Peebles is a royal burgh in Peeblesshire, of which it is the county town, within the Scottish Borders area. According to the 2011 census, the population was 8,376. The earliest building in Peebles is the tower of St Andrew's Church. The church was founded in 1195. It was ruined (along with many various other Borders abbeys and abbeys) by the soldiers of Henry VIII. The stones of the damages were pilfered for several other neighborhood structures leaving only the tower standing amongst the gravestone of the cemetery. One more ancient church in the community is the Cross Kirk, founded in 1261. Although currently primarily ruins, the Cross Kirk plays a feature in the local event. The annual regional event in Peebles is called the Beltane, and also entails (as with numerous Borders celebrations) a Typical Riding. The Beltane, announced at the cross, culminates with the crowning of the Beltane Queen (a girl picked from one of three regional primary schools) along with her court, including the similarity the First and Secondly Courtiers, Sword Bearer and Standard Bearer; on the action in front of the parish church. The grown-up principal of the celebration is the Cornet, a local boy picked by the organising committee on a basis of being taken into consideration worthy of representing the community, that after that lugs the town criterion for a year. To the west of the town is Neidpath Castle, which can be gotten to on foot via Hay Lodge Park, the course has views of the castle. The castle is now near the public. On the south side of High Street are the old burgh offices. These integrate the community's collection, art gallery as well as neighborhood museum. The building occupied by these are called the Chambers Institution, being deeded to the community by William Chambers, a member of the Chambers publishing family that came from the community. Chambers' home can be found on the oldest road in Peebles-- Biggiesknowe. Peebles is no longer connected to the railway network. In years past, the Symington, Biggar and also Broughton Train had lines that attached Peebles to Edinburgh and Galashiels, with an items station as well as Peebles as well as Peebles West stations. Historically Peebles and also the Scottish boundaries have actually been the location of numerous textiles services. Still today, March Road Mills is the area of Robert Noble along with its sis company Replin Fabrics.