Innerleithen Wins Competition for Fastest Broadband

Earlier this year, Innerleithen was one of six winners in a BT competition to find communities where there was highest demand for super-fast broadband. All the other winners are in England.

According to the BBC "BT has announced that Innerleithen is to become the first place in the country to benefit from fibre to premises superfast broadband".

More about the BBC News item 'Innerleithen to get fastest broadband speed in Scotland'.

That's good for our chairman, David Rudram, because he lives in Innerleithen but it's good for the town as well, because business will be attracted by the availability of super-fast broadband.

It's also good for another of our trustees, Gwen Stein, who provides family history research at The Wells, Innerleithen from March till October and maintains a photographic archive of people and events after World War II for Innerleithen, Traquair, and Walkerburn and can help with your research in those localities.

Innerleithen was in the news last July, too, when we announced the completion of our Innerleithen Monumental Inscriptions (gravestone inscriptions) volume.

New Monumental Inscriptions volume for Innerleithen, Peeblesshire

We’re pleased to report that we have just published another new Monumental Inscriptions volume on CD, this time for Innerleithen in Peeblesshire; the compiling of which has been a mammoth task.

The first record of a parish church in the parish of Innerleithen was during the mid 12th century when Malcolm IV gave the church to the monks of Kelso. He later granted the right of refuge to the church after the body of his young son, drowned in the River Tweed, was carried there and lay in the church overnight.

In the early 1700s, Innerleithen was a village of a few thatched cottages close to the church, all built in the narrow haugh between Pirn Craig and Lee Pen.
The discovery of the mineral water springs on Lee Pen, together with a visit from Robert Burns in 1787, made Innerleithen a popular destination. Alexander Brodie, a native of Traquair, and a blacksmith to trade, had been successful in the iron industry in Shropshire and was acquainted with the Dumfriesshire born engineer, Thomas Telford. He used his wealth to build a mill in Innerleithen in 1791. The population of the parish was under 600 at the time and provided a pool of workers for his mill, while the farmers in the district, provided the wool. It was the ample supply of clean water from the Leithen and the Tweed that allowed the growth of the textile industry and the subsequent growth in population in the village of Innerleithen and the building of the new village at the Walker Burn.

By 1881, the population in the parish had grown to over 3,600 with more than 1,000 living in the village of Walkerburn.
The building of churches, within the town, mirrored the growth in the population. The parish church at Kirklands was built in 1791. Between 1844 and 1879, St John's Free Church in Horsburgh St, the United Free Presbyterian Church in Princes Street, the Second Free Presbyterian Church in Pirn Road, the Congregational Church and the St James Roman Catholic Church in the High Street, and the new parish church were erected.

This volume on CD comprises a plan of Innerleithen in 1849, historical notes on Innerleithen parish, transcription of the Poll Tax of 1694 which lists 264 people including many couples, a list of the ministers of Innerleithen and Walkerburn churches, plans of Kirklands in Leithen Road and Traquair Road cemetery, interments in the Old Kirkyard, inscriptions on over 1200 gravestones in Kirklands and Traquair Road cemetery, photographs of all the gravestones, Innerleithen War Memorial, Walkerburn War Memorial, rolls of honour and other memorials, an obituary of Nannie Kirk, the Pipers Grave, list of Standard Bearers, as well as indexes of the surnames in the Poll Tax and the gravestone inscriptions.

There are almost 800 different surnames included in the inscriptions on the gravestones, and they are: Aaronson, Adam, Adams, Adamson, Aiken, Ainslie, Aird, Aitchison, Aithie, Aitken, Alexander, Allan, Amos, Anderson, Angus, Archibald, Armstrong, Arthur, Atkinson, Austin, Baigrie, Baillie, Bain, Ballantyne, Banks, Bannatyne, Baptie, Barber, Barbour, Barnett, Barr, Barrett, Barrie, Bastianelli, Baxter, Bean, Beattie, Beck, Becker, Bell, Bennett, Berridge, Berry, Bertram, Beveridge, Bewsey, Biggar, Binnie, Birch, Birnie, Bishop, Bisset, Bissett, Blackie, Blacklaw, Blair, Blake, Blakie, Bly, Blyth, Blythe, Booth, Borthwick, Bowie, Boyd, Bradford, Braidwood, Branston, Brett, Bridgeford, Broadfoot, Broadley, Brockie, Brodie, Brown, Brownlee, Bruce, Brunton, Bryce, Brydone, Buchan, Buchanan, Bulloch, Burnett, Burns, Bursby, Burton, Butters, Cadenhead, Cairncross, Cairns, Calder, Caldwell, Cambridge, Cameron, Campbell, Carr, Carrie, Cattanach, Chalmers, Chapman, Cherry, Cheyne, Chisholm, Chisholme, Christie, Christison, Cieszynski, Clapperton, Clark, Clarke, Cleghorn, Clifford, Clive, Cluggie, Clyde, Cochrane, Cockburn, Coia, Collier, Collins, Colquhoun, Condie, Connelly, Constable, Conway, Cook, Cooksey, Cornish, Cornwall, Corsie, Cossar, Cotter, Coulthard, Couper, Cowan, Cowe, Cowen, Cox, Coyle, Craig, Crainiey, Cranston, Crawford, Crichton, Crombie, Crosbie, Crozier, Cuerden, Cumming, Cummings, Cunningham, Currie, Dalgleish, Dalgliesh, Dalling, Darling, Davidson, Davies, Dawidziak, Dawson, Deans, Dempster, Denver, Devine, Dewar, Dewhurst, Dick, Dickison, Dickson, Dobie, Dobson, Docherty, Dodd, Doherty, Doig, Donald, Donaldson, Douglas, Dryden, Drysdale, Duffy, Dunn, Dyer, Easson, Easton, Eaton, Eckford, Eddy, Elder, Elliot, Elliott, Ellis, Erskine, Euman, Evans, Fairbairn, Fairfull, Fairgrieve, Fairley, Falconer, Farnie, Farrant, Faulds, Fayrer, Featherston, Ferguson, Finlayson, Finnie, Finugane, Fionda, Fishburn, Fisher, Fleming, Flett, Flynn, Foot, Ford, Forrest, Forrester, Forsyth, Foster, Frame, Fraser, French, Frizzel, Fullarton, Fulton, Galbraith, Gallocher, Galloway, Gardner, Garrett, Gasson, Gdula, Geddes, Gerrard, Gerry, Gibb, Gibson, Giegerich, Gilchrist, Gill, Gillespie, Gillon, Gilroy, Glass, Glendinning, Goldie, Goodfellow, Gordon, Goskirk, Goudie, Gow, Gowans, Graham, Granger, Grant, Gray, Green, Greenwood, Gregor, Greig, Grierson, Grieve, Hackett, Haig, Hailstone, Halapup, Halkett, Hall, Hamilton, Hammell, Hannah, Hannestad, Harbottle, Hardie, Hare, Harkes, Harkess, Harris, Harrold, Harrower, Hart, Harvey, Haston, Hawley, Hay, Heaney, Heath, Heatlie, Hegarty, Henderson, Hendry, Henry, Henshaw, Herbertson, Heuch, Hewitson, Highland, Hill, Hinshelwood, Hislop, Hobson, Hodge, Hogg, Hojda, Holt, Honeyman, Hook, Hooper, Hope, Horsburgh, Howie, Howieson, Howitt, Hume, Hunnam, Hunter, Husband, Hutcheson, Hutchison, Hutton, Hymers, Hyslop, Imrie, Inch, Ingles, Inglis, Ingram, Inman, Innes, Irvine, Irving, Jack, Jackson, Jamieson, Jardine, Jarvis, Jeffrey, Jenkinson, Johnston, Johnstone, Jones, Kane, Kasperczyk, Keddie, Keith, Kelly, Kennedy, Kerr, Ketchen, Ketchin, Keyden, Kidd, King, Kinnear, Kinnon, Kinross, Kippie, Kirk, Knox, Kolodziej, Kruger, Kurowski, Kurys, Kydd, Kyle, Laidlaw, Laing, Lamb, Lambert, Landers, Lauder, Laurie, Lawson, Lawton, Learmond, Learmonth, Leask, Lees, Leithead, Lennie, Leonard, Leslie, Lessel, Lewis, Liddle, Lindsay, Linton, Little, Livingston, Lloyd, Lockhart, Lockie, Logan, Lorimar, Lorimer, Lothian, Lowrie, Lumsden, Lunn, Lyle, Lynn, Maben, Macadam, Macalister, Macartney, Macdiarmid, Macdonald, Macdougall, Macfarlane, Macgregor, Mack, Mackay, Mackenzie, Mackinnon, Mackintosh, Maclellan, Macleod, Macnaught, Macnaughton, Macqueen, Maguire, Maher, Main, Mair, Makin, Malcolm, Manson, Marjoriebanks, Marr, Marshall, Martin, Mastalerz, Mathie, Mathieson, Mathison, Matthews, Maul, Maule, Mcadam, Mcbeath, Mccaig, Mccall, Mccallum, Mcclune, Mcclure, Mccormack, Mccormick, Mccowan, Mccrorie, Mccutcheon, Mcdonald, Mcdougall, Mcdowell, Mcewan, Mcfadzean, Mcgill, Mcginley, Mcginn, Mcglashan, Mcglasson, Mcgovern, Mcgowan, Mcgregor, Mcintosh, Mcintyre, Mckay, Mckean, Mckellar, Mckelvie, Mckenna, Mckie, Mckimmie, Mcknight, Mclaren, Mclauchlan, Mclean, Mclellan, Mcleman, Mclennan, Mcleod, Mcmichael, Mcmillan, Mcmorran, Mcmurchie, Mcmurdo, Mcnab, Mcnairn, Mcnaught, Mcnaughton, Mcnee, Mcnie, Mcpake, Mcphail, Mcpherson, Mcskimming, Mcteir, Mcwhirter, Meail, Meikle, Mellross, Melrose, Melville, Menzies, Mercer, Michie, Middlemas, Middlemist, Millar, Miller, Miller-thomas, Mills, Milne, Milns, Mirtle, Mitchelhill, Mitchell, Moffat, Molus, Montgomery, Moon, Moore, Morison, Moritz, Morrice, Morris, Morrise, Morrison, Mortan, Morton, Motion, Mowat, Mowatt, Muir, Muirhead, Mungai, Munro, Murray, Myers, Myles, Nairn, Naylor, Naysmith, Neil, Neilson, Nelson, Newall, Newlands, Nichol, Nicholson, Nicol, Nimmo, Nisbet, Nisbett, Noble, Norman, Norris, Norval, Notman, Oliphant, Oliver, Ormiston, Ostrowski, Overend, Owen, Page, Paisley, Pajak, Palmer, Panter, Park, Parker, Parson, Paterson, Paton, Patterson, Paxton, Payne, Pearce, Peat, Peden, Pederson, Pendrich, Pennel, Pentland, Percy, Phaup, Philip, Phillips, Philp, Pickles, Plastow, Poll, Porteous, Potts, Pow, Pownall, Preston, Pretsell, Pringle, Prosser, Proudfoot, Purslow, Purves, Purvis, Pyrzyk, Rae, Raeburn, Ralston, Ramage, Ramsay, Ramsey, Rangecroft, Rathie, Rawbon, Readman, Redpath, Reid, Rendle, Rennie, Renton, Renwick, Richardson, Rickettes, Riddell, Riddle, Ridgway, Ritchie, Roberts, Robertson, Robson, Rodger, Rosie, Ross, Rowntree, Roxburgh, Roy, Ruickbie, Russell, Rutherford, Rydak, Salton, Samuel, Sandeman, Sanderson, Sandiland, Sands, Schofield, Scot, Scott, Scougal, Scougall, Scullion, Sewart, Seymour, Shand, Shanks, Sharland, Sharpe, Shaw, Shearer, Shearme, Shiel, Shiell, Shortreed, Sibbald, Silk, Simmons, Simpson, Sinclair, Sivewright, Sked, Slide, Slingsby, Smail, Small, Smart, Smeeth, Smelt, Smibert, Smith, Sneddon, Snowdon, Somers, Somerville, Sommerville, Soroka, Spence, Stalker, Stalkers, Stark, Stavert, Stebie, Stein, Stenhouse, Stephenson, Sterricks, Steuart, Stevenson, Stewart, Stirling, Stobie, Stoddart, Storie, Storrie, Strachan, Strasser, Strathie, Stroyan, Struthers, Strutthers, Stuart, Sudden, Sutherland, Swan, Swanston, Sword, Sykes, Taggart, Tait, Tarbet, Taylor, Telfer, Tempelton, Temple, Temporal, Tennant, Thatcher, Thomas, Thompson, Thomson, Thorburn, Tod, Todd, Todrick, Toulman, Townend, Trevor, Tucker, Tulloch, Tully, Turnbull, Turner, Turyk, Twining, Umpherston, Urquhart, Vallance, Varrie, Veitch, Vernon, Virtue, Waddell, Wagstaff, Waldie, Walker, Walkingshaw, Wallace, Wallis, Ward, Waters, Watson, Watt, Waugh, Weatherston, Weir, Weir, Weston, Wheeler, White, Whiteford, Whitehead, Whiteley, Whitson, Wight, Wilkin, Wilkins, Wilkinson, Willett, Williams, Williamson, Willison, Wilson, Winks, Winter, Winton, Wintrope, Wood, Wright, Wyper, Yeatts, Yorke, Young, Yuill-walker, Yule, Ziegler.

The CD costs £12 plus 51p for 2nd class UK postage.

In Innerleithen, you can get a copy at Smail’s Printing Works, alternatively, please contact Mary Thomson on our Contacts page using the contact type Order for Publications.

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