In 1882-4, Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland described Ednam like this:
Ednam (12th century Ednaham, 'village on the Eden '), a village and a parish of N Roxburghshire. The village stands, 190 feet above sea-level, on the left bank of Eden Water, 2½ miles NNE of its station and post-town, Kelso- A pretty little place, of hoar antiquity, burned by the English in 1558, it now is the seat of a largish brewery, and retains, as outhouse of a farmsteading, the former manse (and later village school) in which James Thomson was born, 11 Sept1700- His father, nine or ten weeks afterwards, was transferred to the ministry of Southdean; but a miniature of the poet, presented to the bygone Ednam Club by the eleveuth Earl of Buchan, is preserved in the present manse; and in 1820 an obelisk, 52 feet high, was erected to his memory on a rising-ground 1 mile to the S of the village- James Cook, the father of the circumnavigator, has also been claimed for a native. ...
The parish is bounded N and NE by Eccles in Berwickshire, SE by Sprouston, S and SW by Kelso, W by Nenthorn in Berwickshire, and NW by Stichill. Its utmost length, from E by N to W by S, is 3 1/8 miles; its utmost breadth, from N to S, is 3 ½ miles; and its area is 3919¾ acres, of which 70 ¼ are water- The Tweed sweeps 3 miles north-eastward along all the Sprouston border; and Eden Water winds 4½ miles eastward to it, along the boundary with Nenthorn and through the interior- In the furthest E the surface sinks along the Tweed to 95 feet above sea-level, thence rising with gentle undulation to 236 feet near Ferneyhill, 282 near Cliftonhill, 278 near Kaimflat, and 265 near Harpertown- Sandstone is the prevailing rock, and the soils are of four kinds, in pretty equal proportions-loam, incumbent on gravel; clay and light gravel, both on a porous bottom; and a light humus on a moorish subsoil. In an early charter of Coldingham priory, Thor informs his lord, Earl David, that King Edgar had given him Ednaham waste, that he had peopled it, and built from the foundation, and endowed with a ploughgate of land, a church in honour of St Cuthbert; and he prays his son to confirm his donation of the church to St Cuthbert and the monks of Durham. ' Here,' says Dr Skene, ' we have in fact the formation of a manor with its parish church, and in a subsequent document it is termed the mother church of Hedenham ' (Celt. Scotl., ii. 367, 1877). Hendersyde Park, which is separately noticed, is the only mansion; but five proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards. Ednam is in the presbytery of Kelso and synod of Merse and Teviotdale; the living is worth £208. The present church, built in 1800, contains 260 sittings; and a public school, with accommodation for 133 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 116, and a grant of £112, 17s. Valuation (1882) £9268, 15s. 2d. Pop. (1801) 598, (1831) 634, (1861) 599, (1871) 6l3, (1881) 613.—Ord. Sur., sh. 25, 1865.
Ednam through time
Ednam is now part of Scottish Borders district. Click here for graphs and data of how Scottish Borders has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Ednam itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Ednam, in Scottish Borders and Roxburghshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/17162
Date accessed: 25th April 2024
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