Despite its relatively small population of around 2,200 residents, this beautiful border town, sitting a mere 7 miles from the English border, has plenty going on for residents and visitors.
Surrounded by beautiful scenery and with some interesting walks and places to visit in the area, Langholm provides plenty of activities for visitors and also benefits from a rich history and local culture.
There are festivals celebrating adventure sports, food, as well as the annual visitor-magnet, the five-day Common Riding celebrations in the last week of July.
This is a town which saw the birth of two sons – one of whom gave the world joy and pleasure; the other changed the landscape of Britain. Then there was the family descendent who really was ‘out of this world.’
Read on to find out more about the ‘The Muckle Toon’
So, enjoy and feel free to add any more in the comments at the bottom of the article
1. Home of The Oldest Surviving Brass Band in Scotland
The town’s brass band – also referred to as ‘The Toon Ban’ – was first set up in 1815 to welcome soldiers from the Scots Greys regiment back to the town after fighting in the Battle of Waterloo.
It’s reported that the Commanding Officer for the regiment was so impressed by the Langholm brass players that he presented them with a piece of brass from his horse’s harness.
Today that gift is known as the Band Buckle.
Over the years the band has played for HRH Queen Elizabeth and other royals. Some of its players have been with it for 30 and even 50 years.
2. Langholm is surrounded by four hills
Image Credit: William Baxter
Whita Hill, Warblaw, Meikleholm (a knowe of which is known as ‘Tinpin’) and Castle Hill overlook – or ‘protect’ the town, depending on your viewpoint.
Whita Hill, which is the highest at 300m, has an obelisk (locally referred to as ‘The Monument’) which was erected in the name of Historian and diplomat of the early 19th century Sir john Malcolm (a native of nearby Eskdale).
3. Langholm has the oldest penny newspaper in Scotland
Established in 1848, The Eskdale & Liddesdale Advertiser (known by locals as ‘The Squeak’), was similar to today’s tabloids ie had ‘juicy’ news and a less formal style.
It only cost a penny when it first came out, making it accessible to the middle classes. In the past, only the aristocracy could afford to spend money on ‘formal’, expensive newspapers.
Owned by Cumbria News Group – and with a circulation of around 1200 – the newspaper is currently going through a community buy-out, which is expected to be finalised in April 2017
4. It has two famous sons
The main sign welcoming people to the town has the motto underneath the town’s name ‘birthplace of poet Hugh MacDiarmid.’
To commemorate the avowed communist and joint founder of the SNP’s literary gift, there sits a steel and bronze sculpture of an ‘open book’ on a hill overlooking the town.
Fittingly MacDiarmid (born in 1892 and christened Christopher Murray Grieve) lived in the same building where the Thomas Telford Library sat.
Born more than a century before MacDiarmid in 1757, the civil engineer and architect Thomas Telford was prolific when it came to building roads and bridges (iron versions in particular).
The Caledonian Canal was a project of his, for instance, which lasted for more than two decades.
Twelve years before his death, Telford was made the first-ever President of the Institution of Civil Engineers – quite a claim for a boy who was raised in poverty by a single mother. In 2011 he was inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame.
5. US Astronaut Neil Armstrong is a freeman of the Burgh
As if the above two gents aren’t famous enough, Langholm also lays claim to the ancestry of the first man to have landed on the moon – US astronaut Commander Neil Armstrong.
As home to the Armstrong clan and the Reiver Johnny Armstrong in particular, Langholm boasts a museum devoted to the ancient family in the form of a disused church on the Castle Holm.
In 1972 Commander Armstrong visited Langholm where he was made a freeman of the town.
6. It has nurtured Harrier Hens over two decades
By Andreas Trepte – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, Link
Raptors, in particular Hen Harriers, have been the subject of a conservation and commercial-based study in the area, called ‘The Langholm Project.’
This government-funded project involved introducing the birds into Langholm Moor to see the effect on the red grouse populations.
A follow-up study ‘The Langholm Moor Demonstration Project’, co-founded by such ‘august’ bodies as the RSPB, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, is due to end this year.
7. Its Rugby Team dates back to 1871
© Copyright Walter Baxter and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
Now in the East Regional League Division Two, the team has boasted many a Scotland capped player.
A club which was very important to the town, even Hugh MacDiarmid played for the team at one point.
The ground at Milntown is half a mile north of the town on the A7.
The team colours are crimson and navy and the club emblem is a crest containing a thistle, a rugby ball, rugby posts and reference to the year the club was formed – 187.
They also until recent years played the oldest international against Carlisle on New Year’s day.
8. World-Famous Common Riding
One of the most famous and entertaining regular events in Langholm is the Common Riding, which has taken place every year in Langholm since 1759, always on the last Friday in July, and is steeped in history and tradition. This event is attended by visitors from all over the world.
The origin of the event lies in a dispute over land ownership in which the major landholders in Langholm asked for a judgement on land boundaries around the town.
The boundaries were drawn but part of the land was found to be “common” land, which should be accessible by anyone living in the town.
An individual from the town was given the annual responsibility of checking the borders, originally on foot and subsequently on horseback. These days this individual is elected from the young men of the town in May and is known as the “cornet” in Langholm.
The day starts at 5am with a flute band parade. Riders then mount their horses and assemble in the marketplace. The cornet is presented with the town flag, which he carries on horseback. The riders follow a procession through the town following the cornet to the edges of the common land.
Four emblems are traditionally carried during the procession. These consist of:
A Barley Banna and salted herring. The banna is a traditional type of grilled flatbread. Both are nailed to a wooden platter with a “twai-penny nail”. These symbolise the privileges of the baron to crops and fisheries.
A spade – used for cutting sods around the common and originally for clearing out the trenches that marked the boundaries of the common land.
A Scottish thistle
A floral crown
Elected “fair criers” stand on horseback and deliver a proclamation in old Scots during the riding. There are three Cryings of the Fair – two outside the town hall and one on Whita hill.
In the afternoon alongside the excitement of watching the riders on horseback (complete with a gallop around the racecourse), there are also traditional Highland games such as wrestling and dancing competitions, rounded off with a traditional Polka dance on Kiln Green.
The ceremony ends at 9.30pm with the cornet handing back the flag in front of the town hall
9. Langholm had 22 woollen mills
Meikleholm Mill: Image Copyright- Langholm Picture Archive
.. and the last one closed only recently.
The first ever mill in the town was called Meikleholm and built in 1789.
That particular mill was designed for spinning cotton and linen yarns but the next mill nine years later – Whitshiels – introduced the idea of spinning woollen yarn. Eventually, the town became famous for producing Tweed.
However, it wasn’t until the arrival of the railway in the late 1800s that the town saw a proliferation of mills – to the extent there were 1200 mill employees in the town as late as 1980.
10. A Bloodthirsty History
Langholm was one of the most notorious sites for the “Border Reivers” from the 13th to 17th centuries.
“Reivers” is an old English and Scots word meaning “raider” or “robber” and was used to describe the raids that were carried out on both sides of the border as neighbouring clans scuffled for land and cattle. As well as theft, murder and arson were common during this lawless time.
The Reivers were the driving force behind the founding of the aforementioned Common Riding in 1759 and until this time, the borderlands and their dominant families (most notably Armstrong, Elliot, Nixon, and Crosier in Langholm) were feared by all.
Reiving became so commonplace that it was simply a way of life for families living in the borders for hundreds of years. There was nothing immoral seen about stealing livestock from another family if it was to feed your own.
Interestingly, the words “blackmail” and “red-handed” have their origin in this practice. “Mail” was a word meaning rent that was paid by farmers to landowners in the form of silver or “white mail”. When they had no silver, they were forced to pay in cattle of a much higher value than the silver was worth, known as “black mail”.
Being caught “red-handed” literally meant to be found with blood on your hands due to murder or slaughtering of livestock. Robbers found “red-handed” in Langholm and other border towns were often executed on the spot.
So there you have it. A little all rounder tour of Langholm.
We know there must be endless other facts about the town and please feel free to add any more in the comments below.
