Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland .. - National Library of Scotland

PEEBLESSHIItEFEEBLESSHIBEparishes of Dawick and Kailzie have been suppressed. muir, 1 in Lyne, 2 in Skirling, 10 in Broughton, Glenholm,and Kilbucho, 3 in Kirkurd, 2 in Linton, and 5 inOf the existing sixteen, Broughton, Glenholm, and partof Kilbucho are treated as one parish quoad sacra; Newlands. The largest is Milkieston Rings in Eddleston.while the remainder of Kilbucho is united with Culter Large artificial earthen terraces, like gigantic flights ofparish in Lanarkshire. Lyne and Megget, though there steps, are seen on some of the steep hill-sides. Theyare some 8 miles between their respective nearest points, are probably connected with ancient methods of agi-iculture.The chief are at Purvis Hill in Innerleithen,are treated as a single parish quoad omnia. Tweeddaleand Lothian give name to a synod in the Established on Noblehall farm in Newlands, Roger's Crag in Halmyre,Torwood near Kailzie, on a hill below VenlawChurch of Scotland, and to one in the Free Church also.Twelve of the fourteen parochial charges in Peeblesshirebelong to the presbytery of Peebles ; the other two, large and interesting Roman camp at Lyne, of a smallerHouse, and at Kilbucho. There are the remains of aSkirling and the united parish of Broughton, Glenholm, one at Linton near Whitefield, and doubtful traces of aand Kilbucho, belong to the presbytery of Biggar in the third in Manor. Castles and peel-towers, consisting forsame synod. A small part included in Yarrow parish the most part of a single tower, are very abundant inis in the presbytery of Selkirk and the synod of Merse the county, and are to be referred to feudal times.and Teviotdale. The Established Church has 15 places Their number and their relative position are a tacitof worship in the county ; the Free Church, 5 ; U. P. testimony to the wildness of the times that built them,Church, 4 ; Scottish Episcopalian, 2 : Koman Catholic, for they are generally built so that one might signal by2 ; Congregational, 1. There are in the shire 23 schools fire to its neighbour the approach of the hostile invader.(20 of them public), which, with total accommodation Chambers enumerates the chief as follows :—' Thencefor 2489 children, had (1882) 1973 on the registers, and [Holylee, at the issue of the Tweed into Selkirkshire]an average attendance of 1611. The staff included 30 communication through Peeblesshire was kept up,certificated and 14 pupil teachers. All the parishes, save generally zigzagging across the river, to Scrogbank,four, are assessed for the poor. There were, in 1882-83, Caberstone, Bold, Plora, Purvis Hill, Pirn, Traquair,177 registered and 157 casual poor, on whom was spent Grieston, Ormiston, Cardrona, Nether Horsburgh,a total of £2766. Tlie only poorhouse is that of Peebles Horsburgh, Peebles, and Neidpath. At Peebles signalsUnion at Peebles. There is no hospital in the county. went northwards to Smithfield, Hutchinfield, Shielgreen,Foulage, Cringletie, Blackbarony, and the highThere is a joint lunacy board for Midlothian andPeeblesshire, with an asylum at Eosslynlee in the grounds on the borders of Midlothian. Southwardsformer county. The percentage of the illegitimate Peebles communicated with Haystoun. Pursuing thebirths was 8-9 in 1871, 9-1 in 1873, 6-5 in 1876, 10-3 course of the river Neidpath was seen at Caverhill,in 1880, and 8-6 in 1882. The 2d Midlothian and which sent signals up Manor Water, and also to Barns,Peeblesshire Rifle Volunteer Corps has its headquarters whence there were communications with Lyne, Easterat Penicuik in Midlothian, and the Haddington, Happrew, Dawick, Stobo, Dreva, Tinnis, Drummelzier,Berwick, Linlithgow, and Peebles Artillery Militia (2d Stanhope, Quarter, Wrae, Mosfennan, Kingledoors,Brigade) at Dunbar. The registration county gives off Oliver Castle, Polmood, and Hawkshaw. Ascendingparts to Selkirkshire and Lanarkshire, and includes the Lyne there were towers to be communicated with atparts of Selkirkshire ; its population is 13,688.Wester Happrew, Stevenston, Callands, Kirkurd, andTweeddale gives the title of Marquis to the family of Skirling ; also at Romanno, Halmyre, Carlops, Coldcoat,Hay, whose family seat is Yester House in Haddington-Briglands, Whiteford, and probably some other places.'The more interesting and important towers and castlesare mentioned in separate articles ; and additionalantiquities are noted in the articles on Peebles and thevarious parishes and villages.History.—When tlieshire. 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 thecount}' are Lord Elibank of Darnhall ; the Earl ofWemyss and March, Viscount of Peebles, Baron Douglasof Neidpath, Lyne, and Minan, with his seat atBarns ; the Rev. Sir William Henry Gibson-Carmichael,thirteenth baronet of Durie and Skirling, with his seatat Castle Craig ; Sir Robert Hay, eighth baronet ofSmithfield and Haystoune, with seat at Kingsmeadows ;Sir Graham Graham Montgomery, third baronet ofStanhope, with seat at Stobo Castle ; and Sir JamesNaesmyth, fifth baronet of Posso, with seats at Dawickand Stobo.Antiquities. —Peeblesshire abounds in relics of itsearly British inhabitants and their Teutonic invaders,and not the least interesting of these is the topographicalnomenclature, which, though very largely Celtic, alsoaffords examples of the blending of the two races oflanguages. There are remains of what are called Druidcircles at Sheriffmuir in Stobo, near Tweedsmuir church,and at Gatehope in Innerleithen. Tombs and tumuliwith stone coffins and human remains have been foundin nearly every parish, chiefly in the W, and especiallyalong the valley of the Lyne. A tumulus near thejunction of the Powsail and Tweed is pointed out as theburial-place of the great enchanter Merlin. Standingstones, whatever they serve to mark, are found atBellanrig in Maruor, Sheriffmuir in Stobo, Cademuir inPeebles, and on the Tweed in Traquair and Innerleithen,and at Harestanes. On vei-y many of the tops of thelower hills and knolls are found relics of ancient hillforts,oval and round, of various sizes and probably ofvarious ages. They seem to have been placed so as tocommand the routes and passages through the county.Chambers enumerates over 50 of these—5 in Eddlestonparish, 8 in Peebles, 3 in Innerleithen, 6 in Traquair, 4in Manor, 3 in StobOj 1 in Drummelzier, 1 in Tweeds-172Romans penetrated to the southof Scotland the district that is now Peeblesshire wasinhabited by a tribe to whom the invaders gave thename of Gadeni. The Roman occupation of the regionwas probably neither very intimate nor very long, andtraces of their camps, etc. , are few ; while their northernthoroughfare, known as Watling Street, passes half amile outside the nearest point of Tweeddale. After thedeparture of the Romans the county became exposed tothe successive attacks of the Scoto-Irish and the Anglesand Frisians ; and though it formed for some time partof the Cymric kingdom of Strathclyde or Cumbria, itwas afterwards included in the Saxon kingdom ofNortliumbria ; and finally, when the whole south ofScotland was handed over to Malcolm, King of Scots, in1088, became amalgamated with the Scottish kingdom.Peeblesshire shared in the benefits which Scotlandreceived from the influx of the more civilised Saxonswho fled before the Norman invasion of England in1066 ; and after Henry II. 's edict in 1155 banishing allforeigners from England a number of industrious andskilful Flemings are said to have settled at Peebles, andpossibly to have planted and fostered the woollenindustry there. In the reign of David I. (1124-53)Peeblesshire advanced in importance ; there were royalcastles at Peebles and at Traquair ; and the town of Peeblesbegan to be visited and privileged by the successiveScottish monarchs. It is probably to tl>e 12th centurythat the older castles in the county should be referred.Early in that century the deanery of Peebles—answeringtolerably closely to the present shire—was erected andplaced in the archdeaconry of Teviotdale, in the newdiocese of Glasgow. There were, however, no largeabbeys or important religious houses ever founded inPeeblesshire, the chief ecclesiastical building being the