Holystone In The 20th Century And Beyond

The development of the village in the 20th century can be traced in the maps and especially the photographs reproduced in this study. Comparison of the 2nd, 3rd and later editions of the Ordnance Survey demonstrates the layout of the village changed relatively little in these years. The overall picture during the 20th century is one of a gradually declining population.

Agriculture now employs far fewer people and facilities within the village itself have dwindled. The nearest school is now Harbottle. Only the church remains open, a possible future focus for a wider range of information services. A definitive history of Holystone in this period remains to be written, a task which might perhaps most appropriately be undertaken by members of the local community.

Through the use of oral history recordings as well as a range of photographic, cartographic and documentary media such a project might not only chart the development of the village throughout the century, but, perhaps more importantly, capture the personalities who enriched the life of Holystone during this period.

A hundred years ago, David Dippie Dixon was able to accomplish just that, covering the village and the wider valley in the 19th century, with the result that his history of Upper Coquetdale (1903) has become a sought-after classic – a local history in the truest sense. With the documentary, visual and other resources available today it would not be overly ambitious to seek to equal Dixon's achievement.