Gordon is a village in the old county of Berwickshire

Berwickshire

Berwickshire or the County of Berwick is a registration county, a committee area of the Scottish Borders Council, and a lieutenancy area of Scotland, on the border with England. The town after which it is named—Berwick-upon-Tweed—was lost by Scotland to England in 1482...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 and is now part of the Scottish Borders

Scottish Borders

The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...

 Council. The village sits on the crossroads of the A6106 Earlston

Earlston

Earlston , formerly Ercildoune, is a civil parish and market town in the county of Berwickshire, within the Scottish Borders. It is situated on the River Leader in Lauderdale, Scotland.-Early history:...

 to Duns

Duns

Duns is the county town of the historic county of Berwickshire, within the Scottish Borders.-Early history:Duns law, the original site of the town of Duns, has the remains of an Iron Age hillfort at its summit...

 road and the A6089 Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 to Kelso road, it is 6 miles east of Earlston and 4 miles west of Greenlaw

Greenlaw

Greenlaw is a small town situated in the foothills of the Lammermuir Hills on Blackadder Water at the junction of the A697 and the A6105 in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. Greenlaw was first made the county town of Berwickshire in 1596, and was the first town to take on this role since the...

 at

Gordon was once on a branch line of the Berwickshire Railway.

Origins

The first Gordon on record is Richard of Gordon, previously of Swinton

Clan Swinton

Clan Swinton is a Lowland Scottish clan and founder of Clan Gordon, Clan Elphinstone, Clan Arbuthnott, Clan Nisbet and the Greystoke Family. Being a Border family, they were prominent Border Reivers.-Origins:...

, said to have been the grandson of a famous knight who slew some monstrous animal in the Merse during the time of King Malcolm III of Scotland. This Richard was Lord of the Barony of Gordon in the Merse. The name is said to derive from the Gaelic 'Gor Dun' meaning great fort. The de Gordons held the lairdship of Gordon for over two centuries and were thought to have built a castle at the former hamlet of Huntly just to the north; they still held lands up to the 18th century.
The Gordon family are the ancestors of the Dukes of Richmond and Gordon and of the Marquis of Huntly.

Church

In 1171, the chapel at Gordon, dedicated to St. Michael, was transferred by the monks of Coldingham

Coldingham

Coldingham is a historic village in Berwickshire, Scottish Borders, on Scotland's southeast coastline, north of Eyemouth.As early as AD 660, Coldingham was the site of a religious establishment of high order, when it is recorded that Etheldreda, the queen of Egfrid, became a nun at the Abbey of...

 to their counterparts at Kelso in return for the church at Earlston. The present church was built in 1763 and is a part of the Church of Scotland

Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....

.
A Free Church of Scotland

Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900)

The Free Church of Scotland is a Scottish denomination which was formed in 1843 by a large withdrawal from the established Church of Scotland in a schism known as the "Disruption of 1843"...

 was opened in 1843 but that is now used as a private home.

Greenknowe Tower

In 1408, Alexander Seton married Elizabeth Gordon, heiress of the Gordon family, and they were granted lands at Greenknowe, just to the west of the village. A descendent of the family, James Seton of Touch, married Janet Edmonstone and it was they who built the tower in 1581. Their initials IS/IE (the 'I' is Latin for 'J') are carved above the entrance. Later owners of the tower were Walter Pringle of Stichill, the Covenanter

Covenanter

The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century...

 and the Dalrymple

Dalrymple

Dalrymple may refer to:* HMS Dalrymple , frigate of the British Royal Navy* Dalrymple's sign, a medical condition of the eyes associated with goitre-Places:* Dalrymple, Queensland, the first inland town in northern Australia...

 family. The tower is now in the care of Historic Scotland

Historic Scotland

Historic Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, responsible for historic monuments in Scotland.-Role:As its website states:...

.

Today

Modern Gordon boasts a Church of Scotland kirk, a nursery, a primary school. a lawn bowling club/late night drinking den, a community woodland, village hall, two public houses and the village shop/post office. The main street has not changed for many years though there has been much housing development at the north end of the village off Station Road.

External links

• photos of Gordon at Geograph