Daveblue46’s Weblog

Today my wife and i went to Langholm to do some hill walking and we took our faithful friend Ben (Our Dog).

We walked up from the town to the top of Whita Hill to see the Sir John Malcolm monument, it was about a 5 mile walk up and back down the route we used.

Langholm is located 21 miles north of Carlisle, England and 24 miles south of Hawick, on the A7 trunk road. From the south, the town is the gateway to some of the most the spectacular scenery that Southern Scotland has to offer. Rich in history, Langholm was the centre of the Border Reiver insurrections, Scotland’s equivalent of the ‘Wild West’.

Rich in history, Langholm has been the mother to many famous sons, including Thomas Telford, the famous Civil Engineer and the ‘Father of Modern Civil Engineering’, William Julius Mickle, Poet and Author of ‘There’s Nae Luck Aboot The Hoose’, and more recently, Christopher Murray Grieve, who wrote under the pseudonym of Hugh MacDiarmid, Scotland’s greatest poet of modern times, to whom a Memorial (by Sculptor Jake Harvey) was erected on the slopes of Whita Hill in 1988.

It is not generally known that the famous actor, the late James Robertson Justice, was born in the Crown Hotel as a consequence of his mother having to make an emergency break in her journey. Sadly he never claimed any connection with the town.

The town is also the home of the Armstrong Clan and had a visit from Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, who received the freedom of the town.

Industrially, Langholm is prominent in the tweed industry, and is home to such famous names as Reid and Taylor, Arthur Bell Scotch Tweeds, and The Edinburgh Woollen Mill Ltd., which is now part of Grampian Holdings. In a different field, Border Fine Arts is one of the foremost manufacturers of hand painted figurines in the world. Collectively, these companies have been able to secure a high level of employment in the town.

Sir John Malcolm

(May 2, 1769 – 1833) was a Scottish soldier, statesman, and historian, born at Burnfoot, Dumfriesshire on the 2nd of May, 1769.

In 1782 Sir John Malcolm entered the service of the East India Company; and a part of his success is to be ascribed to the zeal with which he applied himself at first to study the manners and languages of the east. Having distinguished himself at the siege of Seringapatam in 1792, he was appointed by Lord Cornwallis to the situation of Persian interpreter to a British force serving with a native prince. In 1795, on his return from a short visit to his native country, on account of his health, he performed some useful services in General Clarke’s expedition at the Cape of Good Hope, for which he received the thanks of the Madras government, and was appointed secretary to the commander-in-chief.

      Views of Langholm from the hill 

    On the way back down ben got to hot and decided to roll in the grass to cool himself down.