Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

LINTON
station, Broomlee or West Linton (5 furl. SSE), on the
Dolphinton branch of the North British railway, is
24 miles SSW of Edinburgh and 14f ENE of Carstairs.
The village is very irregularly built. Even in the main
thoroughfare the houses are built on no fixed plan, and,
in consequence, show great variety of style, age, and
appearance. West Linton possesses 3 places of worship
—the parish church, built 1781 and repaired in 1871;
the United Presbyterian church, built in 1784 (at
that date occupied by a Relief congregation), and the
Episcopal church of St Mungo. The parish church con-
tains some beautiful wood-carving, the work of ladies.
The carved work of the galleries and windows was done
by Miss Fergusson, eldest daughter of the late Sir William
Fergusson, surgeon to the Queen ; that of the pulpit by
Mrs Woddrop, wife of the proprietor of Garvald. The
Free church (erected in 1845) is at Carlops. West
Linton also possesses a public hall (built in 1881), a post
office, with money order, savings bank, and telegraph
departments, a branch of the Bank of Scotland, two
hotels, a gaswork, agricultural and horticultural societies,
a leek club, senior and junior curling clubs, and a police
station. On the Rutherford estate, which belongs to
Mrs Philip, there is a mineral spring called ' Heaven
Aqua Well,' the taste of whose waters somewhat re-
sembles that of the waters of Tunbridge Spa. West
Linton was once known as Linton Roderick or Linton
Rutherick. The double name is found as early as the
12th century, and was probably derived from that of the
chief man or family in the district. There is another
Linton in Haddingtonshire — East Linton — from which
that in Peeblesshire is distinguished by the prefix West.
According to Chambers (in his History of Peeblesshire,
1864), West Linton was at one time a burgh of regality
and centre of traffic. Quoting from Pennicuick, he
says : — ' In the Regent Morton's time West Linton was
a pendicle of Dalkeith, but was created a burgh of
regality by John, the first Earl of Traquair, who derived
from it his title of Lord Linton. . . . Linton is
known to have had a resident bailie of regality, who was
assisted in keeping order by a council, composed of
portioners or small proprietors, known as the "Lairds
of Linton.'" Sheep markets were once held at West
Linton four times a year, but their size and importance
gradually dwindled until they ceased altogether. Now
the business done in the village is almost entirely local,
its;chief frequenters being commercial travellers, anglers,
and a few summer visitors.
An interesting relic is to be found in the statue of a
woman, placed on the top of the village pump. It
represents the wife of James Gifford, usually known as
Laird Gifford, who flourished as a mason and stone
carver in 1666. Another curiosity, according to Cham-
bers, ' consisted in a marble tombstone in the parish
churchyard, over the grave of James Oswald of ''Spital "
or Spitals. ' During his lifetime it had served in some
way at the social gatherings of which Oswald was fond,
and at his death (1726) it was placed over his grave
by his widow. It bore the following inscription in
Latin :— " To James Oswald of Spittal, her deserving
husband, this monument was erected by Grizzel Russell,
his sorrowing wife. This marble table, sitting at which
I have often cultivated good living (lit. propitiated my
tutelar genius), I have desired to be placed over me
when dead. Stop, traveller, whoever thou art ; here
thou mayest recline, and, if the means are at hand,
mayest enjoy this table as I formerly did. If thou doest
so in the right and proper way, thou wilt neither
desecrate the monument nor offend my manes. Farewell. '
This relic was carried off about the year 1838, and
sold for the value of the marble. The carving of grave-
stones was once largely engaged in at West Linton,
suitable stone being found in the Deepsykehead quai-ries.
Handloom weaving of cotton fabrics was also carried on
by the villagers. Pop. of West Linton (1831) 395,
(1861) 512, (1871) 514, (1881) 434, (1891) 359, of whom
174 were males. Houses (1891) inhabited 106, un-
inhabited 16.
The parish, containing also Cahlops village, is
LINTON
bounded NW and NE by the Edinburghshire parishes
of West Calder, Midcalder, Currie, and Penicuik, SE by
Newlands, S by Kirkurd, SW and W by Dolphinton
and Dunsyre in Lanarkshire. Its utmost length, from
N by E to S by W, is 9| miles; its utmost breadth is 7|
miles; and its area is 23,313 acres, of which 57 are
water. Lyne Water, rising at an altitude of 1260 feet
above sea-level, winds 7J miles south-south-eastward
through the middle of the parish, then 1$ mile south-
by-westward along the Newlands boundary. The
North Esk, fed by Carlops Burn, flows 5 miles south-
south-eastward and east-by-northward along the Mid-
lothian border, and Medwin Water 4J miles along the
W boundary. The drainage thus belongs mainly to the
Tweed, but partly to the Clyde and partly to the Firth
of Forth. Many small streams flow through the parish,
which also contains Slipperfield Loch (1A x A, furl.), 9
furlongs SSW of the village. As a rule the surface is
hilly, with a northward ascent to the Pentland range,
which lies on the northern border. In the SE, along
Lyne Water, it declines to 700 feet above the sea; and
chief elevations, from S to N, are Blyth Muir (1015),
Mendick Hill (1480), King Seat (1521), Byrehope
Mount (1752), Mount Maw (1753), and West Caibn Hill
(1844). The scenery is extremely pretty and attractive,
especially near Carlops and Habbie's Howe, which, in
the summer time, are visited by picnic parties without
number. The greater part of the land is occupied by
sheep farms (the parish being noted for a famous breed),
but near the rivers the ground is under tillage and
yields good crops. The soil is chiefly either clay on
limestone or sandy loam upon a gravelly bottom.
White freestone has been largely quarried at Deepsyke-
head and Spittalhaugh, and limestone calcined at Whit-
field; whilst fuller's earth is found near the Lyne, blue
marl at Carlops, and Scotch pebbles in the streams.
Mansions, noticed separately, are Gakvald House,
Medwyn, and Spittalhatjgh. This parish is in the
presbytery of Peebles and synod of Lothian and Tweed-
dale; the living is worth £335. The church of Linton
Roderick was a vicarage under the monks of Kelso from
the reign of David I. to the Reformation. In the 13th
century a chaplaincy of the Virgin Mary existed at
Ingliston, and a chapel attached to an hospital at
Chapel on Lyne Water. Two schools — public (1874)
and Episcopalian — with respective accommodation for
112 and 68 children, have an average attendance of
about 90 and 50, and grants amounting to nearly £100
and £40. Pop. of parish (1801) 1064, (1831) 1577,
(1861) 1534, (1871) 1387, (1881) 1117, (1891) 1005.—
Oral. Sur., shs. 24, 32, 1864-57.
Linton, a Border parish of NE Roxburghshire, whose
church, within 3 furlongs of the southern boundary,
stands lj mile N of Morebattle, 4 miles WSW of
Yetholm, and 6| miles SSE of the post-town, Kelso. It
is bounded NW by Sprouston, NE by Northumberland,
E by Yetholm and Morebattle, S by Morebattle, and W
by Eckford. Its utmost length, from NNE to SSW, is
6f miles; its breadth varies between 9 J furlongs and 4
miles ; and its area is 6428 acres, of which 34 J are water.
Kale Water flows 1| mile westward along the south-
ern boundary ; and one burn, running southward to it,
traces all the boundary with Eckford; whilst another,
issuing from pretty Hoselaw Loch (3 x 1A_ furl. ; 640
feet) in the north-eastern extremity of the parish, is a
feeder of Bowmont Water. A second lake, Linton Loch,
which lay to the SE of the parish church, and covered
some 50 acres, has been drained. Along the southern
and the western boundary the surface declines to less
than 300 feet above sea-level, and thence it rises to 926
feet at Linton Hill on the eastern border, 750 at the
Kip and near Old Graden, and 715 at Hoselaw. The
SW corner, a fertile level of about 300 acres, rises only
a few inches above the level of Kale Water, and hence
is subject to inundations. The rest of the parish is a
mixture of hollows and rising-grounds, valleys and
hills, and presents an appearance alike diversified
and charming. The low grounds, excepting some
largish patches of moss and about 75 acres under wood,
1087