Loch of the Lowes

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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Lowes, Loch of the, a lake in the extreme NW of Ettrick parish, Selkirkshire. Lying 815 feet above sea-level, it measures 6¾ furlongs in length from S by W to N by E, 1¾ furlong in extreme breadth, and 11 or 12 fathoms in depth. At the foot it is separated by only a narrow neck of land from the head of St Mary's Loch, into which it discharges, through an aggregate descent of only 15 inches, the nascent drain-like stream of Yarrow Water; and it seems to have been originally one lake with St Mary's Loch, till gradually separated from it by deposits at the mouths of Oxcleugh and Crosscleugh Burns. In consequence, probably, of its becoming a separate lake, but certainly not on account of any preeminence in either extent or picturesqueness, it is popularly called the Loch of the Lowes, signifying ` the lake of the lakes. '-Ord. Sur., sh. 16, 1864.

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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