Birkhill

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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Birkhill, a mountain-pass on the mutual border of Selkirk and Dumfries shires, 4¼ miles SW of the head of St Mary's Loch, and 10 NE of Moffat. A cottage inn here, at 1100 feet above sea-level, serves as a place of call and refreshment to persons visiting the wild scenery around Loch Skeen and the Grey Mare's Tail. The surrounding country is mountainous moorland, and was a frequent retreat of the Covenanters. A hill opposite the inn was a station for their watchmen on the look-out for the approach of dragoons, and still bears the name of Watch Hill. Four of the Covenanters, on one occasion, were shot near the inn's door by order of Claverhouse.

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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