Scottish Borders Archive and Local History Centre
Visit us to find out about Borders family history, communities, industries and people. Discover how the Scottish Borders has evolved and developed through the centuries in our state of the art archive facility.
750 years of history
The collections at the Heritage Hub include material relating to:
- Families and local communities
- Census, births, marriages and deaths
- Land ownership from the 16th Century
- Local business records including textile, fishing and farming industries
- Government, law and order, and schools
- Famous Borderers, such as Sir Walter Scott, Mungo Park and James Hogg.
You can trace your family tree or discover the history of your house. Archives can help with school, college or university work and with legal matters. Whether your interest is music, green issues or the technical workings of a mill, there will be archives here for you.
There is a more in depth guide to tracing your family tree on our website at:
http://www.heartofhawick.co.uk/heritagehub/collections/ancestors.asp [1]
Everyone is welcome to consult the sources of information free of charge and friendly, knowledgeable staff are at hand to assist and advise you. Information sheets are available on specific topics: Emigration Records, House History, Irregular Marriages, Local and Family History Websites, Family Names, Local Newspapers Held on Microfilm and Records of Death and Burial. They can be found at:
http://www.heartofhawick.co.uk/heritagehub/collections/guides.asp [2]
Exhibitions and Features
Online exhibitions on highlights of our collections are available on our website at:
http://www.heartofhawick.co.uk/heritagehub/exhibitions/ [3]
and our exciting blog of Sir George Henry Scott Douglas on the Voyage of the Vampire website at:http://www.voyageofthevampire.org.uk/
Planning a Visit
Please contact us ahead of a visit to book a microfilm reader/printer or space in the search room. The Centre is open all year Monday to Saturday, with Wednesdays reserved for tours and talks only. A remote research service is offered to enquirers unable to visit personally:
http://www.heartofhawick.co.uk/heritagehub/services/remoteresearch.asp [4]
Access to some of our materials requires advance booking.
Telephone: 01450 360699
email: [email protected] [5]
Website: www.heartofhawick.co.uk/heritagehub [6]
So come and discover the Borders of the past at the Heritage Hub, where we have all you need to help with your research!
The Heart of Hawick Project
The £10m Heart of Hawick project is one of the biggest and most unique regeneration projects in the Scottish Borders. The project is a multi-agency arts and heritage initiative designed to contribute to the social, cultural and economic regeneration of Hawick and the wider Borders. Key elements include the complete transformation of two previously empty shell buildings in the centre of Hawick:
Tower Mill - a former weaving mill is now home to a brand new cinema/theatre, cafe/bar visitor centre.
Heritage Hub - the old Marina function suite and cinema is now home to the Scottish Borders Archive and Local History Centre.
The project also includes The Borders Textile Towerhouse, celebrating the story and the design legacy of the textile industry in Borders. The Borders Textile Towerhouse also now hosts the Registrar Service; this coming together of services is also supported at a national level by the Keeper of the Records for Scotland and by the Registrar General. The Heart of Hawick campus shop is also based in The Borders Textile Towerhouse and sells sells locally made textile products and locally produced art.
Heart of Hawick
Kirkstile, Hawick TD9 0AE