Latest news with #BorderReiver
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Clan's American cousins help save historic Borders church
A call to help save a historic church from property developers has been answered by American descendants of a family with centuries-old links to the Borders. Ruberslaw Parish Church at Bedrule - between Hawick and Jedburgh - is one of dozens of churches being closed and sold off across the region due to low congregations. The community launched a fundraiser at the start of the year to meet the £35,000 asking price - and about half the money has come from the US-based Clan Turnbull. Many of the clan's ancestors were buried at the churchyard. Charlotte Maberly is among the local people heading up fundraising efforts at Bedrule Church Future (BCF). She said: "Americans are much more familiar with fundraising than us Brits are. "For them, their sense of heritage is much stronger than people who are here." The current Bedrule church dates back to 1804, but many of the gravestones in the surrounding graveyard are from several centuries earlier. And many of the headstones are memorials to members of the Turnbull family who originated in the area. Throughout the 15th and 16th Centuries, the Border Reiver families controlled lands on either side of what had become a lawless Anglo-Scottish border. Across the middle march, which now takes up most of the central and eastern Scottish Borders, the Turnbulls emerged as one of the most renowned and feared clans. With reducing congregations across the country, the Church of Scotland has been scaling back its places of worship over the past decade or so. Ruberslaw Parish Kirk and neighbouring churches in Minto and Southdean are all being "disposed of" this year. Churchgoers and the wider community at Bedrule were informed in November of the decision, leading to the formation of a fundraising group. Charlotte added: "Pubs have been closing, other communal spaces have been closing, and with all these different churches closing, we need to rethink how we create community cohesion rurally." Many former churches have already been turned into private dwellings - and there were fears that, if the asking price could not be raised, a property developer would snap up the listed building. However, with just days to go before the closing date, BCF, which has preferred bidder status, reached its target - with a big debt to the US-based organisation. The clan describes the church as a "historic Turnbull landmark with a breath-taking view across the Rulewater Valley to Ruberslaw mountain". "The kirkyard, which holds the Turnbull cairn, is the final resting place of many of our ancestors," it added. "The sanctuary of the church is a holy place where the power of the faith of our fathers is tangible." With the funding in place, meetings will now take place in the coming weeks and months to forge a plan for the building's future in a tiny village with just a couple of hundreds residents. Alan Bailey, who is also a trustee of BCF, said they would have to come up with an innovative use for the building. "We don't have footfall around here," he said. "If you are a church in a town, you can become a café, a gym, a kids club. "So we are going to have to be imaginative." Archaeologists study valley's day of destruction
BBC News
18-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Newcastle United open-top bus parade date announced as 29 March
Newcastle United have announced the date for an open-top bus parade through the city following their historic League Cup club has issued a "save the date" for 29 March, which comes after the international break, to celebrate Sunday's Carabao Cup is the Magpies' first piece of major silverware since 1969 and first domestic one in 70 years, with supporters expected to line the streets of Newcastle to watch the team lift their Blyth-born Dan Burn has been nominated for the Freedom of Northumberland following his man of the match performance. The 32-year-old defender scored Newcastle's first goal at Wembley in 25 years on Sunday, with the team eventually beating Liverpool of Northumberland County Council Glen Sanderson said he intended to nominate Burn for the Freedom of Northumberland as he believed it would "inspire young people to achieve their dreams"."It's a great victory for the region and the fact a local lad from Blyth played such a crucial part of the journey is wonderful," he added. And the honours for Burn do not stop National Park has also announced it has temporarily renamed Elsdon Burn Walk, near Elsdon, to "Big Dan Burn Walk".Once the centre of defence in the Border Reiver battles, a spokesperson said it "seems like a fitting place to mark Dan's and the whole teams' heroic achievements"."Northumberland National Park is a place as grand and expansive as Dan himself," they added, in a nod to the player's 6ft 6in (1.98m) height. Follow BBC Newcastle on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas here.
