Greenlaw, General

The town of Greenlaw is the second settlement of that name. Old Greenlaw was situated further south, near Old Greenlaw House. In the later part of the sixteenth century, the village of New Greenlaw began to expand, and soon became the larger of the two settlements. It was accorded burgh status in 1600.

In 1698, Greenlaw became county town of Berwickshire, replacing Berwick, which had been in English hands since the late fifteenth century. Its new status heralded a programme of building work, the results of which can still be seen today, and which include the County Hall and the old jail. Some of the construction work was carried out at the expense of the Earls of Marchmont, who had been instrumental in erecting Greenlaw to the county status. Greenlaw finally lost its county town status to Duns in 1903.

Greenlaw is arranged around two streets and a square. The two streets, Duns Road and the High Street, intersect to form a T-junction, and The Square is situated to the east of this, surrounding a green.

Text prepared by RCAHMS as part of the Accessing Scotland's Past project

NT74NW 33 71057 46001

NT74SW 13 716 445 Old Greenlaw burgh

Greenlaw was erected a burgh of barony in 1598 when it had 'become more populous than Old Greenlaw'.

Visible on Ordnance Survey large scale vertical air photograph (OS 70/364/058).

EXTERNAL REFERENCE:

Scottish Record Office:

RHP/9411

Capt. Armstrong and Son, surveyor - engraved map of Berwickshire with inset plan of Greenlaw.