Roxburghshire

County Offices, Newtown St Boswells, the former headquarters of Roxburgh County Council

Burghs in Roxburghshire, 1975

Until 1975, Roxburghshire was used for local government. The original county town of Roxburgh was abandoned following the destruction of Roxburgh Castle in 1460 during the Anglo-Scottish Wars. Jedburgh then became the county town, serving as the location for the sheriff court and meeting place of the Commissioners of Supply, which were established in 1667 as the county's main administrative body. The County Buildings on Castlegate in Jedburgh were built in 1812 to hold the sheriff court and be the meeting place for the commissioners.[8]

The county council was created in 1890, taking most of the commissioners' functions. From 1890 until 1930 the council met at the County Buildings in Jedburgh. In 1930 the council moved its meeting place and headquarters to Newtown St Boswells. The council already had a branch office on Bowden Road in Newtown St Boswells, which it had built in 1896, and in 1930 the council inherited an adjoining building which had been built in 1928 for the short-lived Roxburghshire Education Authority.[9] The complex became known as the County Offices. A large new building designed by Peter Womersley was added to the site in 1968.[10][11]

Roxburghshire County Council was abolished in 1975, when local government in Scotland was reorganised into upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. Roxburghshire became part of the Borders region. The County Offices at Newtown St Boswells became the headquarters for the new Borders Regional Council.[12] The Duke of Buccleuch and the Duke of Roxburghe between them had held the convenership of Roxburgh County Council for 43 years between 1900 and 1975.[13]

At the time of the county council's abolition in 1975, the county contained four burghs and four districts (the districts generally covering the rural areas surrounding the town after which they were named):[14]

Roxburgh
District
History
• Created	16 May 1975
• Abolished	31 March 1996
• Succeeded by	Scottish Borders
• HQ	Hawick
Contained within
• Region	Borders

The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 abolished the county council and incorporated its area into the Borders Region. Borders was divided into four districts, one of which was named Roxburgh. Roxburgh District's borders broadly resembled those of the historic county, but included the parish of Nenthorn from Berwickshire, and excluded the parishes of Bowden, Lilliesleaf, Maxton, Melrose, and St Boswells, which went instead to the new Ettrick and Lauderdale District.[14] For lieutenancy purposes, the last lord-lieutenant of the county of Roxburghshire was made lord-lieutenant for the district of Roxburgh when the reforms came into effect in 1975.[15]

Hawick Town Hall

Roxburgh District Council was based at Hawick Town Hall which had been built in 1886 for the former Hawick Town Council.[16][17]

The region and four district councils were abolished in 1996, merging to form the present Scottish Borders council area.[18] A new lieutenancy area was created at the same time, called Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale, covering the combined area of the abolished districts of Roxburgh and neighbouring Ettrick and Lauderdale.[19]

The first election to the district council was held in 1974, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 16 May 1975. Political control of the council from 1975 until its abolition in 1996 was as follows:[20]

The County of Roxburgh was the first Scottish county to receive a grant of arms. This was made by Lord Lyon King of Arms on 9 July 1798. The coat of arms seems to have been granted for the use of the volunteer and militia units then being organised under the authority of the county's lord lieutenant. When the county council was formed in 1890, the arms passed to them.

The shield depicted a unicorn, a national symbol of Scotland. At the top of the shield was a hunting horn between two helmets: probably a reference to the border reivers, one of whom featured in the arms of the royal burgh of Jedburgh. The crest above the shield was an armoured arm brandishing a scimitar. The Latin motto was Ne Cede Malis Sed Contra Audentior Ito or Yield not to misfortunes (evil things) but go on more boldly against them., it was a quotation from Virgil's Aeneid 6, 95.[21]

On 6 May 1975 the coat of arms was regranted to Roxburgh District Council, without the crest.[22] When the district council was abolished in 1996, the arms reverted to The Crown.

• 
  Coat of arms of Roxburghshire County Council 1890–1962.
• 
  Coat of arms of Roxburghshire County Council 1962–1975.
• 
  Coat of arms of Roxburghshire District Council 1975–1996.

civil parishes of Roxburghshire c 1930

Following the boundary changes carried out under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, the county of Roxburgh contained 30 civil parishes:

In medieval times there were 47 parishes, making the area the most densely parished in Scotland.

• Abbotrule: divided between Bedrule and Southdean in 1806.[23]
• Ettleton and Wheelkirk: absorbed into Castleton[24]
• Hassendean: divided between Minto, Roberton and Wilton, 17th century.[25]
• Jedworth, Old Jedworth and Upper Crailing: united to form the parish of Jedburgh.[26]
• Kirkton or Cavers Parva: absorbed into Cavers in 1895.[27]
• Lempitlaw: absorbed into Sprouston at the Reformation.[28]
• Longnewtown: absorbed into Ancrum in 1684.[29]
• Maxwell, Roxburgh Holy Sepulchre and Roxburgh St James: absorbed into Kelso (aka Kelso St Mary's), date unknown.[30][31]
• Mow: absorbed into Morebattle in 1672.[32]
• Nisbet and Spital: absorbed into Crailing 1606.[33]
• Rutherford: absorbed into Maxton.[34]
• Wilton: absorbed into Hawick post-1900.[35]