Bowden is a village in the

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh ( gd, Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the north-west, and Berw ...

area of 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 Lothian an ...

, situated south of Melrose, west of

Newtown St Boswells Newtown St Boswells ( sco, Newtoon; gd, Baile Ùr Bhoisil ) is a village in the historic county of Roxburghshire which houses the administrative centre of the Scottish Borders council area. The village lies south of the Eildon Hills on the Spr ...

and tucked in the shadow of the Eildon Hills,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

History

In 1113, when King David I of

granted lands to the monks of Selkirk, he also granted them the land at Bothandene (Bowden) and Hailiedene ( Holydean). The charter was renewed in 1124 when the monks moved to Kelso, where they founded the magnificent

Kelso Abbey Kelso Abbey is a ruined Scottish abbey in Kelso, Scotland. It was founded in the 12th century by a community of Tironensian monks first brought to Scotland in the reign of Alexander I. It occupies ground overlooking the confluence of the Twe ...

. At the same time a religious establishment was founded at Bowden. The abbot of Kelso built a tower at Holydean which was destroyed in 1296. The tower was rebuilt and extended by Isabel Ker of Cessford and renamed Castle Holydean. The castle became the home of the Ker family, later the Dukes of Roxburghe, who lived there for two centuries before the castle was finally destroyed in 1760 by the 3rd Duke, John Ker. The Roxburghes moved to their new home,

Floors Castle Floors Castle, in Roxburghshire, south-east Scotland, is the seat of the Duke of Roxburghe. Despite its name it is an estate house rather than a fortress. It was built in the 1720s by the architect William Adam for Duke John, possibly incorpora ...

, in the early 18th century. In 1531, Bowden village was granted the right to hold a market, the first non-burghal market in Scotland, and a

market cross A market cross, or in Scots, a mercat cross, is a structure used to mark a market square in market towns, where historically the right to hold a regular market or fair was granted by the monarch, a bishop or a baron. History Market crosses ...

which still stands today was erected - such was the importance of the village in mediaeval times. The cross is now used as the parish

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

. The present Bowden

Kirk Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning "church". It is often used specifically of the Church of Scotland. Many place names and personal names are also derived from it. Basic meaning and etymology As a common noun, ''kirk'' ...

was greatly enlarged in the 17th century, but parts of an older church are still evident. The church is unusual inasmuch as it has three bells, two of which are still in use. The third bell is contained inside the church and bears the inscription ''SOLI DEO GLORIA JOHN MEIKEL ME FECIT EDINBURGHII ANNO 1690'', meaning "I was built by the grace of God at Edinburgh in 1690 by John Meikle". John Meikle was an eminent bell maker and tuner in 17th century

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. The old kirkyard contains many interesting gravestones and, under the east wing, a burial vault which contains 22 members of the Ker family, six of them Dukes of Roxburghe. The church is embellished with some wonderful stained glass windows including the Priest's Door, built at the old priest's doorway. Bowden has been blessed with education since just after the

Scottish Reformation The Scottish Reformation was the process by which Scotland broke with the Papacy and developed a predominantly Calvinist national Kirk (church), which was strongly Presbyterian in its outlook. It was part of the wider European Protestant Refo ...

in 1590. The last school was built in the middle of the 19th century but closed in the mid 20th century. The school and schoolmaster's house are still standing and are used as private homes. The Bowden village well was erected in 1861 and still stands in the atmospheric village adjacent to the old school. The village hall was erected in 1896. While the first mention of Bowden is in the early 12th century, its original name of Bothanden is from the

old English language Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

meaning houses at the stream, the stream in question being the Bowden Burn which cuts through the village. Many artifacts from the Iron-Age have been found in and around Bowden, and there were even traces of an old military road from the Romans in Scotland period. It is known that ancient British tribes lived on the Eildon Hills. The Romans built a fort at nearby Newstead and named it Trimontium, meaning three hills. Originally the people of Bowden were farm labourers and weavers, but in modern times the village is inhabited by many professional people, including doctors, nurses and schoolteachers. After local government restructuring in the early 1970s, Bowden became part of the newly formed

Scottish Borders Council Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: * Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland * Scottish English * Scottish national identity, the Scottish ...

. The war memorial in Bowden dates from 1915, reflecting the early local sacrifice made by this community during World War I. The memorial was designed by Sir

Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, for new work in Scots Baronial and Goth ...

Community Facilities

Bowden has a refurbished village hall in the centre of the village. Bowden Village Hall was built and opened in 1897. The money for erecting the building was all given locally. Many gave services in assisting with the building, including the local farmers who gave their services free for executing the haulage work. The building was designed by Mr Wallace who was the son of a well-known village family. His father having a thriving joiners' business in the Village in the 19th Century. Mr Wallace gave the design and plans as his contribution to the erection of the Hall. The hall was completely refurbished in 2003 thanks to a grant from the National Lottery. This enabled the main hall to be extended by removing the stage and a stepped gallery to be converted into the existing Scott Room. Other improvements were provision of disabled access, a new kitchen and upgraded toilets. A stone inserted into the front wall of the Village Hall commemorates the generous legacy from one of the Village benefactors, Mr William Dick. He was educated in the Village, and then left and spent his life on the Railways. On his retiral he came back to his native Village and resided here until his death in 1925. He left the residue of his estate for the light and improvement of the Village. Electric lights were switched on in 1930 to light up the Village. Further monies were used to fund extra cloakrooms and to install a hot water system in the Village Hall. The Hall is well used for fund raising events with a Christmas Fayre and regular coffee mornings during the year. Many organisations use the Hall for public meetings, and it is a considerable asset to the village. This building has a hall with capacity for 100 people and several break out rooms. Catering facilities are also available. Rooms can be used for a variety of functions including social gatherings, meetings and events. Please see their website www.bowdenvillagehall.org To the south of the village lies the village kirk, which dates back to 1128.

Notable people associated with Bowden

Thomas Aird Thomas Aird (28 August 180225 April 1876) was a Scottish poet, best known for his 1830 narrative poem '' The Captive of Fez''. Early life and education Aird was born in 1802 at Bowden, Roxburghshire. His parents were James Aird, a builder, an ...

* Lady Grisell Baillie * Lauder Brunton * William Dick (d. 1925), supported Bowden's village development with his legacy * Sir Angus Stewart Deaton FBA (born 19 October 1945) is a British economist and academic. Deaton is currently a Senior Scholar and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs Emeritus at the

Princeton School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...

and the Economics Department at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...

. His research focuses primarily on poverty,

inequality Inequality may refer to: Economics * Attention inequality, unequal distribution of attention across users, groups of people, issues in etc. in attention economy * Economic inequality, difference in economic well-being between population groups * ...

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

wellbeing Well-being, or wellbeing, also known as wellness, prudential value or quality of life, refers to what is intrinsically valuable relative ''to'' someone. So the well-being of a person is what is ultimately good ''for'' this person, what is in th ...

, and

economic development In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and ...

. In 2015, he was awarded the

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...

for his analysis of

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

, poverty, and

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

Listed Buildings

There are many listed buildings, of various categories, in around the village of Bowden, including the kirk, schoolhouse, market cross and the well. File:Bowden, Scottish Borders.jpg, Mediaeval kirk (extended 17th century) File:Bowden Church 1690 Bell - geograph.org.uk - 866466.jpg, Bowden Church bell (1690) File:BOWDEN_MARKET_CROSS.jpg, Market cross (1531)

References

* Groome, Francis. ''The Ordnance Gazetteer for Scotland'' pages 181-182 * New Statistical Accounts for Scotland 1799 and 1834.

External links