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STOW - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]
"STOW, a parish partly in the district of East Edinburghshire, county Edinburgh, and partly in the county of Selkirk, Scotland. It contains a village of its own name, and the hamlets of Fountainhall, Kylochyett, Caitha, Crosslee, and Clovenfords. The surface is hilly, and intersected by numerous streams, which fall into the Gala and the Tweed. The rocks are graywacke and clay slate. In this parish are numerous ancient camps and square towers on parallelograms, the ruins of which are still to be seen.

The principal seats are Torwoodlee, Bowland, Symington, Crookston, Burnhouse, Torquhan, and Pirn. The parish is traversed by the road from Edinburgh to Jedburgh, and by the Edinburgh and Harwick railway, which has stations at Fountainhall, Stow, and Bowland-Bridge.

The village of Stow is about 7 miles N. of Galashiels, and 24 S.E. of Edinburgh. It anciently went by the name of Wedale, i.e. "the Vale of Woe", and belonged to the bishops of St. Andrew's, who had a regal jurisdiction over the whole district of Wedale. The church had the privilege of sanctuary, and "the Black Priest of Wedale" was one of the three persons who enjoyed the privilege of the law of clan Macduff. In the village is a building of recent erection used as a public reading-room, library, and music hall.

The parish is in the presbytery of Lauder and synod of Mern and Teviotdale, and in the patronage of the Crown. The stipend of the minister is about £276. The parish church is an ancient edifice, formerly dedicated to the Virgin Mary. There are Free and United Presbyterian churches for Stow and Heriot, also a parochial and three other schools, and two public libraries. On the settling of the Border Laws in 1249, it was stipulated that the presbytery of Wedale should swear for the King of Scotland and the Bishop of St. Andrew's, who had a palace at the Stow of Wedale."

"CROOKSTON, a village in the parish of Stow, in the county of Edinburgh, Scotland, 5 miles N.W. of Stow."

"FOUNTAINHALL, a hamlet, the seat of a post-office in the parish of Stow, county Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a station on the Edinburgh and Hawick railway, 4 miles N.W. of the village of Stow."

"KILLOCHYETT, a hamlet in the parish of Stow, county Edinburgh, Scotland."

"MOORFOOT HILLS, a double range of moorish hills, mostly in the parishes of Borthwick, Heriot, Temple, and Stow, county Edinburgh, Scotland. They rise from 1,320 feet to 1,860 in height, and are of a slaty nature with lydian stone."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]


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