Lawn bowls was very popular in Scotland. Langholm had two clubs, Old Town and New Town, founded in 1853 and 1857 respectively.

The Old Town green is below, with the Parish Church and woollen mill chimneys behind it. The club’s original green became a lawn at the Thomas Hope Hospital in the centre of town after the club moved in 1894.

The Old Town club admitted lady members for the first time in 1915. The season was opened with a tea party at which the president Robert Ramage gave a speech welcoming ladies and addressing wounded soldiers recuperating at the Red Cross Hospital. He was later accused of double standards for holding bowling club festivities but then instigating the cancellation of the town’s Common Riding.

The New Town club’s green is situated between Langholm Academy and some gardening plots. It purchased the green from the Duke of Buccleuch in 1915 for £31 5s [£2700].