Friday August 21st 2026
Trimontium Newstead
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
A geographical glitch which it was feared could scupper a £15k bid towards a new visitor centre at a Roman site in the Scottish Borders could be overcome next week.
When members of Scottish Borders Council’s William Hill Trust Fund Sub-Committee met in June they were asked to contribute the funds towards an expansion bid at Trimontium at Newstead near Melrose, a museum also telling the wider story of the Romans in Scotland.
Funding was to be used to purchase and build a cabin to support access and outdoor learning activities interpreting military and civilian life at the fort and indigenous culture within the wider landscape.
It would also offer a reception for visitors to the site, act as a muster point for guided walks, provide storage for learning material and equipment and become an educational base for the construction of a replica Iron Age roundhouse, which is subject of separate funding.
But members deferred a decision for legal clarification on whether the funding met the geographical criteria of the William Hill Trust Fund, with concerns raised that as the museum was not in Melrose itself it would not qualify for financial support.
The fund was established following the death of local businessman and benefactor William Hill, who passed away in 1974 and left his estate as a bequest to support good causes and organizations in the town
When sub-committee members meet on Tuesday, August 25, they will be informed by the council’s solicitor Jillian Bluett that funding could still be allocated.
Her response states: “For present purposes, the relevant trust provision is the direction that the trustees apply the income of the residue of the estate ‘for the benefit of the inhabitants of the said Burgh’.
“The trust deed contains no requirement that funds may only be expended on land or buildings physically situated within the Burgh of Melrose.
“A heritage project associated with the Trimontium Museum would appear capable of providing educational, cultural, community and economic benefits to the inhabitants of Melrose and may therefore fall within the trust purposes.”
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