Minch Moor

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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Minchmoor, a broad-based, heather-clad mountain on the mutual border of Traquair parish, Peeblesshire, and Kirkhope parish, Selkirkshire, 2 miles SE of Traquair village. It rises to a height of 1856 feet above sea-level, and forms part of the watershed between the Tweed and the Yarrow. By the wild old road across it, from Selkirk to Peebles-long traversed by the mail- Montrose's cavaliers fled helter-skelter from Philiphaugh; and near the top, on the Tweed side, is the famous Cheese Well, where every passer-by of old was wont to drop in bits of his provisions as votive offerings to the fairies who made this their favourite haunt. The view from the top and its many associations form the theme of the late Dr John Brown's delightful Minchmoor (Edinb. 1864).—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