CAMBRIDGE COUN1Y GEOGRAPHIES
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
T
CAMBRIDGE COUNTY GEOGRAPHIES
SCOTLAND General Editor: W. MURISON, M.A.
PEEBLES
AND
SELKIRK
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS C. F. CLAY, MANAGER
FETTER LANE, E.G. too PRINCES STREET
Berlin: A. ASHER AND CO.
ILeip>ic: F- A. BROCKHAUS
jjhfo gorfc: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
Sombaj) anto Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.
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All rights reserved
oxx.XA. <-e^
Cambridge County Geographies
PEEBLES
AND
SELKIRK
by
GEORGE C. PRINGLE, M.A.
Rector, Burgh and County High School, Peebles
With Maps, Diagrams and Illustrations
Cambridge :
at the University Press
1914
ffiatnbrtbgr:
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1*9
CONTENTS
PAGE
1. County and Shire. The Origin of Peebles and Selkirk i
2. General Characteristics ...... 3
3. Size. Shape. Boundaries ..... 6
4. Surface and General Features ..... 9
5. Watershed. Rivers. Lochs . . . . .13
6. Geology . . . . . . . . 23
7. Natural History . . . . . . .34
8. Climate and Rainfall 42
9. People — Race, Language, Population . . .48
10. Agriculture . . . . . ." . .52
11. The Manufacture of Wool ..... 60
12. Minerals . . . . . . . .65
13. Fishing ......... 69
14. History of the Counties . . . . . .72
15. Antiquities — Pre-historic, British, Roman . . 77
vi CONTENTS
PAGE
1 6. Architecture — (a) Ecclesiastical . . 85
17. Architecture — (b) Military: Castles and Peels . 91
1 8. Architecture — (c) Domestic ... 101
19. Communications — Past and Present. . 111
20. Administration and Divisions . . .118
21 The Roll of Honour . . .122
22 The Chief Towns and Villages . • '37
ILLUSTRATIONS
Peebles from the West ....... 2
Selkirk from the North-West ...... 4
Yarrow Kirk and Manse ...... 8
Galashiels . ... . . . . . .12
Talla Linns . . . . . . . . .16
Ettrick Pen . . . . . . . . -19
Entrance to St Mary's Loch . . . . . .21
St Mary's Loch . . . . . . . .21
Geological Section through Southern Uplands. . . 26 Hills of Synclinal Formation ...... 26
Anticlines and Synclines . . . . . . .28
Graptolites from the Hartfell Shales, Mount Benger Burn 29 Graptolite (Monograptus Sedgiuicki) from Grieston Quarry,
Peeblesshire . . . . . . .31
Graptolites (Monograptus Griestonensis) from Grieston Quarry 3 1 Scots Pine . . . . . . . . -37
i Kingfisher, 2 Little Auk, 3, 4 Stormy Petrels . . 40 Curves showing the comparative growth of the populations
of Peebles, Selkirk, Berwick and Roxburgh Shires . 5 1 Sheep-shearing at Henderland Farm, Megget ... 56 Oldest Larch in Scotland . . . . . .59
Power Looms . . . . . . . -63
viii ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Warping Machines. ....... 63
Technical College, Galashiels ...... 64
St Ronan's Well, Innerleithen 68
Bend on the Tweed near Yair ..... 70 Flodden Memorial, Selkirk ...... 73
Catrail Fort at Rink 78
Lyne Roman Camp . . . . . . .83
Roman Coin found at Bellanrig in Manor, 1910 . . 84 Tower of St Andrew's, Peebles, before restoration . 86 Parish Church, Stobo ....... 89
Neidpath Castle, Peebles ....... 93
Newark Tower ........ 94
Elibank Castle . . . . . . . -97
" Yett " at Barns Tower . . . . . .100
Fairnilee House . . . . . . . .103
Plan of Traquair House. . . . . . .104
Traquair House . . . . . . . .106
Stobo Castle . . . . . . . . .107
Ashiesteel House . . . . . . . .108
Bowhill, Selkirk . . . . . . . .109
Cacra Bank, Ettrick . . . . . . .112
Bridge at Ettrick Bridge End . . . . .116
Old stone with Harden's crest . . . . .117
Seal of the Royal Burgh of Peebles, Dec. 15, 1473 . 121 Mungo Park . . . . . . . . .127
Hogg's Monument at St Mary's Loch . . . .130
Andrew Lang. ........ 133
Professor George Lawson . . . . . -135
Queensberry Lodging . . . . . . .139
Flodden Flag . . . . . . . . .144
Diagrams . . . . . . . . .146
ILLUSTRATIONS ix
MAPS
PAGE
Peebles and Selkirk, Physical .... Front Cover
„ „ Geological . . . Back Cover
Rainfall Map of Scotland ...... 47
Line of the Catrail through Selkirkshire . . .81 Peel Towers of Peebles and Selkirk Shires ... 99 The Thief's Road 114
The illustrations on pp. 2, 12, 93 and 107 are from photo- graphs by Messrs J. Valentine and Sons; those on pp. 4, 8, 19, 21 (St Mary's Loch), 40, 56, 73, 78, 94, 109, 112, 1 16, 127, 130, 135, and 144 are from photographs (a number of which'were specially taken for this book) by Mr A. R. Edwards, Selkirk ; those on pp. 21 (Entrance to St Mary's Loch) and 70 are from photographs by Mr Colledge, Innerleithen ; those on pp. 29 and 31 from photographs, taken by Mr Colledge, of fossils lent by Mr George Storie, a former pupil of the author; those on pp. 37 and 59 from photographs by Mr J. Ward, Peebles.
Thanks are due to the Tweeddale Society, through Mr J. Walter Buchan, for the use of blocks from which the illustra- tions on pp. 16, 97, 103 and 108 are reproduced; to Dr John Bartholomew, Geographical Institute, Edinburgh, for permission to reproduce the illustration (adapted) on p. 26 (fig. i) ; to Messrs Ballantyne and Co., Peebles, for permission to reproduce those on p. 63 ; to the Directors of the South of Scotland Technical College, Galashiels, through Dr Oliver, for the use of the block for the illustration on p. 64 ; to Messrs R. Smail and Sons, Innerleithen, for permission to reproduce those on pp. 68 and 1 06 ; to Mr T. Craig Brown, Selkirk, for permission to reproduce the map on p. 8 1 and the illustration on p. 1 1 7 ; to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland to reproduce the plan on p. 83 ; to
x ILLUSTRATIONS
Dr C. B. Gunn, Peebles, for the use of the blocks for those on pp. 84, 86, 89 and 121 ; to Mr Ross for permission to reproduce from McGibbon and Ross' Castellated Architecture of Scotland the plan on p. 104; to Mrs Andrew Lang for kindly supplying the portrait on p. 133, and to Mr Allan Smyth of the Peeblessbire Advertiser for the use of the block for the illustration on p. 139. The maps on pp. 99 and 114 and the sketches on p. too were made by J. Connel Pringle, who also adapted that on p. 26 (fig. i). For useful information and suggestions the author desires to express his obligations to : Lord Glenconner of Glen ; Mr T. Craig Brown, Selkirk ; Mr James Sanderson, Woodlands, Galashiels ; Dr Oliver, Galashiels ; Mr J. Ramsay, Board of Agriculture for Scotland ; Mr Watt, Scottish Meteorological Society ; Messrs Leslie and Reid, of Edinburgh and District Water Trust; the Rev. Wm. McConnachie, Lander; Mr G. Constable, Traquair; Mr J. Ramsay Smith, Peebles; the late Mr R. S. Anderson, Peebles; Mr Bartie, Selkirk; Dr C. B. Gunn, Peebles ; Mr Herbertson, Galashiels ; Mr M. Ritchie, High School, Peebles ; Messrs W. and T. Paterson, Crookston, Peebles ; Mr Geo. Wilkie, Mr Wm. Sanderson, Mr W. Johnstone, Peebles, and others.
NOTE
In other volumes of the series dealing with two counties, e.g. Argyllshire and Buteshire, each county is treated separately. This method, however, was found less suitable in the case of Peebles and Selkirk, which have been treated for the most part as a single area.
i. County and Shire. The Origin of Peebles and Selkirk.
The word shire is of Old English origin and meant office, charge, administration. The Norman Conquest introduced the word county — through French from the Latin comitatus^ which in mediaeval documents designates the shire. County is the district ruled by a count, the king's comes, the equivalent of the older English term earl. This system of local administration entered Scotland as part of the Anglo-Norman influence that strongly affected our country after the year noo. Our shires differ in origin, and arise from a combination of causes — geogra- phical, political and ecclesiastical.
The first known sheriff of Selkirk was Andrew de Synton appointed by William the Lyon (1165-1214); and there were sheriffs of Peebles in the same reign. In 1286 Peebles had two sheriffs, one holding his courts at Traquair, the other at Peebles — the two courts being amalgamated about the year 1304. In Alexander II's reign Gilbert Fraser was sheriff of Traquair, while in the reign of Alexander III Sir Simon Fraser was sheriff of Peebles and keeper of the forests of Selkirk and Traquair.
p. P. s. i
2 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
But these counties were more familiarly known by other names. In State Documents Peebles was frequently called Tweeddale (Tuedal), and Selkirk, Ettrick Forest or the Forest. Even in Blaeu's Atlas (1654) the inscription on the map of the two counties is : " Twee-Dail with the Sherifdome of Ettrick Forest, called also Selkirk."
Peebles from the West
Ettrick Forest — sometimes, and presumably later, Selkirk Forest — was, however, much more extensive than the present Selkirkshire.
The name Peebles, older form Peblis, is generally regarded as derived from the British word pebyll, tents, place of tents. Selkirk, old spelling Scheleschirche, is taken to mean the kirk of the shieling.
COUNTY AND SHIRE 3
No doubt the counties came into existence as con- venient districts determined mainly by natural conditions as rivers, mountains, forests, for the administration of local and national affairs. Peebles corresponded to the Vale of the Tweed from the source of the river till it approaches the region of its first large tributary, the Ettrick from the Forest, the watershed between the Tweed and the Ettrick forming a natural boundary. The Shire of the Forest was a distinctive area at first marked out and set aside as a hunting preserve for the Scottish kings. As political and social conditions have changed, these counties have also changed in shape and to some extent in size.
2. General Characteristics.
Peebles and Selkirk are entirely inland counties ; but they are not so cut off from the sea as not to be affected by the outer world and as not to affect it. No region on the face of the earth, not even Greece excepted, has been more " besung " than the Border Ballad district embraced in Selkirkshire. Burns says " Yarrow and Tweed to monie a tune owre Scotland rings " and the poetry of the district is without doubt its chief claim to distinction. The Tweed or woollen industry has rendered these counties no less famous in the sphere of commerce.
It is not necessary to assume that spiritual and mental characteristics are entirely due to material causes. If the people of the Forest and of the Uplands of Peebles and
4 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Selkirk were brave and romantic it does not follow that it was the Forest and the Uplands that made them so. It was probably an initial endowment of the spirit of adven- ture and love of freedom that drove many of the early inhabitants into these fastnesses where even the king as well as foreign foes hesitated to intrude. But the natural conditions of the Forest had undoubtedly a great influence on the thoughts, emotions and occupations of its inhabi-
Selkirk from the North-West
tants — the conditions : (i) that the counties belong to the Southern Uplands, a district noted for its suitability as a pastoral region and for its picturesque beauty ; (2) that they are included in the district of the middle marches over which the tide of war ebbed and flowed for centuries. It was natural that a region in which King James IV at one time had as many as 10,000 sheep and from which much wool was exported to Flanders should have woollen
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 5
factories as at Galashiels, Selkirk and Peebles. But besides the sheep there were cattle in the meadows, and beasts in the Forest, whence oak bark was obtained for tanning. So that there was also leather in abundance and up to the end of the eighteenth century Selkirk was more famous for its shoe-making than Galashiels for its woollen manu- facture.
Although the counties took more than their share in the extension and improvement of agriculture in the eighteenth century, yet owing to the hilly nature of the region and the consequent thinness of the soil, the coun- ties, except in the north-west of Peeblesshire,have remained chiefly pastoral. The present outstanding features of the district therefore are sheep-farming and woollen manufac- tures. But at the time when planting became fashionable in Scotland, in no part of the country did so much planting of timber take place, as in the counties of Selkirk and Peebles. Indeed, previous to the extension of railway lines into the counties it was considered that this planting had been overdone. In the vicinity of the county towns and in such districts as Bowhill, in Selkirkshire, and Cademuir Hill, in Peeblesshire, a great change has been effected in the appearance of the landscape by the planting of woods and forests, mainly pine. At the time referred to numerous estates particularly in Peeblesshire were pur- chased by wealthy merchants and professional men and vast sums of money expended on laying out policies, on building, draining and planting. One estate in particular, the property of the Earl of Islay, afterwards the third Duke of Argyll, obtained its name, "The Whim," in
6 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
token of the excessive outlay in converting a wild morass into a pleasure ground. From its romantic associations, picturesque attractions, and its proximity to Glasgow and Edinburgh, wealthy proprietors have helped to make Peeblesshire the county with the highest valuation (12*5) per head of the population in Scotland. Selkirkshire, however, has remained chiefly in the hands of one or two of the great nobles — the Buccleuchs and the Napiers ; and consequently the ratio of its valuation (6*5) to its population has not increased to the same extent.
3. Size. Shape. Boundaries.
The area of Peeblesshire is 222,240 acres of land and 1048 acres of water. Selkirkshire has 170,793 acres of land and 1796 acres of water, and is therefore about three- quarters the size of Peebles. Peebles could be contained in Inverness more than twelve times, and could itself contain Clackmannan more than six times. It comprehends one eighty-seventh part of the land and water of Scotland.
Peeblesshire is roughly triangular in form. The longest side stretches from Borestone in the north of the parish of Linton to the Great Hill where the Coreburn takes its rise, on the southern boundary between the parishes of Tweedsmuir and Moffat. A line drawn through Great Hill and Dollar Law to Thorn ilee in a north-easterly direction marks the direction of the south- eastern boundary between the two counties. The third and shortest side of the triangle runs north-west from
SIZE SHAPE BOUNDARIES 7
Thornilee to Borestone. The Tweed basin with its tributaries fills up this triangular area, the sides of which converge towards its south-eastern apex.
On the west Peebles marches with Lanark, on the north with Midlothian, on the south with Dumfries, and on the south-east with Selkirk.
With the exception of the portion which projects in a south-westerly direction into Dumfriesshire, the outline of the county of Selkirk may be described as an ellipse or oval of irregular outline, with its main axis lying north- east and south-west. The greatest length along the main axis from Capell Fell to Galashiels is twenty-seven miles. The greatest breadth from Dear Heights in the north of the Caddon division of the county to Hangingshaw Hill north of the Ale Water is about the same.
Selkirk marches with Peebles on the north-west, with Dumfries on the south-west, with Roxburgh along the eastern curve, and with Midlothian on the north.
Before 1892, when the Boundary Commission for Scotland was appointed, several detached portions of the one county lay within the other. The parish of Lyne in Peeblesshire had previously been joined with that of Megget in Selkirkshire to form one parish, although separated each from the other by the whole length of Manor Vale and parish, a distance of fully fourteen miles. The Commissioners ordered that Megget should form part of the parish of Yarrow in the county of Selkirk. Similarly the portions of the parishes of Peebles and Innerleithen, which used to be in the county of Selkirk, are now in the county of Peebles. A detached portion of Yarrow parish,
8 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
about 2166 acres, surrounded by the parishes of Peebles, Innerleithen and Traquair, was united to Traquair parish (which the Yarrow portion had divided into two) in the county of Peebles. The parish of Culter no longer exists. From 1 80 1 to 1851 it was returned as wholly in Lanark ; from 1851 to 1891 part of it was returned in Peebles- shire. In 1891 this portion was transferred to the parish of Broughton, Glenholm and Kilbucho.
Yarrow Kirk and Manse
The Commission had also to deal with parishes partly in Selkirk and partly in Roxburgh and Midlothian. Roberton parish in the east, which used to be partly included in Selkirk, is now entirely within the county of Roxburgh. Portions of the parishes of Ashkirk, Selkirk and Galashiels, partly in Selkirk and partly in Roxburgh, were transferred to the county of Selkirk. The large and
SIZE SHAPE BOUNDARIES 9
growing town of Galashiels close to the borders of Rox- burgh and Selkirk had to extend its boundaries eastwards ; and the Commissioners decreed that the portion of Melrose parish in the county of Selkirk should become part of the parish of Galashiels and of the county of Selkirk. Still later, in 1908, another portion of Melrose parish was annexed to the burgh of Galashiels for drainage purposes, and in 1911 annexed to the parish of Galashiels.
The anomalies were not, however, all removed. The parish of Stow is situated partly in the county of Edinburgh and partly in the county of Selkirk. The Selkirkshire portion, known as Caddonfoot, is of large area with a population almost wholly agricultural ; and as there were reasons against bringing Edinburgh down to the Tweed, as well as against making Caddonfoot part of Galashiels, this portion of Selkirkshire was kept within the parish of Stow. In 1898, however, by order of the Secretary for Scotland, it was formed into the parish of Caddonfoot in the county of Selkirk together with portions of the parishes of Selkirk, Galashiels and Yarrow.
These changes do not affect the ecclesiastical parishes.
4. Surface and General Features.
The part of southern Scotland known geographically as the Southern Uplands, a region now cut and carved into valleys and watersheds, was formerly a lofty tableland. A line drawn through Penicuik, Galashiels and Melrose, where the Tweed leaves the Uplands and enters the plain,
10 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
and another line from the Moffat hills to Melrose along the ridge separating the Ettrick from the Teviot, will practically cut off that portion of the Uplands which contains the counties of Peebles and Selkirk. The whole of this portion is filled with hills the tops of which are flattened or rounded, the sides smooth, and (except in the highest parts, where peat and heath are frequently found) covered with grass, crags and rocks being rare. This region is in the main pastoral and has hardly any culti- vated ground except along the haughs or on the lower slopes of the hills. The most extensive areas of hill peat are found on the Moorfoots on the high ground over- looking the Leithen water and also on the Manor hills to the south-west. These uplands are bare of any natural wood, but in the lower reaches of the Tweed and its longer tributaries, many of the hills are clothed to their summits with woods and plantations, most of them planted within the last hundred and fifty years. The district south of the Tweed including all Selkirk and more, was at one time the Forest of Ettrick.
Starting from the central mass of the Uplands in which rise the Tweed, the Annan and the Clyde, the trend of the valleys, and, therefore, of the ridges between them, is towards the north-east, till we come to the bank of the Tweed, when we are met with ridges on the north side with a trend to the south-east. The former valleys are called longitudinal, because in a line with the strike of the strata, and the other transverse, because at right angles to the strike. Examples of longitudinal valleys are : Ale, Ettrick, Yarrow, Holms, Tweed (to Broughton),
SURFACE AND GENERAL FEATURES 11
Manor, Quair ; of transverse valleys : Biggar, Lyne, Eddleston, Leithen, Walkerburn and Gala. These ridges and rounded masses approach so near and interfold and overlap on each bank so closely that, apart from other proofs, it is apparent that the whole region has at one time been a plateau which the Tweed and its tributaries with other agencies have scoured and grooved and rubbed down into what resembles a rounded, billowy ocean.
The only comparatively level part within the two counties is the district towards the north, stretching between the Moorfoots and the Pentlands from a low watershed, sloping away on the one side towards the shores of the Firth, and, on the other, towards the south-west into the Clyde valley. A flattish range of hills between Eddleston and Lyne waters divides this vale in two, the western portion running north-east and south- west between the Pentlands and the north-western edge of the Southern Uplands. This plain varies in breadth from four miles at Auchencorth in Midlothian to less than one hundred yards in places between Romanno Bridge and Skirling. The surface is arable, well cultivated and wooded, with stretches of moorland towards the Pentlands.
A line from Leadburn through Romanno, Skirling, and Culter separates these two distinctly different regions, the one lowland and arable, the other upland and pastoral. This line coincides with a great " fault " between two different geological formations.
Six sections may be distinctly marked out in this upland region. The first is Selkirkshire, with its parallel
12
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
ridges lying north-east and south-west from the high central mass culminating in Capel Fell and Ettrick Pen and forming the watersheds between the Tweed and the Yarrow, Yarrow and Ettrick, Ettrick and Teviot. Each of these valleys has its south-western end wild, mountainous and treeless ; its middle region pastoral, with grassy or heathery rounded hills and occasional clumps of dark pines
Galashiels
near the farm houses ; its lower end a region of wood and hill, pasture and arable land. The second section is bounded by the ridge between Peebles and Selkirk on the south and the Tweed on the west and north from its source to Galashiels. This area is occupied by the parallel masses separating Tweed and Manor, Manor and Quair, and other lesser streams till Ettrick meets Tweed. Here, as before, the valleys have the three-fold character of
SURFACE AND GENERAL FEATURES 13
wilderness ; pastoral ; mixed pastoral, woodland and arable. Thirdly, there is the triangle bounded by the Eddleston Water, the Tweed, and the boundary line through the Moorfoots — a high region, several summits being over 2000 feet. Intersected by the transverse valleys of the Leithen and the Walkerburn, it consists mainly of pasture and moorland. In the extreme north above Portmore Loch the ground is low and forms part of the valley between the Moorfoots and the Pentlands. Round Port- more the ground in the lower reaches near Eddleston is well wooded. The fourth section, mainly pastoral, is an undulating region, the chief heights being the Meldons between the Eddleston Water and the Lyne. The fifth division consists of the heights behind Stoboand Broughton, bounded on the north by the Tarth and on the west by the Broughton Burn. Beyond that again is the last section, the agricultural region stretching from Skirling, Romanno and Leadburn to West Linton and merging into the moorland towards the Pentlands on the north- west.
5. Watershed. Rivers. Lochs.
The Southern Uplands is a land of waters and water- sheds. " A hill, a road, a river " was an English traveller's terse description in the eighteenth century. Although now in many parts woods and forests cover the slopes of the hills and fringe its roads and rivers, hills and rivers still remain its prominent features.
14 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
The region was at one time an undulating plateau from whose higher parts streams flowed in all directions. The Tweed, therefore, in a real physical sense has made these hills ; and not only made them, but also established them ; for, by the Tweed along with other sub-aerial influences they have been made into hills of "stable equilibrium." Without the river, then, the region would be meaningless not only to those who take delight in its beauty and in its historical associations, but also to those who study its physical configuration.
The general slope of the plateau is towards the south- east. Hence the Tweed in its course from Peebles to Berwick, with its tributaries the Lyne, the Eddleston, the Leithen and the Gala, flows to the south-east. As the course of these rivers was originally determined by the slope of the ground they are called consequent, from which we infer that they are the oldest rivers of the country. This agrees with the fact that in former geological days, a great river crossed the country from the region of Loch Fyne to the North Sea, by the present Clyde Valley, and by the present Tweed Valley, which it entered near Biggar. Various changes occurred, which ultimately resulted in the Clyde and the Tweed as we know them. On the other hand, the Tweed from Tweedsmuir to Drummelzier, and the tributaries, the Holms Water, the Yarrow, the Ettrick, all flowing north-east, must have been formed subsequently to the time when the course of the main rivers was settled — probably after the great ice age. Hence such rivers are called subsequent.
The Tweed (103 m.) rises at Tweedswell, 1250 feet
WATERSHED RIVERS LOCHS 15
above sea-level. After a north-easterly direction as far as Peebles it turns east-by-south through Peebles and Selkirk till it meets the Ettrick ; then turning north, it receives the Gala and a little below Galafoot enters the county of Roxburgh. Its total course through Peebles- shire, from Tweedswell to Scrogbank, is 40 miles, and through Selkirkshire from Scrogbank to the railway bridge, between Galashiels and Melrose, 10 miles. In Tweeds- muir the only tributary of any size is the Holms Water, which unites with the Biggar Water and the Broughton Burn. The hills in the south-west of Peeblesshire have their highest summits lying to the east and north of Tweedswell, on the boundary line between Peebles, Dumfries and Selkirk. These are Hart Fell (2651), Loch Craighead (2625), Broad Law (2723), and Dunlaw (2584). It is in these hills that the Tweed receives such streams as the Fruid, the Talla (the catchment area of Talla Reservoir) and the Stanhope. After a course of 15 miles it enters, below Rachan, the haughlands of Drummelzier, the widest part of the Tweed valley above Melrose. Into this plain the valleys of Biggar and Broughton converge from the west. Near Drummelzier church the Tweed is 'joined by the Powsail Burn from Merlindale. The rhyme, attributed to Thomas of Ercildoune,
" When Tweed and Powsail meet at Merlin's grave, England and Scotland shall one monarch have,"
is said to have been fulfilled on the day that James VI became James I of England.
Talla Linns
WATERSHED RIVERS LOCHS 17
Eastwards, beyond Dawyck and Stobo with their beautiful woods, the Tweed receives the Lyne from the north-west of the county. More than a mile further on it meets the Manor Water, with a course almost parallel to that of the Tweed, the heights between the two streams comprising Dollar Law, Pykestone, and the Scrape. The river has now arrived at the picturesque pass of Neidpath, through which it joyously forces its way above the town of Peebles (see page 2). Here it is joined on the north bank by the Eddleston Water, which flows almost due south from Leadburn heights through a beautiful upland valley. Haystoun valley to the east and south of Peebles, through which flows Haystoun Burn, shows evidence of having once formed the old bed of the river, which flowed from a large lake stretching beyond Neidpath and Cademuir, well up towards Drummelzier. Once the water at Neidpath had worn down the shaly rock sufficiently to drain the lake, the course in the Haystoun valley gradually shrank from one lake with a river current through it to a series of small lakes joined by a narrow stream. These lakes existed up to 1823, when they were drained and the cutting exposed the bottom of the old lake.
At Peebles the river has fallen 800 feet. Between Peebles and Innerleithen on the north and Traquair on the south bank, the river winds through a beautiful valley diversified with gently sloping and interfolding hills, natural forest, wooded parks, green haughs with glimpses of cattle cooling their limbs at summer noon in shaded pools, of ancient peel towers perched on rocky slopes, or of modern mansions gleaming through the trees. Near
p. P. s. 2
18 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Traquair House the Tweed was diverted northwards for a distance of two miles from its old course. This part of the river used to be known as the " New Water." The Quair, which here joins the Tweed on the south bank, small as it is, is one of the historic streams of Scotland. It runs parallel to Manor and in its romantic valley stand the church of Traquair, and the mansion house of the Glen. Haifa mile further on, the Tweed is joined by the Leithen Water flowing down a steep pastoral valley from the Moorfoot Hills.
About one mile west of Elibank Castle the Tweed becomes the boundary between the counties, and half a mile below Thornilee station it enters the parish of Caddonfoot in Selkirkshire. Nearly three miles to the south-east it passes Ashestiel, opposite which the highroad strikes over the hill to Clovenfords. South of Clovenfords the Caddon Water enters the Tweed at Caddonfoot. Neidpath hill on the opposite bank turns the current to the south towards Yair House, where the river rushes over a series of rocky boulders called " Yair Trows." Here Sir Walter Scott used to " leister " salmon. The Tweed is now joined by the Yair Burn. On the left bank a little further on stands Fairnilee, and below Sunderland Hall the Ettrick from Selkirk, the largest tributary, enters on the south bank. Then passing Abbotsford and receiving the Gala from the Moorfoots, half a mile beyond Galafoot, the Tweed enters Roxburgh, where it finally leaves the Southern Uplands for the wide plain between the Cheviots and the Lammermuirs.
The Ettrick (30 miles) rises in Ettrick Pen. Its
WATERSHED RIVERS LOCHS
19
valley is larger and wider than Yarrow's, and, in its upper reaches, wilder and more picturesque. Only a few of its numerous tributaries can be noted. On the right is the Tima, from Eskdalemuir ; on the left the Kirkburn and the Scabscleuch, with a road over to Yarrow. Further down is the Rankleburn with the Buccleuchs, Easter and Wester, whence the family took their title. On the north
Ettrick Pen
is Tushielaw Tower, home of Adam the Reiver. Three miles on Ettrick receives Gilmanscleuch Burn on the left, and then the Dodhead Burn, scene of Jamie Telfer's " Fair Dodhead," on the right. Northwards through Ettrick Shaws the scenery is picturesque, Ettrick rushing through thick plantations over its rocky bed till Ettrick Bridge End is reached and the old bridge of Wat o'Harden.
2—2
20 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
On the right is Oakwood Tower, on the left Bowhill, where now Ettrick sweeps with opposing curve to meet Yarrow round the Carterhaugh, scene of " Young Tamlane." Thence northwards Ettrick passes Lindean and enters Tweed.
The Yarrow, rising near Birkhill, flows through the Loch o' the Lowes and St Mary's Loch, into which also flows the Megget. On the shores of the loch are Tibbie Shiel's Inn, the Rodono Hotel and, near the high road, Perys Cockburn's Grave. Further down the valley are St Mary's Chapel, Dryhope Tower, Blackhouse Tower — all three famous in tragic ballad. Still further on, the Gordon Arms, Mount Benger, Yarrow Manse, " the Dowie Dens," are passed, till Hangingshaw with its noble trees, Broadmeadows, once the desire of Walter Scott's heart, Bowhill and Philiphaugh, all beautifully wooded, proudly welcome Yarrow home as it ends its course in Ettrick, east of Carterhaugh.
St Mary's Loch and the Loch o' the Lowes, originally one, stretch along the valley of the Yarrow for about two- thirds of their length. The Oxcleugh Burn and the Whitehope Burn have pushed their deltas out from the shore until they have eventually cut the loch into two parts, and raised the water level of the upper part (the Loch o' the Lowes) so that it drains across the lowest part of the encroaching delta to the lower sheet of water (St Mary's). The Megget is also extending its delta towards the shore below Bowerhope hill, the distance between the two shores being now only a quarter of a mile. In time, therefore, there will be three lochs
Entrance to St Mary's Loch
St Mary's Loch
(Delta formation at Cappercleuch]
22 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
instead of two. The lochs are remarkably free from
vegetation :
" nor fen nor sedge Pollute the pure lake's crystal edge, Abrupt and sheer the mountains sink At once upon the level brink."
The tableland between Ettrick and Teviot has a chain of small lakes representing evidently an ancient river bed. Some of them contain deposits of shell marl. These are Kingside Loch, between Selkirk and Roxburgh ; Crooked Loch, a mile further east ; Clearburn Loch ; Hellmuir Loch ; Shaws Lochs (Upper and Under) ; Alemuir Loch. Another row of lochs parallel with these extends for a distance of six or seven miles through Ashkirk, north- wards to Selkirk — Shielswood Loch, Essenside Loch, Headshaw Loch, and the Haining Loch. The Haining Loch is an example of a loch tending to disappear through the growth of vegetation. A fresh-water weed, not met with in any other British lake, was discolouring the loch and threatening to fill it up. In 1911 an attempt was made to kill the weed by a solution of sulphate of copper, and so far the experiment has been successful. Cauldshiels Loch, three-eighths of a mile long, one-eighth of a mile wide, 80 feet deep and 780 feet above sea-level, is situated near the boundary line between Selkirk and Roxburgh, with Abbotsford Estate on one of its sides.
The lochs in Peeblesshire are neither so numerous nor so large as those in Selkirkshire. Gameshope Loch, in the very heart of the Peeblesshire wilds, is the highest sheet of water in the south of Scotland, being between 1750
WATERSHED RIVERS LOCHS 23
and 2OOO feet above sea-level. Talla Reservoir is an artificial barrier loch, forming one of the Edinburgh and District supplies. The surface area of the Reservoir when full is 300 acres ; the daily quantity of water available is ten million gallons. Slipperfield Loch, near Broomlee station, i^ miles in circumference and 845 feet above sea-level, is an example of a lake formed in the upper or stratified drift common in the hills between Linton and Dolphinton, where sand and gravel undulate into hum- mocky and conical forms and sometimes, as here, enclose pools of water. Portmore Loch, 1000 feet above sea- level, is surrounded by the beautiful woods of Portmore. The North Esk Reservoir, on the boundary between Midlothian and Peebles, and about one mile north of Carlops, supplies Edinburgh and District with water.
6. Geology.
Geology is the science that deals with the solid crust of the earth ; in other words, with the rocks. By rocks, however, the geologist means loose sand and soft clay as well as the hardest granite. Rocks are divided into two great classes — igneous and sedimentary. Igneous rocks have resulted from the cooling and solidifying of molten matter, whether rushing forth as lava from a volcano, or, like granite forced into and between other rocks that lie below the surface. Sometimes pre-existing rocks waste away under the influence of natural agents as frost and rain. When the waste is carried by running
24
water and deposited in a lake or a sea in the form of sediment, one kind of sedimentary rock may be formed — often termed aqueous. Other sedimentary rocks are accumulations of blown sand : others are of chemical origin, like stalactites : others, as coal and coral, originate in the decay of vegetable and animal life. For con- venience, a third class of rocks has been made. Heat, or pressure, or both combined, may so transform rocks that their original character is completely lost. Such rocks, of which marble is an example, are called meta- morphic.
The crust of the earth, in cooling, has contracted into ridges and hollows. The ridges have been worn off and sometimes turned over. Hence it is possible to examine thousands of feet of the earth's crust from its upturned edges. When one system of rock is laid down regularly and continuously upon another the two systems are said to be conformable. But if the rocks of the underlying system have been elevated and tilted, or if its surface has been worn away before the younger system has been deposited upon it, the two systems are said to be unconformable. From the order of the strata, from their conformity or nonconformity, and from the characteristic fossils belong- ing to the various divisions and sub-divisions, we learn that the rocks of Peebles- and Selkirkshires belong to the Palaeozoic or Primary group of rocks, that they are younger than the Cambrian, and older than the Old Red Sandstone and than the Coal Measures of the same group.
When a section of the earth's crust sinks down in a gap or fracture so that the beds are displaced on each
GEOLOGY 25
side of the fracture the displacement is called a fault. Two faults run north-east and south-west forming the boundaries of the coalfields of Central Scotland. The Southern Uplands lie to the south of the southern line of fault. That is to say, the Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous strata of the Midlothian coalfield lie up against the Ordovician of Peeblesshire (Fig. I, p. 26).
The surface of the Uplands is greatly wrinkled and contorted. The ridges of strata are called anticlines, the hollows, sync/ines, see Fig. 2 (p. 26) where o, o, are anticlines, />, />, synclines. The anticlines may some- times be so folded over that younger strata lie below older. This has happened in the case of the Birkhill Shales and has consequently made reading of the geological record a difficult task.
In the Ordovician period the strata were laid down in a sea which covered Wales and southern Scotland. In this sea lived plants, and animals of simple form like graptolites, trilobites, corals and starfish. It was a period of intense volcanic activity, and igneous rocks found their way through rents and fissures. A strip of about seven miles broad in the north of Peeblesshire belongs to the Ordovician (Lower Silurian) period. But the greater part of Peeblesshire and the whole of Selkirk- shire belong to the period which followed, namely, the Silurian proper (Upper Silurian). This latter period was characterized by the deposition of sediments and lime- stones in a shallow, quiet, and wide spreading sea ; and the life of the period marks a great advance on that of the one previous. For certain forms of insects and fish,
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GEOLOGY 27
and the first representatives of the backboned animals, now began to appear. Till 1852 it was thought that the Silurian rocks of the district were destitute of fossils. But James Nicol, son of the minister of Traquair, showed that greywacke (the older name for Silurian rock) was fossiliferous. Later, Lapworth, then a teacher at Galashiels, established a distinction between the two systems (Upper and Lower Silurian) ; and, because the latter system