Former inhabitants include: the ancient Selgovae; the Roman army at Trimontium (Newstead); monks and masons, builders of nearby Melrose Abbey and, more recently, navvies working on the impressive railway viaduct at Leaderfoot.

[1] Newstead lies within the Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk UK Parliament constituency, whose MP is John Lamont.

[citation needed] St John's Wynd, a lane leading to the site of the first Masonic Lodge in Scotland.

In 1865 the magnificent nineteen-arch Leaderfoot Viaduct was constructed for the St Boswells Junction to Reston section of the Berwickshire Railway, a line which closed in 1948.

[2] One of the best known contemporary village residents is the journalist and author Liz Taylor who writes under the name Elisabeth McNeill.