This week we have added 110,926 new pages to The Archive. All updated and new titles this week have a decidedly Gaelic twist, as we continue to augment our holdings for both Scotland and Ireland.

We welcome this week to our collection two newspapers that cover the historic county of Dumfriesshire. Both weekly publications, the Eskdale and Liddesdale Advertiser was published in Langholm and the newspaper continues to this day, and the Galloway News and Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser was published in Dalbeattie.

Rounding off our trio of new Scottish titles this week is the Montrose Standard, another weekly title that was published in Angus. Founded in 1837, we have an extensive run of editions for this particular publication, numbering nearly 50,000 pages and so far spanning the years 1844 to 1957, representing over a century’s worth of local news coverage.

Montrose Standard | 7 March 1890

Continuing with our Celtic theme, we have updated two of our Irish newspapers (Evening Herald (Dublin) and the Irish Independent), as well as updating eight of our existing Scottish titles. Standout updates this week include nearly 24,000 new pages for the city of Aberdeen (Aberdeen Evening Express and the Aberdeen Press and Journal), as well as updates to our specialist titles, the North British Agriculturist and Witness (Edinburgh).

Our new publication, the Montrose Standard, covers the latter half of the 1840s. The 1840s were a decade of railway mania, as railway lines and stations were built across the British Isles. 1846 saw this mania reach a zenith with 272 railway construction acts being passed in that year alone. 1846 was a doubly important year as it saw the first rail connection between Scotland and England, namely the North British Railway which went from Edinburgh across the border to Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Illustrated London News | 20 July 1844

This momentous event is described in detail within the pages of the Montrose Standard. In June the ‘communication by railway between [Edinburgh] and Berwick-upon-Tweed was formally opened, under the most auspicious and gratifying circumstances.’ Somewhere in the region of seven hundred passengers traveled along the line, and many spectators surveyed the scene.

The article gives particular insight into the change that the creation of the railway wrought:

It may be thought that the running for the first time of a train of carriages on a railway could afford no great object of attraction; but when it is remembered, that a spot which but a few short months ago was a comparatively dull and uninteresting locality has been transformed into the depot of a great railway scheme – that the thick clusters of old dingy houses which used to choke up this district have been swept away before emancipated industry, and that an untrodden path has been opened up and converted into a highway of traffic, then it will be admitted that the charm of transformation was itself sufficient to attract a crowd of the inhabitants to witness its consummation and to greet with their cheers the accomplishment of a splendid undertaking.

Not only does the article focus on the benefits of progress, it also sings the praises of the scenic line, the journey being ‘exceedingly pleasant.’ On narrow gauge rails, with roomy and steady carriages, small gradients, the new line passes through ‘very beautiful and attractive country’:

Splendid meadows, wooded hills, retired hamlets, sequestered villas, deep ravines, silvery streams rippling through their pebbly and meandering concave, ever and anon burst on the view of the passenger as he is whirled along, intermingled as he approaches near to Berwick by many magnificent marine prospects.

The article ends by looking forward to the completion of the line between Berwick and Newcastle, and thence between Newcastle and London, thus connecting London and Edinburgh ‘entirely by rail.’ By August of 1846, our updated title Witness (Edinburgh) publishes a timetable for the new North British Railway Route.

Witness (Edinburgh) | 1 August 1846

New Titles

Updated Titles

This week we have updated ten of our existing titles.

You can learn more about each of the titles we add to every week by clicking on their names. On each paper’s title page, you can read a FREE sample issue, learn more about our current holdings, and our plans for digitisation

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You can keep up to date with all the latest additions by visiting the recently added page.  You can even look ahead to see what we’re going to add tomorrow.