Buccleuch

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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Buccleuch, a cleuch in Ettrick parish, Selkirkshire, in the lonely glen of the Rankle Burn, from 2¾ to 4 miles SSE of Tushielaw. It is flanked on the E by Kirk Hill (1293 feet), on the W by Dunside Rig (1206); at its head are some vestiges of a pre-Reformation church, at its foot is the site of an ancient castle. From it was named a former parish, now incorporated with Ettrick, and it has given the titles of successively Laird, Baronet, Baron, Earl, and Duke to the family of Scott. The title of Baron Scott of Buccleuch was created in 1606, of Earl of Buccleuch in 1619, of Duke of Buccleuch in 1663. The Duke of Buccleuch is also Duke of Queensberry in the peerage of Scotland, and Earl of Doncaster in that of England; he is fourth largest landowner in Scotland, holding 432,183 acres, or nearly as much as the three Lothians. His Scottish seats are Dalkeith Palace in Edinburghshire, Drumlanrig Castle and Langholm Lodge in Dumfriesshire, Bowhill in Selkirkshire, and Branxholm in Roxburghshire. Both tradition and song ascribe the name of Buccleuch to the capture and killing of a buck in a cleuch; and they indicate both the spot on which the buck was taken and that where it was slain. Old Satchels says, in expressive doggerel,-

'Good Lancelot Scot. I think be true
Old Rankle Burn is designed Buckleuch now,
Yet in his book no falls read he.-
It was Buck's cleuch he read to me.
He told me the name, the place. the spot,
Came all by the hunting of a buck.
In Scotland no Buckieuch was then,
Before the buck in the cleuch was slain'

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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