Tweedsmuir () is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in Tweeddale, the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

Council district, southeastern

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Geography

The village is set in a valley, with the rolling hills and burns on both sides, covering some fifty square miles. It incorporates settlements at Hearthstane, Cockiland, Menzion, and Oliver. Tweedsmuir was in the historic county of

Peeblesshire Peeblesshire (), the County of Peebles or Tweeddale is a Counties of Scotland, historic county of Scotland. Its county town is Peebles, and it borders Midlothian to the north, Selkirkshire to the east, Dumfriesshire to the south, and Lanarkshire ...

. It is situated from the source of the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the River Tweed. The Tweed is one of the great salmon rivers ...

History

James Hogg James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots language, Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a ...

recorded that in 1620 a severe storm remembered as 'the thirteen drifty days' caused such severe sheep losses that a glen in Tweedsmuir owned by Sir James Montgomery was converted to a common grazing and remained as such for almost a century.

Landmarks and features

Oliver Castle Oliver Castle was a medieval tower house, located in upper River Tweed, Tweedsdale in the Scottish Borders. The site of the hillfort known as Oliver Castle is to the north of the village of Tweedsmuir, although the site of the tower house is l ...

was one of the local strongholds, and later country estates, of the Clan Tweedie family. The Parish Church of Tweedsmuir was built with Scottish red

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

in 1874 on site of earlier 1643 structure. It is a Category B listed building. There are notable Tweedie gravestones in the parish churchyard. The Crook Inn is in the village, on the A701. It is one of many claimants to be the oldest inn in Scotland. It is where

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

wrote "Willie Wastle's Wife". The 22 MW Glenkerie wind farm of Infinis is located northwest of the village.

Talla Reservoir

The Talla Reservoir is nearby. In 1894 the Edinburgh and District Water Trustees decided to build Talla as the new source of water for

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. The surface and the gradient of the main road were unsuitable for carting the quantities of material that would be needed for the new reservoir, so the Talla Railway was built from Broughton to Talla. While work on the railway and the reservoir was in progress, a large number of workmen lived in Tweedsmuir, dramatically increasing the population. The valve-closing ceremony was held at Talla on 20 May 1905, and on 28 September, when the reservoir was about two-fifths full, there was an inaugural ceremony. The large company was brought from Edinburgh in two special trains, which were hauled for the last stage of the journey, from Broughton Station, by small service engines on the Talla railway. Fruid Reservoir is also nearby.

References

# Scott, Sheila: ''Tales of Tweedsmuir: glimpses of an Upland Parish in the Past''; Biggar, 1995.
Borders Family History Society: article on Tweedsmuir
{{authority control Villages in the Scottish Borders Peeblesshire Tweeddale Parishes in Peeblesshire

Geography

History

Landmarks and features

Talla Reservoir

See also

References