Letters to the Editor of local, regional or national newspapers were part of the era’s equivalent of today’s social media as a way of conducting public debate.

Writers would often remain anonymous by using a pseudonym, in the same way that usernames or ‘handles’ are now used to mask identities.

Examples of debates are:

The critic, the antagonist and the gardener

A heated argument about local history and personal integrity, involving 21-year old Christopher Grieve (later known as Hugh MacDiarmid) and others.

Cancellation of Langholm’s Common Riding

Eskdale Laddie