Lyne

Lyne and Megget, a united parish of Peeblesshire, consisting of two widely separate portions-Lyne, near the centre of the county; and Megget, 13 miles to the S, on the southern border. Lyne, whose church is 4½ miles W of Peebles and 1 ¼ mile WNW of Lyne station in Stobo parish, is bounded NE by Eddleston, E by Peebles, S and SW by Stobo, and NW by Newlands. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 2 ⁷/₈ miles; its utmost breadth, from E to W, is 2 ³/₈ miles; and its area is 2793 acres. Lyne Water flows 3 ⁵/₈ miles south-eastward and eastward along all the Stobo boundary to a point 3 furlongs above its influx to the Tweed, and here receives four rivulets, one of them tracing all the eastern border. The surface sinks at the SE corner to 565 feet above sea-level, thence rising to 701 feet at the Roman camp, 1261 at Hamildean Hill, 1334 at Black Meldon, and 1516 near the NW boundary.

Megget, whose chapel of ease is 19¾ miles WSW of Selkirk, is bounded N by Manor, NE by Yarrow in Selkirkshire, E for 7 furlongs by St Mary's Loch, SE by Ettrick in Selkirkshire, SW by Moffat in Dumfriesshire, W by Tweedsmuir, and NW by Drummelzier. Its utmost length, from NNE to SSW, is 7³/₈ miles; its utmost breadth is 6³/₈ miles; and its area is 14, 500 acres. Megget Water, rising at an altitude of 1500 feet, winds 7½ miles east-north-eastward to St Mary's Loch, on the way being joined by Cramalt, Glengaber, and sixteen other burns, which all, like itself, afford capital troutfishing. Along St Mary's Loch the surface declines to close on 800 feet above sea-level, and chief elevations to the S of Megget Water as one goes up the valley are Bridgend Hill (1594 feet), Craigdilly (1923), and *Lochcraig Head (2625); to the N, Broomy Law (1750), *Deer Law (2065), *Black Law (2285), Clockmore (2100), *Norman Law (2408), and *Broad Law (2723), where asterisks mark those summits that culminate on the confines of the parish. ` The high-lying ground here- brown, heathy, and pastoral-is perhaps the wildest in the South of Scotland, visited only by shepherds and sportsmen.'

The predominant rocks are Silurian. Barely oneseventeenth of the entire area is in tillage, the rest being pastoral or waste; but such arable land as there is has a gravelly soil of fair fertility, with a southern exposure in Lyne. Where now there is scarce a tree, of old was forest, Meggetland or ` Rodonna ' having formed part of the royal Forest of Ettrick down to Queen Mary's reign. A ruined tower at Cramalt is said to have been a royal hunting-seat; and lower down the dale, on Henderland farm, stood Cockburn's Castle, scene of the ` Border Widow's Lament.' A large British fort is on Hamildean Hill; and just to the W of Lyne church are remains of a Roman camp. ` Randal's Walls ' it was called at the beginning of last century; and, as depicted in Roy's Military Antiquities (1795), it has an extreme length and breadth of 850 and 750 feet, its four environing ramparts, 4 to 5 feet high, being pierced by four entrances. Since then, however, the plough has greatly destroyed it. The Earl of Wemyss is almost sole proprietor. Lyne is in the presbytery of Peebles and the synod of Lothian and Tweeddale; the living is worth £215. Crowning a grassy mound, above the left bank of Lyne Water, the parish church is a pretty, antique structure, rebuilt or renovated in 1644 by John, Lord Hay of Yester, and containing 80 sittings. Megget chapel dates from the beginning of this century. Lyne and Megget public schools, with respective accommodation for 47 and 29 children, had (1882) an average attendance of 39 and 11, and grants of £47, 9s. and £24 15s. 6d. Valuation (1863) £4497, 10s, (1884) £4852, 12s. 6d. Pop. (1801) 167, (1831) 156, (1861) 134, (1871) 174, (1881) 204, of whom 90 were in Megget.—Ord. Sur., shs. 24, 16, 1864.