Lyne and Megget (parishes)

Lyne and Megget (parishes)

LYNE AND MEGGET, two parishes in Peebles-shire, widely apart in position, but mutually identical parochial interests.  The post-town is Peebles.  Lyne is nearly circular, with a small square northerly projection; and is bounded on the north by Newlands, on the north-east by Harehope-burn, which divides it from Eddlestone, on the east and south-east by Meldon-burn, which divides it from Peebles on the south and south-west by Lyne-water, which divides it from Stobo, and on the west by Howe-burn and Stevenston-hill, which divide it from Newlands.  The circle is 2¾ miles in diameter, and the square projection ¾ of a mile deep.  A stripe of low ground stretches along the Lyne, sharp and gravelly in its soil, and bleak and naked in its aspect, but plied to a certain extent with the plough.  The rest of the area is upland and strictly pastoral, once covered with natural wood, but now adorned with scarcely a tree.  In the south-west, overlooking the Lyne, are vestiges of a Roman camp, 6 acres in extent, and occupying a singularly advantageous site.  The Glasgow and Peebles turnpike runs along the Lyne.—Megget is distant geographically 8 miles, but along the shortest practicable path 14 miles.  It lies on the southern verge of the country; and is bounded on the north by Manor, on the east and south-east by Selkirkshire, on the south-west by Dumfries-shire, on the west by Tweedsmuir, and on the north-east by Drummelzier.  It measures nearly 6 miles from east to west, and between 6 and 7 from north to south.  St. Mary's Loch, for 1 mile on the south-east, belongs to it in common with Yarrow.  Megget-water rises in the extreme west, and, running due east to St. Mary's Loch, cuts the parish into almost equal parts.  The ground is very hilly.  The summits and higher acclivities are clothed with heath and coarse grass; but the lower slopes afford excellent pasture.  Moorfowl abounds.  A species of eagle, from the heights on the boundary with Dumfries-shire, sometimes carries of a young lamb, even in view of the shepherd.  Two old towers, whose ruins still exist, seem to have accommodated the Scottish kings when hunting in the forest.  Traces exist of several ancient roads stretching in various directions, and probably cut out for the accommodation of the royal hunters.  On Glen-gabbern-burn, a tributary of Megget-water, are some traces of a search for gold, which Boethius. Buchanan, and other writers, say was successful.  The heritors of the two parishes are the Earl of Wemyss, Murray of Henderland, and Purdie of Lyne-Town-head.  The estimated value of raw produce in 1834 was £6,542.  Assessed property in 1860, £3,482.  Population in 1831, 156; in 1861, 134.  Houses, 26.

The united parish is in the presbytery of Peebles, and synod of Lothian and Tweeddale.  Patron, the Earl of Wemyss.  Stipend, £153 9s. 1d.; glebe, £25.  The parishes were united in 1620.  Lyne was originally a chaplainry subordinate to Stobo, but afterwards became a rectory.  The church is a solid structure, built previous to the Reformation, but repaired in 1831, and containing 70 sittings.  There is also an ediface in Megget, fitted up partly as a church with 70 sittings, and partly as a schoolhouse, and erected about the year 1804.  The ancient church of Megget is now a ruin at Henderland, surrounded by a cemetery, which is still in use.  There are two parochial schools; and the salary of the Lyne master is now £50, with £15 fees, and £2 10s. other emoluments,—that of the Megget master, £25, with £4 fees, and £1 15s. other emoluments.

From the Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, edited by John Marius Wilson and published by A. Fullarton & Co. in 1868.
Transcription provided by Annette Peebles