Birgham, Scottish Borders.
Near to Kelso, Near to Coldstream… Near to Perfect!
The Best Wee Village in the Scottish Borders! (Well… we think so anyway!)
Welcome to the new Birgham Village website, a local community resource provided in collaboration with the Birgham Community Development Trust primarily for the villagers and residents in the surrounding area. But whether you are a resident or just have a passing interest in the village, this website will provide you with all the information you need. Please read on and explore our website.
Postal Codes: TD12 4NE | TD12 4NF | TD12 4NG | What3Words: ///recruiter.risk.copycat [Village Hall]
Latitude: 55.645 / 55°38'42"N - Longitude: -2.3312 / 2°19'52"W
OS Eastings: 379254 - OS Northings: 639104 - OS Grid: NT792391
Approx. Height Above Sea Level: 44.8 Metres
OS Explorer Map: 339: Kelso, Coldstream & Lower Tweed Valley
Where in the world is Birgham?
The village is located in the Scottish Borders, on the A698 between Coldstream [3.5 miles] to the east and Kelso [5 miles] to the west.
DUNS 11 MILES
ECCLES 3 MILES
GALASHIELS 22 MILES
HAWICK 25 MILES
SELKIRK 24 MILES
BERWICK UPON TWEED 18 MILES
NEWCASTLE AIRPORT 64 MILES
EDINBURGH AIRPORT 55 MILES
GLASGOW AIRPORT 101 MILES
ABERDEEN 180 MILES
PERTH 95 MILES
LONDON 340 MILES
Birgham at a Glance
If you’re not a resident of the village or a local to the Borders, you've probably never heard of Birgham. You, like most people, would likely pass straight through Birgham without noticing it that much!
The community also encompasses the smaller hamlets of Lochton, Homebank and Eccles Newton and today about 230 people enjoy a peaceful but active and fulfilling rural life in and around our wee village. Lying in the midst of the beautiful Scottish Borders countryside, straddling the A698 Kelso to Coldstream road, high up on the North bank of the famous fishing river, the Tweed with views over the river to the Cheviots beyond.
Following the completion of the lovely new ‘East Haugh’ development at the east end of the village, there are now 120 houses in the village. We've no shop, school, post office or church, but we do have a B & B, a village hall and we are desperately clinging on to our wee pub, the renowned "Fisherman's Arms." Both pub and hall are well used and form the focal points of our close-knit community.
In recent years, the village has been a frontrunner in Scotland's annual "Floral Gateway" competition, winning the "Best Wee Village" category on several occasions along with a prestigious 'Quality of Life' award.
Our only real historic claim to fame came some seven centuries ago in 1290, when the "Treaty of Birgham" took place here. It was intended to secure the independence of Scotland after the death of Alexander III and accession of his granddaughter, Margaret ‘Maid of Norway’ through marriage. This short-lived but momentous occasion means that Birgham has been referred to in the past as 'The Treaty Village." (Read more about the ‘Treaty of Birgham’ on our History page).
Please take a few minutes to read on and navigate through our pages to learn more about the wee village of Birgham. Enjoy!
Visit our Facebook page too - there’s a link at the top of the page!
“A village where people still care about each other”
A village, though, is not just about its history, its facilities or amenities; it is also about the people and the community spirit they create - what makes Birgham a special place is the people who live here.
Out and About
Below: The village has featured on the route of the Tour of Britain cycle race.
Above: One of the fisherman’s riverside ‘bothies’, used for shelter, refreshments and meals.
As quiet as the village might be, there are a few outdoor activities in the immediate area, including local walks, cycling, horse riding and stabling, and of course being so close to the famous river Tweed, the village has had a long association with fishing.
The village lanes provide access to the river banks, and “bothies” [shelters] where fisherman from all over the world have come to fish for salmon and trout for centuries. One of the most well known pools in the river opposite the village is called “Birgham Dub”.
Cycling - on the quiet roads. and lanes around Birgham, which is less than a mile from the 'Tweed Cycleway”, a 63.5-mile cycle route connecting Berwick-Upon-Tweed to Melrose, Galashiels, and Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders.
Birgham - where it really is a “Wonderful Life”!
We’re twinned with a place that doesn’t exist!
The road signs at each end of the village proudly display that Birgham is ‘twinned’ with ‘Bedford Falls’, USA, showing that we have a a wry sense of humour too, for ‘Bedford Falls’ does not actually exist in real life; it was just the fictional setting of an American town at the centre of the 1946 iconic favourite Christmas film “It’s A Wonderful Life”.
The film does have a tenuous link to the Borders, in that James Stewart’s character’s guardian angel Clarence is played by Henry Travers, who moved to Tweedmouth (Berwick-Upon-Tweed) when he was two in 1876 and grew up there before heading to Hollywood.
What began as part of the community’s light-hearted Christmas celebrations several years ago has led to the signs becoming a permanent village feature and talking point. And now even the BBC are taking notice!
“So, it really is a wonderful life in Birgham”
Local Creative Talent
As with all centres of populations - large or small, our village residents come from diverse backgrounds and careers, with equally varied personal interests, but in addition, behind the scenes there is also a rich seam of creative talent with entrepreneurs, several fine artists and a couple of published authors. Take for example:
The stunning artwork of Iain Harkess, whose superb illustration of the village forms the banner for this website page [and below] and in the literary world, the many popular childrens’ books and romantic crime thrillers penned by Margaret Macklin.
Rachel Meehan is both a fine artist and designer and has also authored a series of three novels. Rachel produces a unique range of vividly designed nature based artworks and complementary gift products, all of which are available from her website and stockists around the country.
And these are just a few of the village’s creative talents - there’s bound to be more, so please if you have a talent or an interesting hobby that you would like to share with the community via this website - please don’t be shy….let us know, perhaps a feature page is called for?
