Eddleston

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Eddleston (`Eadulf's town '), a village and a parish of N Peeblesshire. A neat little place, founded about 1785, the village stands, 680 feet above sea-level, on the left bank of Eddleston Water, a bridge over which leads to Eddleston station on the North British railway, 4 ¼ miles N by W of Peebles and 23¾ S of Edinburgh; at it are a post office, with railway telegraph, the parish church, and a public school. The parish is bounded N and NE by Penicuik and Temple in Midlothian, E by Innerleithen, S by Peebles, SW by Lyne, and W by Newlands. In outline resembling a triangle, with northward apex, it has an utmost length from NNE to SSW of 9 1/8 miles, an utmost width from E to W of 5½ miles, and an area of 18,590 ¼ acres, of which 100½ are water. Eddleston Water, rising in the extreme N,- close to the Edinburghshire border, at 880 feet above sea-level, flows 61/8 miles southward through this parish, next 2 7/8 miles through that of Peebles, till, after a total descent of 330 feet, it falls into the Tweed at Peebles town. It is joined in Eddleston by thirteen tributary burns, on one of which is the picturesque waterfall called Cowie's Linn, and is a capital trout-stream. Perch, pike, and eels abound in pretty Portmore Loch (now an Edinburgh reservoir), which, lying 2 ¼ miles NNE of the village, sends off Loch Burn northward to the South Esk river, so that the drainage belongs partly to the Forth, though mainly to the Tweed. The surface presents an assemblage of big, green, rounded hills-from S to N attaining, to the left or E of Eddleston Water, 1204 feet near Windylaws, 1763 at * Whiteside Edge, 1928 at *Cardon Law, 2040 at Dundreich, 2004 at *Jeffries Corse, 1178 at Northshield Rings, 1024 near Westloch, and 926 at Scarce Rig; to the right- or W, 1020 near Cringletie, 1561 at Crailzie Hill, 1327 at Kilrubie Hill, 1521 at the Cloich Hills, and 1062 near Whiterig, where asterisks mark those summits that culminate on the confines of the parish. The rocks belong chiefly to the Lower Silurian formation; the soils are off varying quality. Less than a fifth of the entire area is in tillage, one-twentieth is under wood, and fully seven-tenths are pastoral or waste. Of five prehistoric hillforts, the best preserved are Northshield (450 x 370 feet) and Milkiston (550 x 450), the former consisting of three concentric oval walls and ditches, the latter of fourThe mansions are Portmore, Darnhall, and Cringletie, all separately noticed; and 3 proprietors hold each an annual value of more than £500, 3 of between £100 and £500, and 2 of from £20 to £50. Eddleston is in the presbytery of Peebles and synod of Lothian and Tweeddale; the living is worth £423. The church, built in 1829, contains 420 sittings; and the school, with accommodation for 106 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 83, and a grant of £76, 1s. 6d. Valuation (1881) £10,319, 19s. Pop. (1801) 677, (1831) 836, (1861) 758, (1871) 700, (1881) 711.—Ord. Sur., sh. 24, 1864.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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