Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 6

TWEEDSMTJIR
river, high up on the hill, Oliver House, the seat of
T. T. Stodart, Esq., the only resident landowner, looks
out from its ancestral trees upon one of the finest views
in Peeblesshire. Eight below, on its prominent knoll
between Tweed and Talla, stands the parish church, em-
bowered in birch and elm and Scotch fir, up through
■which rises the taper spire, whose red freestone tints con-
trast harmoniously with the dark hues of the pine.
Beyond the church, and flanking the right bank of the
Talla, is the rounded form of Cockland, with its gentle
slopes and green pastures ; behind and above which
towers the huge bulk of Broadlaw, one of the highest
ridges in the south of Scotland. Between Cockland and
Quarter Hill the beautiful vale of Talla stretches away up
south-south-eastward until lost to the eye in the recesses
of the lofty mountain ranges which form the horizon in
that direction. The head of Talla Glen is a deep hollow
or den, hemmed in on the one side by the steep spurs of
the Broadlaw (otherwise called " Talla Banks "), and on
the other by the beetling precipices and cleft chasms of
the Gairlet, the immemorial haunt of the hunting
falcon ; while from the heights behind the shepherd's
house, through a formidable fissure, Old Talla foams
from linn to linn in a succession of striking falls (hence
the name of the spot, Talla Linnsfoot), 4 miles SE of the
church. From the little handrail bridge above the
linns the scene is grand and impressive, resembling in
its general features the Devil's Beef-tub, the head of
Black's Hope, and the gorge of the Grey Mare's Tail.
Here the Talla is joined by Gameshope Burn, a
thoroughly Highland stream, which issues from a little
black lochan in the wilds above, churns its way among
opposing rocks down the steep descent of a dark and
narrow gorge, whose sides "ascend like lofty wa's,"
and in whose clefts and corries the snow often lies till
■well on into the summer. This is Gameshope, associated
with Covenanting memories, famous for ferns and trout,
but most notable for its scenery, which, for stern and
rugged grandeur, is not surpassed by any similar scene
south of the Forth and Clyde, and may bear comparison
■with the more widely celebrated Glenogle in Perth-
shire.' The predominant rocks are greywacke and grey-
wacke slate. The soil of the arable tracts is mostly a
light loam, and that on many parts of the hills is a
strong thick mould, formed of earth and moss. Less
than 300 acres are in tillage ; but, except for the cost
of reclamation, much of the lower slopes of the hills
might easily be brought under the plough. Large
flocks of sheep, most of them Cheviots, are pastured ;
and hay-meadows and peat fuel are plentiful. Hawk-
shaw Castle, an ancient seat of the Porteous family,
stood on the left side of Hawkshaw Burn, 5 miles SSW
of the Crook Inn ; and at the source of the Tweed is a
spot called Tweeds Cross, from its having been the site
of a pre-Reformation cross. Here in Feb. 1831 the
guard and the driver of the Edinburgh mail coach
perished in a gallant attempt to carry the letter bags
through the drifted snow — an episode woven by Dr
John Brown into his essay on The Entcrkin. Other
antiquities are noticed separately under Fruid, Giant's
Stone, and Oliver Castle. Three proprietors hold
each an annual value of more, and 6 of less, than £500.
Tweedsmuir is in the presbytery of Peebles and the
synod of Lothian and Tweeddale ; the living is worth
£275. The parish church, 1J mile SSW of the Crook
Inn, on the peninsula between Talla Water and the
Tweed, crowns a knoll, called Quarter Knowe, by some
supposed to be a tumulus, but really of alluvial forma-
tion. The present building, successor to one of 1648,
was erected in 1S74-75 at a cost of £1930, and contains
180 sittings. A Romanesque structure, it is in beautiful
keeping with the surrounding scenery, and forms a
commanding object from every point of approach. An
old headstone in the graveyard bears the inscription —
' Here lyes John Hunter, martyr, who was eruely
murdered at Corehead by Col. James Douglas and his
Party for his adherance to the word of God and Scot-
land's covenanted work of Reformation, 1685.' An
excellent parish school, with accommodation for 45
103
TYNDRUM
pupils, has an average attendance of 35 ; and another
little school for the children in the remote district of
Tweedshaw, at the head of the parish, has a present
attendance of 9. Valuation (1860) £5121, (1885)
£7645, 18s. 6d. Pop. (1801) 277, (1831) 288, (1861)
196, (1871) 190, (1881) 215.— Ord. Sur., sh. 16, 1864.
Twynholm, a post-office village and a parish of S
Kirkcudbrightshire. The village is pleasantly situated
in a little glen, 3 miles NNW of Kirkcudbright and 2
SSW of Tarff station, this being 6J miles SW of the
post-town, Castle-Douglas.
The parish, which comprises the ancient parishes of
Twynholm and Kirkchrist, united about 1654, is
bounded N by Balmaghie, E by Tongland, SE by the
broadening Dee and Kirkcudbright Bay (dividing it from
Kirkcudbright), S by Borgue, and W by Borgue and
Girthon. Its utmost length, from N by W to S by E,
is 9 miles ; its utmost width is 2J miles ; and its area
is 16^ square miles or 10.816J acres, of which 95| are
water and 103| foreshore. Culcaigrie Loch (2xlJ
furl. ; 375 feet) lies on the boundary with Tongland,
Loch Whinyeon (4J x i\ furl. ; 725 feet) on that with
Girthon ; and the latter sends off Glengap Burn, a head-
stream of Tarff Water, which, lower down, winds 2 miles
south-south-eastward along the Tongland border, till it
falls, near Compstone House, into the Dee. The Dee
itself, here broadening into its tidal estuary, Kirkcud-
bright Bay, curves 3J miles south-south-westward
along all the south-eastern border, past Kirkcudbright
town, to a point nearly opposite the southern extremity
of St Mary's Isle. Chief elevations, from S to N, are
Kirkeoch Hill (292 feet), Fuffock Hill (1050), and
Bengray (1203) on the Girthon boundary. The general
surface of the parish lies so comparatively high, that,
if regarded in the aggregate, or as seen from a distance,
it might be pronounced a tableland or elevated plain.
But the parts of it fringing the Dee and Tarff Water
comprise some haugh-ground ; the southern and central
parts are rolled into knolls and hillocks, with interven-
ing vales and hollows ; and only the northern parts rise
into high hills, of pastoral character, and incapable of
cultivation. Silurian rocks, comprising greywacke,
greywacke-slate, and clay slate, predominate ; and
large granite boulders have now been nearly all removed.
The soil of the arable lands is variously clay, sand,
gravel, and moss — mostly light, dry, friable, aud fertile.
Nearly two-thirds of the entire area are capable of tillage;
rather more than 300 acres are under wood ; and the
rest of the land is chiefly hill pasture. Antiquities are
a number of Caledonian forts, the ruins of Compstone
Castle, the site of an old castle, and probably of a
nunnery at Nunton, and a circular mote near the parish
church. Mansions, noticed separately, are Barwhin-
nock and Compstone ; and the Earl of Selkirk owns
nearly a third of the entire parish, 5 other proprietors
holding each an annual value of £500 and upwards, and
5 of between £100 and £500. Twynholm is in the
presbytery of Kirkcudbright and the synod of Galloway ;
the living is 18 chalders (half meal and half barley),
with a glebe valued at £62 per annum. The parish
church, at the village, is a neat Gothic edifice of 1818,
with aisle, bell-cote, and 410 sittings. In the church-
yard, which is surrounded by trees, is the grave of
Andreu M 'Robert, who, with four other Covenanters,
was shot by Grierson of Lag on Kirkconnell Moor in
Tongland parish. The public school, built in 1S76-77,
with accommodation for 184 children, had (1884) an
average attendance of 76, and a grant of £73, 5s.
Valuation (1864) £7563, 15s., (1885) £9783, 9s. 9d.
Pop. (1S01) 683, (1831) 871, (1861) 815, (1871) 717,
(1881) 681.— Ord. Sur., sh. 5, 1857.
Tynabruaich. See Tighnabrtjaich.
Tyndrum (Gael, tigh-an-dronxa, ' house of the ridge '),
a small post-office village in Killin parish, W Perthshire,
at the head of Strathfillan, within 7 furlongs of the
Argyllshire border and 35 miles SE of Ballachulish,
whilst its station on the Callander and Oban railway
(1873-80) is 36J miles E by N of Oban and 17J W by N
of Killin station. Standing 700 feet above sea-level, it
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