Welcome to the Canonbie and District Community Council website
Canonbie & District Community Council area is divided by the A7 trunk road which links Carlisle and Edinburgh. Part of our southern boundary, approximately 15 miles, is also the Scottish / English border and we meet the border of Scottish Borders Region at Caulside. As well as the area now known as Canonbie other settlements make up our CC area namely Caulside, Harelaw, Rowanburn, Claygate, Hollows, Evertown and Chapelknowe and surrounds.
Canonbie sits on the river Esk, which is famous, in angling circles, for its salmon and sea trout although stocks have diminished in recent years. It also sits above the Canonbie Coal field. Coalmines ran from the early 19th Century until 1922 when it was said the coal was exhausted. Due to modern technology, there are plans in place for the possibility of further extraction in the future.
It was during the reign of David the first (1124- 1153) that a Priory was founded and from this Canonbie got its name – “the town of Canons”. Being in the heart of the Debatable Lands during the turbulent times it is understood that Lord Wharton destroyed the Priory in his notorious raid after the Battle of Solway Moss in 1542.
The River Esk and Canonbie were immortalised by Sir Walter Scott in his poem “The Young Lochinvar”.
There is evidence that people were around in the area about 4000 years as local finds are a Middle Bronze Age haft flanged axe (4 ½ “ long ) and a Bronze age flat hammer or macehead. The Cruck Barn at Prior Linn Farm, thought to have been built about 1760, is probably the most complete surviving clay-walled and cruck-framed structure in the region and is on the A Listed Buildings List.
The Community Council is elected by the local community to represent their views to Dumfries and Galloway Council and other public bodies. We meet the 2nd Thursday each month, except July and December, and our meetings are open to the public.
