PEEBLES.SHIRE. 
464 
event. Judging from its remains, it feems to have been a 
large and capacious llrufture ; and is certainly of great 
age, as all its doors and windows difplay femi-circular 
arches, or at leaft fome fegment of a circle. This church 
was the molt ancient parilh-church in Peebles. After it 
loll that rank, in favour of the Crofs-church, it was al¬ 
lowed to fall into ruin. A party of Cromwell’s foldiers 
ufed it for fome time as a liable, and at their departure 
demolilhed the roof. The only portions of this ftru&ure 
now Handing are the fquare tower, and fome fragments 
of the fide walls. The church-yard is Hill ufed as a bu¬ 
rial ground. Of the royal caltle of Peebles'no veltiges 
can be traced, but its fcite yet retains the name of Caf- 
tle-hill. 
In the year 1793, the population amounted to 1480 in¬ 
habitants 5 but, according to the parliamentary returns 
of 1801, the burgh and parilh contained 397 houfes, and 
2088 inhabitants; in 1811, the returns were, 422 houfes, 
and 2485 perfons ; in 1821, 2701 fouls. 
PEE'BLES-SHIRE, or Tweedale, one of thefouthern 
counties of Scotland, is fituated between 55.25. and 55. 
50. of N. latitude, and from 2. 58. to 3. 34. of W. longi¬ 
tude from Greenwich. It is bounded on the fouth by 
Dumfrieslhire, on the north and north-ealf by Edinburgh- 
Ihire, on the weft by Lanarklhire, and on the eaft by the 
county of Selkirk. According to Armftrong’s map, it 
meafures in length from north to fouth about 28 miles, 
and varies in breadth from xo to 18 miles5 the mean 
length being 27 miles, and the average breadth 135. Of 
confequence, the fuperficial area ought to be 364 fquare 
miles, and its content 232,960 Englilh acres ; but from 
a minute calculation, made by Mr. Chalmers, the real 
fuperlicies is eftimated at 338 fquare miles, or 216,320 
acres ; of which about 20,000 area are arable, or under 
tillage. According to the parliamentary returns of 1811, 
this fhire contained 1820 houfes, and 9935 inhabitants ; 
in 1821, the number was increafed to 10,046. 
Tweedale, when viewed from a diftance, feems to form 
one continued chain of mountains, and may perhaps be 
generally defcribed as a mountainous country. Upon a 
narrow inveftigation, however, it is found to poffefs many 
rich and fertile valleys, or ftraths of arable land, lying 
along the banks of its numerous rivers. Of thefe the 
dale of the Tweed is the principal, interfering the cen¬ 
tre of the county throughout its whole extent. Hence 
many vales branch off, following the channels of the 
feveral ftreams which increafe that majeftic river. The 
mod confiderable and the moll fruitful are the valleys of 
the Lyne and Eddleftone waters. In general, the dales 
and the dingles are molt ferule, and the hills moft pleafant, 
in the north and weft divifions of the county; while, in 
the fouth and eaft, the vales are more barren, and the hills 
more bleak. 
The furface of the land rifes on both fides of the great 
central valley of the Tweed, to a very confiderable eleva¬ 
tion. The higheft hills are fituated towards the extremi¬ 
ties of the county ; and, indeed, thofe bordering on An- 
nandale are the loftieft in fouthern Scotland. On the 
boundary with Selkirklhire, Blackhoufe-hills meafure 
2360 feet in height above the level of the German Ocean, 
and Seamed Law, about two miles further to the north, 
mounts to 2120 feet above the fame level. Minchmoor, 
on the fouth-eaft of Peebles-fliire, rifes 2285 feet; and 
Windleftraw Law, on thenorth-eaft of the county, 2295 
feet above the fea. In the parilh of Manor are two very 
high hills, called Scrape and Dollarburn, the latter of 
which is calculated to reach an elevation of 2840 feet. 
Cardon, or Cadow-hill, in the parilh of Kilbucko, is about 
1400 feet above the level of the Tw'eed, or 2200 feet 
above the level of the ocean. This is the higheft hill on 
the weftern fide of the .nire, but there are many others 
very little inferior in altitude. In the parilh of Kirkurd 
is a hill called Hell’s Cleugh, the fummit of which is 
diftinguilhed by a fmall cairn, called the Pykedftane, 
whence is a view of the country beyond the Forth, and 
of a chain of hills ftretching from the eaft part of Fife, 
as far as Dumbartonlhire. South of the Forth, the view 
extends as far eaft as North Berwick, likewife to the 
Eildon hills, near Melrofe, and Cheviot hills in Nor¬ 
thumberland. Dundreigh, or Druids’ hill, in the parilh 
of Eddlefton, alfo commands a moft extenfive and diver- 
fified profpedl over Teviotdale, Annandale, Clydefdale, 
Perthlliire, Fifelhire, and the three Lothians. This hill 
is computed to rife 2100 feet above the level of the ocean. 
Near the fource of the Tweed the hills are in general 
extremely beautiful, being covered with grafs\ to their 
very fummits : fome of them are of a great height, parti¬ 
cularly Hartfield and Broadlaw. which are ftated to reach 
the altitude of 2800 feet from the level of the Forth. 
Between Minchmoor and Hinderland the hills are more 
black, craggy, and precipitous, than in any other diftrift 
of the county, and are frequently interfered by deep 
and tremendous chafms. One of thefe openings, called 
Grimfcleugh, is upwards of half amile in length, and not 
lefs than 300 feet in depth. 
The rivers of this'county are numerous; but all of 
them, with the exception of the Megget and the North 
and South Efks, difeharge their waters into the Tweed as 
the common receiver. This celebrated river, whence the 
familiarname of the (hire is derived, has its fource on the 
mountainous ridge which feparates Tweedale from An¬ 
nandale, and can boaft of giving rife to the three firft 
rivers in the fouth of Scotland : the Annan, which flows 
fouthwards into the Sol way-frith ; the Clyde, which 
runs north-weft into the Clyde-frith; and the Tweed, 
which direfts its courfe to the German ocean at Berwick. 
The laft-mentioned river flows above forty miles within 
the county, in a curvilinear and ferpentine dire£tion, di¬ 
viding it nearly into two equal parts. Its current, par¬ 
ticularly in that part of its courfe above Peebles, during 
which it defeends from a height of 1550 feet is extremely 
rapid, as indeed are all the ftreams in the county. The 
Tweed is the longed river in Scotland, the diftance from 
its fource to its confluence with the ocean being upwards 
of 100 miles. It abounds with falmon, as well as with 
trout. Among the rivers which fall into it belonging to 
Peebles-fliire, the moft confiderable are the Lyne, the Ed¬ 
dlefton, and the Leithen, on the north ; and the Manor 
and theQuairon the fouth. The Lynerifes in the north¬ 
ern confines of the county, at a place called Cauldftane- 
flap ; and after a courfe of twenty-one miles, reaches the 
Tweed three miles above Peebles. Eddleftone-water 
has its fource from King-Seat-Hill, in Eddleftone parilh, 
and joins the Tweed at the county-town. Leithen wa¬ 
ter runs a courfe of twelve miles from Water-Head to 
about a mile below Inverleithen church, which derives 
its Celtic name from that influx, or inver. Manor-ftream 
originates at Foulbrig, in the fouthern end of Manor 
parilh, through which it runs a courfe of twelve miles; 
and which it drains, as it courfes, with other ftreamlets, 
to the common channel. The Quair iflues from a fpring 
at Glendean banks, and, after watering the magnificent 
pleafure grounds, falls into the Tweed near the noble feat 
of Traquair. 
The lakes in Peebles-fliire are neither numerous nor 
extenfive. The moft confiderable of them, the Water- 
loch in Eddleftone parilh, fcarcely exceeds three quarters 
of a mile in length, and half a mile in breadth. It is, 
however, a very beautiful Iheet of water, and gives birth 
to the South Elk, which falls into the river Forth, along 
with the North Elk, at Muflelburgh, in Mid Lothian. 
The other lakes within the county are Gamelhope-loch, 
and Slipperfield-loch ; the former of which occupies an 
uninhabited glen in Tweedftnuir parilh, and is emptied 
by Gamelhope rivulet, one of the fources of the Talla- 
water. St. Mary loch, though it bounds this county for 
more than a mile, and is hence claimed by fome Peebles- 
fliire topographers, is, properly fpeaking, a Selkirklhire 
lake, as it extends feveral miles into that county. The 
Megget poursuts waters into this lake, whence they pafs 
on 
