Newtown Church

https://www.dryburghdistrictchurches.org/newtown1.html

Newtown has been referred to through the ages as Newtoun, Newton, Newtown of Eildon and Newtown of Dryburgh.

It is first recorded in 1529. Newtown was until relatively recently in the Parish of Melrose, and was a milling centre for the grain of the area.

Because of the burns which run through the village, the monks of Melrose Abbey brought corn to be ground at Newtown Mill, milling continuing until the early 1900s.

The Mill today has been converted into a house, but it still stands at the foot of the hill up to the Kirk.

Being in Melrose Parish resulted in the village being without a church and graveyard for many years, but, with the Disruption in the Church of Scotland, Newtown became the base for a ‘branch’ of Selkirk First Secession Church in 1772, first down the Glen, and later, in 1868, on the site of the present church.

It is currently part of a Linked Charge with Maxton and Mertoun and St Boswells congregations.