Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 5

PEEBLES
(juair (detached), S by Yarrow (detached), Traquair,
and Yarrow, SW by Manor, and W by Manor, Stobo,
and Lyne. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 9 miles ;
its utmost breadth, from E to W, is 5J miles ; and
its area is 16,686iV acres, of which 13,513f are in
Peeblesshire and 3172J in Selkirkshire, whilst 89 are
water. The Tweed divides the parish into two parts,
of which the northern is the larger. Entering it on its
W side, the river winds 1 J mile east-by-southward along
the Manor boundary, next 3g miles eastward through
the heart of the parish, and afterwards for g mile
on the boundary with Traquair. Thus if one follows
its windings, the Tweed has a total course line of 55
miles, though a straight line, dra^vn between the points
at which it enters ^and leaves the parish, does not
measure more than 4^ miles. On the N bank it receives
the tribute of Lyne Water, Eddleston Water, and
Soonhope Burn. Meldon Burn runs 2^ miles south-
by-westward along the boundary with part of Eddles-
ton and the whole of Lyne parish, and falls into Lyne
Water, which itself runs 3 furlongs south-south-
eastward along all the Stobo boundary. Eddleston
Water, flowing at right angles to the Tweed, divides
the northern part into two sections, of which the eastern
is the larger. It has a course of 2| miles within the
parish, before it Joins the Tweed at Peebles. Soonhope
Burn, rising at an altitude of 1750 feet in the NE
corner of the parish, flows i^ miles south-south-west-
ward, and falls into the Tweed at Kerfield, J mOe below
the town. On the S bank the Tweed receives Manop.
AVater, which flows for the last 5J furlongs on the
boundary with Manor, and Glensas Burn, rising at an
altitude of 2100 feet in the southern extremity of the
parish, and running 6t miles north-north-eastward —
for the last IJ furlong along the Traquair boundary.
Besides these, there are numerous small streams, tribu-
taries of the above ; and both great and small afl'ord good
fishing. The vale of Tweed, in the neighbourhood of
Peebles especially, expands to a considerable breadth,
and contains scenery of great beauty. It has an altitude
near the river of from 550 to 495 feet.
The following are the highest hills : — *Dunslair
Heights (1975 feet), *Cardon Law (1928), *Makeness
Kipps (1839), *Whiteside Edge (1763), Meldon Hill
(1401), Collie Law (1380), Heathpool Common (1516),
and South Hill Head (1239), in the division N of the
Tweed : Cademuir (1359), Preston Law (1863), *Hundles-
hope Heights (2249), and *Dun Rig (2433), in the part
S of the Tweed, where asterisks mark those summits
that culminate on the confines of the parish. These
hills, generally speaking, are lowland in character,
though those of the Selkirkshire portion are somewhat
rugged and covered with heather.
Greywacke is the predominant rock, and has been largely
employed for building purposes. A quarry of coarse
limestone, on the Edinburgh road, 2 miles from the
town, has long since been abandoned. In the bottom of
the valleys the soil is clay mixed with sand ; on the
lower ascents it is loam on gravel ; and on the sides
of the hills it is rich earth. The parish is mainly
pastoral, there being good feeding for sheep. About
one-sixth of the entire area is in tillage ; and nearly
one-tenth is under wood. The chief proprietors are the
Earl of Wemyss and Sir Robert Hay of Haystoune,
Bart., 6 others holding each an annual value of £500
and upwards. Llansions, noticed separately, are Kings-
meadows, Kerfield, A''enlaw House, and Rosetta. The
parish is traversed by two railway lines, of the North
British and Caledonian, and by excellent roads which
branch out from the town of Peebles in all direc-
tions. The former line approaches the town down
the valley of Eddleston Water, and the latter down
tliat of Tweed. Antiquities are described under the
town, and in the articles Gademtjib, and Neidpath
Castle.
Peebles is the seat of a presbytery in the synod of
Lothian and Tweeddale. The living is worth £489,
17s. lOd., made up of stipend £424, lis. 2d., com-
munion elements £8, 6s. 8d., manse £35, glebe £22.
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PEEBLESSHIRE
Landward valuation (1855) £7299, 13s., (1884) £13,817,
9s. lOd., plus £2581 for the North British railway,
and £1779 for the Caledonian railway. Pop. of entire
parish (1801) 2088, (1831) 2750, (1861) 2850, (1871)
3172, (1881) 4059, of whom 4 were in the Selldrkshire
portion.— OroJ. Sur., sh. 24, 1864.
The presbytery of Peebles comprises the quoad civilia
parishes of Drummelzier, Eddleston, Innerleithen, Kirk-
urd. West Linton, Lyne, Manor, Newlands, Peebles,
Stobo, Traquair, and Tweedsmuir, with the quoad sacra
parish of Walkerhurn. Pop. (1871) 11,164, (1881) 12,749,
of whom 3189 were communicants of the Church of Scot-
land in 1878. See Biggak.
Peeblesshire or Tweeddale, an inland county in the
S of Scotland, is bounded on the N and NE by Edin-
burghshire, E and SE by Selkirkshire, S by Dumfries-
shire, and on the SW and W by Lanarkshire. It
derives its former name from its chief town, Peebles ; the
latter from the fact that the source, and nearly half of
tlie course, of the river Tweed lies within its borders.
The boundary runs on the N and NE in a jagged line
from the Pentland Hills by Carlops and Leadburn to
Ringside Edge ; thence S to the Moorfoot Hills, and by
Windlestraw Law and Garthope Burn to the Tweed,
whose course it crosses at Holylee ; thence westwards
along the S bank of the Tweed to the Haystoun Burn,
though with four bold and irregular loops running
almost due S into Selkirkshire, and including the basins
of the Bold Burn, Fingland Burn, and Quair Water ;
and so S by the line of AVaddinshope Burn, Glenrath
Heights, Blackhouse Heights, and Henderland to St
Mary's Loch, a reach of which forms a small part of the
S boundary of the shire. From St Mary's the boundary
next runs along a line of heights by Loch Skene and
Hart Fell to Tweed's Cross, where it turns N to form
the W limit of the shire by Clyde Law, Black Dod,
Culter Fell, Hartree, Skirling, Netherurd, and Jledwin
Water to tlie Pentland Hills, which form the NW
boundary. The outline thus traced presents the appear-
ance of an irregular triangle, facing W, SE, and NE, with
rounded angles, and most broken by indentations on
the SE base line where there are projections into
Selkirkshire. The lengths of the sides are— along the
W face, from N to S, 26 miles ; along the SE face, 30
miles ; and along the NE, 23 miles. The extreme
length of the county, from N to S, is 29 miles ; its
extreme breadth, from E to W, is 21 miles ; and its
total area is 354 square miles or 226,899 acres (of which
970 are water) ; lying between 50° 24' and 55° 50' N
latitude, and between 2° 45' and 3° 23' AV longitude.
It is the twenty-third county of Scotland in point of
size, and the thirtieth in population.
The surface of Peeblesshire attains a higher average
level than that of any other of the southern Scottish
counties. The lowest ground is in the narrow vale of
the Tweed, just where it enters Selkirkshire, and lies
between 400 and 500 feet above sea-leveL The highest
ground in the county is on the S border, where the
summits of the Hartfell group rise. The highest peak
is, however, Broad Law (2754 feet), in Tweedsmuir
parish, 4 miles from the S border. At a general view
the county seems to be an assemblage of hills, more or
less high, and more or less closely grouped ; but these
are intersected in all directions by pleasant and fertile
valleys or deep gorges, each with its stream flowing
through it. Professor Veitch thus describes the view
from the top of Broad Law : ' On all sides, but particu-
larly to the east of us, innumerable rounded broad hill-
tops run in a series of parallel flowing ridges, chiefly from
the south-west to the north-east, and between the ridges
we note that there is enclosed in each a scooped-out glen,
in which we know that a burn or water flows. 'These
hill-tops follow each other in wavy outline. One rises,
falls, passes softly into another. This again rises, falls,
and passes into another beyond itself ; and thus the eye
reposes on the long soft lines of a sea of hills, whose
tops move and yet do not move, for they carry our
vision along their undulating flow, themselves motion-
less, lying Uke an earth-ocean in the deep, quiet calm
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