Langton
Parish
No 747 Langton is located within the County of Berwickshire
which is known today as the Scottish Borders.
Langton today is known as Gavinton.
All that is left of the Langton of old is Langton House and some
farms. For a map showing the location of
Langton please click here.
"A parish in
Berwickshire, in the district of Merse, of a triangular shape, containing about
7200 acres. The surface rises from the E. and S. towards the N. where the
highest ground is named Langton Edge, from whence the prospect over the low
land in Berwickshire and Northumberland is very extensive ... The ancient
village of Langton was a long straggling town, as its name implies: it suffered
like the rest of the border towns from the incursions of the English, having
been burnt in 1558 by Sir Henry Percy and Sir George Bowes, and at other times
by the marauding parties from Berwick and Northumberland. Mr
George Gavin, the late proprietor, finding a dirty town so near his house an
obstacle to improvements, offered the inhabitants to feu,
on easy terms, a piece of ground, in a pleasant situation, about half a mile
distant. This offer was accepted, and the old town of Langton in a short time
disappeared, and the new and thriving village of Gavintown
arose in its room ... Population in 1801, 428."
from Gazetteer of
Scotland published 1806, Edinburgh.
Langton Old Parish Church
Langton
Old Parish Church
was dedicated by David de Bernham the Bishop of St Andrews
on 6 April 1242 to St
Cuthbert. The church required repairs in
1700 and in
1727 the roof fell in. In 1736 the
church was extensively repaired. However
by the time of the First Statistical Account, which was published between 1791
and 1799 the church was said to be in a ruinous condition.
In 1758 David Gavin bought Langton Estate. David Gavin built he village
of Gavinton naming it after
himself. The old village
of Langton was around the Langton
Old Parish Church,
however after the building of Gavinton the population moved from Langton to
Gavinton. All of the buildings of
Langton with the exception of the church were demolished, to allow Langton
House to be left isolated from the village.
It is thought that after the new church was built in Gavinton in 1798
the old Parish Church of Langton was completely demolished. The old graveyard and burial vault were left
alone however.
Langton Parish Church
Langton
Parish Church
was built in Gavinton in 1798. The new
owner of the estate David Gavin paid for the new church to be built in the
village. The church was demolished and
re-built on the same site in 1872. The
Church built in 1872 is the one used today.
Lady Elizabeth Pringle [1794 – 1878] was the granddaughter of David
Gavin and she paid for the church to be re-built in 1872.
Population
Here are some figures
showing the parish's population through time:
1755
- 290
1793
- 435
1801
- 428
1811
- 418
1821
- 477
1831
- 443
1841
-
1851
-
1861
- 502
1871
-
1881
- 506
1891
-
1901
-
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