Parish of Yarrow

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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1791-99: Yarrow 1834-45: Yarrow

Yarrow, a parish of Selkirkshire, whose church stands on the left bank of Yarrow Water, 9 miles W by S of Selkirk, under which there is a post office of Yarrow. It is bounded N by Peebles, Traquair, Innerleithen, and Stow, E by Selkirk, SE by Kirkhope, S by Ettrick, and W by Megget and Manor. Its utmost length, from NE to SW, is 16 miles; its utmost breadth is 7 ½ miles; and its area is 65 ²/₅ square miles or 41,856 acres, of which 813 are water, and 2166 ½ belong to a detached portion (4 ¹/₈ x 1 ¼ mile), surrounded by Peebles, Traquair, and Innerleithen. St Mary's Loch (3 x ½ mile; 814 feet above sea-level) lies to the SW, on the Ettrick and Megget boundary; and, issuing from its foot, Yarrow Water flows 11 ¹/₈ miles east-north-eastward (for the last 2 ¾ along the Selkirk boundary), till it passes off, near Broadmeadows, into Selkirk parish. At Old Howford the Tweed flows ¼ mile east-south-eastward along all the Innerleithen boundary of the detached section; and, lower down, it flows 4 miles east-south-eastward, past Elibank and Ashiesteel, along all the Innerleithen and Stow boundary of the main body. Beside Yarrow Water the surface declines to 585, beside the Tweed to 397, feet above the sea; and chief elevations to the N of the Yarrow, as one goes up the vale, are Elibank Craig (969), Ashiesteel Hill (1314), *Elibank Law (1715), Brown Knowe (1718), Plora Craig (1212), *Minchmu ir (1856), Blackgrain Rig (1652), Snouthead (1483), Mountbenger Hope (1784), Ward Law (1377), *Dun Rig (2433), *Blackhouse Heights (2213), and *Black Law (2285), where asterisks mark those summits that culminate on the confines of the parish. To the S of the Yarrow rise *Crook Hill(1580 feet), *SundhopeHeight (1684), *Black Knowe Head (1806), *Turner Cleuch Law (1809), Peat Law (1737), Bowerhope Law (1570), and the Wiss (1932); whilst in the detached section the highest point is *Birkscairn Hill (2169). Except along the Tweed and the lower reaches of Yarrow Water the parish is almost treeless, though once it was all included in Ettrick Forest. Now far the greater part of it is sheepwalks. Its endless memories, richer than those of any other parish, are recorded under Altrive, Ashiesteel, Blackhouse, Douglas, Dryhope, Elibank, Hangingshaw, Mount Benger, St Mary's Loch, and Yarrow Water. Here, however, may be noticed the ` Yarrow Doctor,' John Rutherford, M.D. (1695-1779), whose father was parish minister, and who held the professorship of medicine in Edinburgh University from 1726 till-1765. Five proprietors hold each an annual value of more, and three of less, than £500. Giving off a portion to Caddonfoot quoad sacra parish, Yarrow is in the presbytery of Selkirk and the synod of Merse and Teviotdale; the living is worth £418. Its ancient name was St Mary's or St Mary's of the Lowes (de Lacubus), and a pre-Reformation chapel stood at Deuchar or Duchoire, a little way NE of the present church. Kirkhope was disjoined from it in 1851. The parish church, built in 1640, contains 430 sittings, and in 1884 was adorned with two beautiful stained-glass windows, one on each side of the pulpit, in memory of the late Rev. Dr Russell and his father, both ministers of Yarrow. The subjects are ` Christ blessing little children ' and the ` Resurrection.' Two public schools, Yarrow and Yarrowford, with respective accommodation for 91 and 45 children, had (l884) an average attendance of 60 and 16, and grants of £77, 16s. and £26, l5s. Valuation (1865) £9964, 6s. 5d., (1885) £13,140, 10s. Pop. (1861) 643, (1871) 662, (1881) 639, of whom 562 were in the ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., shs. 24, 16, 25, 17, 1864-65.

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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