The town of Minto appears in 1383 in a list of rentals paid to Roxburgh Castle. It was burned in a raid about 1490, then again in 1545 along with most of the surrounding area. It stretched in a staggered line along a north-west axis near the old church. Another cluster of houses stood on the roadside near West Lodge; one was occupied by the village cooper, giving rise to the Cooper’s Brae. The old town had a change house, a public host house, a brew-house (supplied by local barley malted nearby), a school (established in the 17th century) and a shop. Lint fields behind Minto Crags were spun and woven into linen by the villagers, while Minto Moss, Langhope, and Shielswood provided peats for fuel. There was also a mill near East Lodge on the Ancrum road, fed by a cauld above Spittal Ford.