Old Parish Church Guide Book

The Royal Burgh of Peebles
Peebles can lay claim to being one of the original Royal Burghs of Scotland, its
status established during the reign of David I in the 12th century, yet its origins
go back far earlier than that, to at least Roman times.
The name “Peebles” derives from the Welsh word, “pebyll”. The people who
occupied Tweeddale at that time shared a common language known as Cumbric
with the inhabitants of much of the land south of the Scottish Lowlands and as far
south as Wales. The word means a tent or tents. This is quite consistent with what
is known of the area at the time of the earliest Roman occupation, as the Romans
usually established bases close to existing settlements.
In later centuries, Peebles became a favourite stopping
place of the Stewart kings, who frequently visited the
Royal Burgh to dispense justice and to hunt in the great
Forest of Ettrick close to the town. The phrase “Peebles
to the play” has been attributed to James I, and appears
in his poem “Christis Kirk of the Greene”:
“Wes nevir in Scotland hard or seen
Sic dancing nor deray
Nouthir at Falkland on the grene
Nor Pebillis at the play.”
Following the Union of the Crowns and the departure
of James VI & I to London, the town fell into gradual
decline until recovering during the industrial revolution
of the Victorian era, largely stimulated by the arrival of
the railway. The textile industries which dominated the
town in the later 19th and for most of the 20th centuries, have gone, but these have
been replaced by modern service industries and tourism is an important feature of
the economy. It has also become a favourite base for commuters to Edinburgh and
the Eastern Borders.
Today the Old Parish Church of Peebles still plays a prominent part in the civic life
of the Royal Burgh. The annual ceremony of crowning the Beltane Queen takes
place on the steps and the Guildry Corporation of Peebles attends an annual
service in the church.
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