Berwickshire. The lands of Cockburnspath must have at some point reverted to the Crown as they were part of the dowry given by James IV of Scotland to Margaret Tudor (daughter of Henry VII of England) on their marriage in 1503. This was known as the Marriage of the Thistle and the Rose, representing the Scottish and English national symbols. The 16th century market cross in the heart of the village has carved emblems of a thistle on two of its faces and a rose on the other two. The marriage cemented the signing of the Treaty of Perpetual Peace between Scotland and England in 1502; the peace was short-lived and James was killed at the Battle of Flodden, just across the border in Northumberland, in 1513. This dynastic marriage did, however, lead to the Union of the Crowns in 1603 when James VI of Scotland also became James I of England, on the death of Elizabeth I of England. In the 19th century Cockburnspath was a favourite summer haunt of many Scottish artists who painted the village, farm workers and the surrounding scenery. The village's picturesque scenery captivated both James Guthrie and Edward Arthur Walton who shared a house there in 1883. Dunglass, just to the west of the town, was the home of the geologist Sir James Hall who, in the Spring of 1788, joined…