Lauder

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lauder is a Royal Burgh in the ancient former county of Berwickshire, and is today in the Scottish Borders region. It lies on the edge of the Lammermuir Hills, on the Southern Upland Way. Notable buildings in the town include the Tollbooth or Town Hall, which predates 1600. Thirlestane Castle is just outside the burgh. The town recently celebrated 500 years of their official Royal Burgh charter, but references suggest that it was made a Royal Burgh much earlier, by King William I of Scotland,'The Lion'.

The ancient settlement was further up the hills on the edge of the Moor. Its name is unknown, but it was tiny. Upon the defeat of Macbeth by Malcolm Canmore Sir Robert de Lawdre [Lauder] was granted extensive lands in and around the existing town, which included the ancient Forest of Lauder. (He received at the same time The Bass Rock) This family erected a Norman keep, or Scottish Pele Tower (taken down in 1700) around which the present town grew. With the introduction of the feudal system to Scotland by David I, a barony of Lauderdale was chartered for the King's favourtie, de Morville, which covered an extensive amount of territory, but did not affect, as such, the Lauder family's properties as they were already held 'of the King'.

Below the town stood the Crown Fort, a scene of many skirmishes over the years. The Crown abandoned this in the 16th century and it was given to Robert Lauder of that Ilk, who gave it to his daughter Alison as dowry when she married. Eventually it was sold to a Cranstoun relation who sold it on to Chancellor John Maitland about 1589. He commenced the building of the magnificent Thirlestane Castle upon that site, parts of the original walls of the ancient fort being included in the walls of the new edifice.

Near to the old Crown Fort stood the ancient parish church of St.Mary (a dependency of Dryburgh Abbey), in which many of the old Lauder family were interred, including two bishops. The Maitlands decided they would demolish this kirk as Thirlestane became even grander, and the Earl of Lauderdale had a new church erected circa 1688 in the centre of the Royal Burgh.

By the 18th century the Maitlands had managed to acquire most of the properties which had belonged to the ancient Lauder family, although Windpark/Wyndepark and its Pele Tower remained in the hands of John Lauder of Winepark & Carolside, until about 1750.

The current population of the Burgh is around 1500 although it is rapidly expanding as 100+ new homes are being built on the southern boundary. This means that, at the beginning of the 21st century, the population is approaching what it was at the beginning of the 20th century before the period of depopulation over the last 100 years.

Lauder is today strongly influenced by its proximity to Edinburgh as it is now considered to be close enough for people to commute into the capital for work. The bus service to Edinburgh is good - but infrequent.

Current issues for debate in Lauder are the town's expansion - whether it is needed or desirable - the location of a new primary school (and how soon one will be built), and the location and extent of wind farms on the surrounding hills.