Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 5

PEEBLESSHIItE
parishes of Dawick and Kailzie have been suppressed.
Of the existing sixteen, Broughton, Glenholm, and part
of Kilbucho are treated as one parish quoad sacra;
while the remainder of Kilbucho is united with Culter
parish in Lanarkshire. Lyne and Megget, though there
are some 8 miles between their respective nearest points,
are treated as a single parish quoad omnia. Tweeddale
and Lothian give name to a synod in the Established
Church of Scotland, and to one in the Free Church also.
Twelve of the fourteen parochial charges in Peebles-
shire belong to the presbytery of Peebles ; the other two,
Skirling and the united parish of Broughton, Glenholm,
and Kilbucho, belong to the presbytery of Biggar in the
same synod. A small part included in Yarrow parish
is in the presbytery of Selkirk and the synod of Merse
and Teviotdale. The Established Church has 15 places
of worship in the county ; the Free Church, 5 ; U. P.
Church, 4 ; Scottish Episcopalian, 2 : Koman Catholic,
2 ; Congregational, 1. There are in the shire 23 schools
(20 of them public), which, with total accommodation
for 2489 children, had (1882) 1973 on the registers, and
an average attendance of 1611. The staff included 30
certificated and 14 pupil teachers. All the parishes, save
four, are assessed for the poor. There were, in 1882-83,
177 registered and 157 casual poor, on whom was spent
a total of £2766. Tlie only poorhouse is that of Peebles
Union at Peebles. There is no hospital in the county.
There is a joint lunacy board for Midlothian and
Peeblesshire, with an asylum at Eosslynlee in the
former county. The percentage of the illegitimate
births was 8-9 in 1871, 9-1 in 1873, 6-5 in 1876, 10-3
in 1880, and 8-6 in 1882. The 2d Midlothian and
Peeblesshire Rifle Volunteer Corps has its headquarters
at Penicuik in Midlothian, and the Haddington,
Berwick, Linlithgow, and Peebles Artillery Militia (2d
Brigade) at Dunbar. The registration county gives off
parts to Selkirkshire and Lanarkshire, and includes
parts of Selkirkshire ; its population is 13,688.
Tweeddale gives the title of Marquis to the family of
Hay, whose family seat is Yester House in Haddington-
shire. The creations are Baron Hay of Yester, 1488 ;
Earl of Tweeddale, 1646 ; and Marquis of Tweeddale,
Earl of Gilford, and Viscount of Walden in 1694.
Other noblemen and baronets connected with the
count}' are Lord Elibank of Darnhall ; the Earl of
Wemyss and March, Viscount of Peebles, Baron Doug-
las of Neidpath, Lyne, and Minan, with his seat at
Barns ; the Rev. Sir William Henry Gibson-Carmichael,
thirteenth baronet of Durie and Skirling, with his seat
at Castle Craig ; Sir Robert Hay, eighth baronet of
Smithfield and Haystoune, with seat at Kingsmeadows ;
Sir Graham Graham Montgomery, third baronet of
Stanhope, with seat at Stobo Castle ; and Sir James
Naesmyth, fifth baronet of Posso, with seats at Dawick
and Stobo.
Antiquities. — Peeblesshire abounds in relics of its
early British inhabitants and their Teutonic invaders,
and not the least interesting of these is the topographical
nomenclature, which, though very largely Celtic, also
affords examples of the blending of the two races of
languages. There are remains of what are called Druid
circles at Sheriffmuir in Stobo, near Tweedsmuir church,
and at Gatehope in Innerleithen. Tombs and tumuli
with stone coffins and human remains have been found
in nearly every parish, chiefly in the W, and especially
along the valley of the Lyne. A tumulus near the
junction of the Powsail and Tweed is pointed out as the
burial-place of the great enchanter Merlin. Standing
stones, whatever they serve to mark, are found at
Bellanrig in Maruor, Sheriffmuir in Stobo, Cademuir in
Peebles, and on the Tweed in Traquair and Innerleithen,
and at Harestanes. On vei-y many of the tops of the
lower hills and knolls are found relics of ancient hill-
forts, oval and round, of various sizes and probably of
various ages. They seem to have been placed so as to
command the routes and passages through the county.
Chambers enumerates over 50 of these — 5 in Eddleston
parish, 8 in Peebles, 3 in Innerleithen, 6 in Traquair, 4
in Manor, 3 in StobOj 1 in Drummelzier, 1 in Tweeds-
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FEEBLESSHIBE
muir, 1 in Lyne, 2 in Skirling, 10 in Broughton, Glen-
holm, and Kilbucho, 3 in Kirkurd, 2 in Linton, and 5 in
Newlands. The largest is Milkieston Rings in Eddleston.
Large artificial earthen terraces, like gigantic flights of
steps, are seen on some of the steep hill-sides. They
are probably connected with ancient methods of agi-i-
culture. The chief are at Purvis Hill in Innerleithen,
on Noblehall farm in Newlands, Roger's Crag in Hal-
myre, Torwood near Kailzie, on a hill below Venlaw
House, and at Kilbucho. There are the remains of a
large and interesting Roman camp at Lyne, of a smaller
one at Linton near Whitefield, and doubtful traces of a
third in Manor. Castles and peel-towers, consisting for
the most part of a single tower, are very abundant in
the county, and are to be referred to feudal times.
Their number and their relative position are a tacit
testimony to the wildness of the times that built them,
for they are generally built so that one might signal by
fire to its neighbour the approach of the hostile invader.
Chambers enumerates the chief as follows : — ' Thence
[Holylee, at the issue of the Tweed into Selkirkshire]
communication through Peeblesshire was kept up,
generally zigzagging across the river, to Scrogbank,
Caberstone, Bold, Plora, Purvis Hill, Pirn, Traquair,
Grieston, Ormiston, Cardrona, Nether Horsburgh,
Horsburgh, Peebles, and Neidpath. At Peebles signals
went northwards to Smithfield, Hutchinfield, Shiel-
green, Foulage, Cringletie, Blackbarony, and the high
grounds on the borders of Midlothian. Southwards
Peebles communicated with Haystoun. Pursuing the
course of the river Neidpath was seen at Caverhill,
which sent signals up Manor Water, and also to Barns,
whence there were communications with Lyne, Easter
Happrew, Dawick, Stobo, Dreva, Tinnis, Drummelzier,
Stanhope, Quarter, Wrae, Mosfennan, Kingledoors,
Oliver Castle, Polmood, and Hawkshaw. Ascending
the Lyne there were towers to be communicated with at
Wester Happrew, Stevenston, Callands, Kirkurd, and
Skirling ; also at Romanno, Halmyre, Carlops, Coldcoat,
Briglands, Whiteford, and probably some other places.'
The more interesting and important towers and castles
are mentioned in separate articles ; and additional
antiquities are noted in the articles on Peebles and the
various parishes and villages.
History. — When tlie Romans penetrated to the south
of Scotland the district that is now Peeblesshire was
inhabited by a tribe to whom the invaders gave the
name of Gadeni. The Roman occupation of the region
was probably neither very intimate nor very long, and
traces of their camps, etc. , are few ; while their northern
thoroughfare, known as Watling Street, passes half a
mile outside the nearest point of Tweeddale. After the
departure of the Romans the county became exposed to
the successive attacks of the Scoto-Irish and the Angles
and Frisians ; and though it formed for some time part
of the Cymric kingdom of Strathclyde or Cumbria, it
was afterwards included in the Saxon kingdom of
Nortliumbria ; and finally, when the whole south of
Scotland was handed over to Malcolm, King of Scots, in
1088, became amalgamated with the Scottish kingdom.
Peeblesshire shared in the benefits which Scotland
received from the influx of the more civilised Saxons
who fled before the Norman invasion of England in
1066 ; and after Henry II. 's edict in 1155 banishing all
foreigners from England a number of industrious and
skilful Flemings are said to have settled at Peebles, and
possibly to have planted and fostered the woollen
industry there. In the reign of David I. (1124-53)
Peeblesshire advanced in importance ; there were royal
castles at Peebles and at Traquair ; and the town of Peebles
began to be visited and privileged by the successive
Scottish monarchs. It is probably to tl>e 12th century
that the older castles in the county should be referred.
Early in that century the deanery of Peebles — answering
tolerably closely to the present shire — was erected and
placed in the archdeaconry of Teviotdale, in the new
diocese of Glasgow. There were, however, no large
abbeys or important religious houses ever founded in
Peeblesshire, the chief ecclesiastical building being the