Ettrick Hills

The Ettrick Hills are a range of hills, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. They are neighboured to the northwest by the Moffat Hills and are located mainly within the Scottish Borders, however the Dumfries and Galloway border covers the south and southwesterly flanks.

The more southwesterly Ettrick Hills from Ettrick Pen. [L-R]: Loch Fell, Wind Fell, Hopetoun Craig, West Knowe and Croft Head.
The more northeasterly Ettrick Hills from Ettrick Pen. The highest hill right of centre is probably The Wiss. The hill in the distant centre background is Windlestraw Law.

The Hills

Not strictly defined, the hills form a lightly curving southwest–northeast shape and cover a considerable area. The Ettrick valley to the east separates them from the Craik Forest and the western border follows the A708 road. The large area west of Hawick, southwest of Selkirk and south of Yarrow Water could also be said to be part of the range as well as part of the historic Ettrick Forest.[1] The hills are relatively low-lying for the counties in which they lie, with the highest summit, Ettrick Pen, being 692m, however, unlike other nearby ranges, could be said to follow a definitive direction. The highest hills are on the western extremity of the area.

In a roughly southwest–northeast direction, the hills in the range over 2000 ft are:

SummitHeight (m)Listing [2]
Croft Head637Ma,Hu,Tu,Sim,G,D,DN,Y[3]
West Knowe672Tu,Sim,DT,GT,DN[4]
Loch Fell688Hu,Tu,Sim,D,GT,DN,Y[5]
Wind Fell665Tu,Sim,D,sHu,GT,DN[6]
Capel Fell678Ma,Hu,Tu,Sim,G,D,DN,Y[7]
Hopetoun Craig632Tu,Sim,DT,GT,DN[8]
Smidhope Hill644Tu,Sim,DT,GT,DN[9]
Ettrick Pen692Ma,Hu,Tu,Sim,G,D,DN,Y[10]
Bodesbeck Law664.2Hu,Tu,Sim,D,GT,DN,Y[11]
Mid Rig615.8Tu,Sim,DT,GT,DN[12]
Bell Craig623Tu,Sim,D,GT,DN[13]
Andrewhinney Hill677.3Ma,Hu,Tu,Sim,G,D,DN,Y[14]
Trowgrain Middle628DT,sSim[15]
Herman Law614.4Tu,Sim,D,GT,DN[16]

Other Information

The area is renowned for its history, being part of the enormous Ettrick Forest, being the birthplace and frequent literary subject of the 'Ettrick Shepherd', James Hogg as well as the birthplace and workplace of Tibbie Shiel, among other things.

Etymology

The area has a predominantly early Scots influence. 'Ettrick' is thought by W. F. H. Nicolaisen to be Proto-Indo-European, in reference to the Ettrick Water from where the hills and settlements take their name.[17] Ettrick Pen was known to have different names at the same time, known as The Penn of Ettrick and Hill of Penn of Esdaile Moore from Tweedsdale and Eskdale respectively.[18]

References
  2. Chris Crocker. "Database of British and Irish Hills: user guide". Hills-database.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  3. "Croft Head". Hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  4. "West Knowe". Hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  5. "Loch Fell". Hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  6. "Wind Fell". Hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  7. "Capel Fell". Hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  8. "Hopetoun Craig". Hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  9. "Smidhope Hill". Hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  10. "Ettrick Pen". Hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  11. "Bodesbeck Law". Hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  12. "Mid Rig". Hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  13. "Bell Craig". Hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  14. "Andrewhinney Hill". Hill-bagging.co.uk. 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  15. "Trowgrain Middle". Hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  16. "Herman Law". Hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  17. Mike Campbell. "Message: "Re: Origin of the names" - Behind the Name". Surnames.behindthename.com. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  18. "Data" (PDF). www.clanntuirc.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
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