Tarth Water

Drochil Castle is a ruined castle in the Scottish Borders. It is located above the Lyne Water, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north-west of Peebles, and 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of West Linton. James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, Regent of Scotland, started building Drochil Castle in 1578, three years before his execution by King James VI. It was no more than half built on his death, and was never finished.The castle, consisting of four storeys and a garret, was as much a palace as a castle, as Morton intended to retire here from worldly business. The castle is of exceptional interest because of its design as a "double-tenement" with a wide central corridor running through the building from end to end on every storey. This opens up suites of apartments off it on either side. The castle has a round tower, 25 feet (7.6 m) in diameter, attached to each of two diagonally opposite corners. Each tower has two gunloops, preventing enemies from approaching the walls. On the first floor, the great hall measured 50 by 22 feet (15.2 by 6.7 m). Morton sold the wool from his Drochil estates to a merchant, John Provand, and his tenants from Linton carted it to Edinburgh.In 1686, the castle was purchased by William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry, and the ruins are still owned by his descendant the Duke of Buccleuch. The outer walls consist of whinstone rubble, quarried at Broomlee Hill, dressed with red sandstone. In the early 19th century, stone was taken to build the adjacent farm. The ruin is protected as a scheduled ancient monument.

Newlands is a parish in the Tweeddale committee area of the Scottish Borders council area, in southeastern Scotland.

The Battle of Happrew was a skirmish which took place around 20 February 1304, during the First War of Scottish Independence. A chevauchée of English knights, which included Robert de Clifford, William de Latimer, and the later Scottish King, Robert the Bruce had been sent south from Dunfermline under Sir John Segrave to locate and capture the rebels Sir William Wallace and Sir Simon Fraser. Fraser and Wallace escaped.

Bordlands is a village in the Parish of Newlands in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. The former name of Bordlands was Boreland.

Romanno Bridge is a village on the Lyne Water, on the A701, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. Settlements nearby include West Linton, Halmyre, Dolphinton, Blyth Bridge, and Mountain Cross. The village is served by a community centre (the Newlands Centre), a small primary school (Newlands Primary) and a church (Kirkurd and Newlands Parish Church of Scotland).

Castle Craig Hospital is a private residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic. It is located in Peeblesshire, Scotland. Castle Craig is an 18th-century country house set in 50 acres (20 ha) of private parkland near the village of Blyth Bridge, around 20 miles (32 km) south of Edinburgh.

Lyne Kirk is an ancient and historic kirk or church, of the Church of Scotland. It is situated on top of a mound adjacent to the A72 trunk route 4.5 miles west of Peebles in the ancient county of Peeblesshire, now in the Scottish Borders area, and governed by the Scottish Borders Council.

Blyth Bridge is a small hamlet in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, near to West Linton. It is located in a bend on the A701 which goes from Moffat to Edinburgh, close to the junction with the East-West road the A72 which goes to Peebles. Places nearby include the Lyne Water, Carlops, Romannobridge, and the Deepsyke Forest. There is an aqueduct carrying a large water main which supplies Edinburgh and passes over Tarth Water. There are a number of iron age forts on the hills nearby, and the historic Drochil Castle is a short distance away.

Stobo Kirk is an ancient church of the Church of Scotland. It is dedicated to St Mungo and is situated near the B712 off the A72 just 6 miles south-west of Peebles in the ancient county of Peeblesshire, now part of the Scottish Borders Council area.

The Upper Tweeddale National Scenic Area lies in the Borders region of Scotland. It is one of 40 national scenic areas (NSA) in Scotland, which are defined so as to identify areas of exceptional scenery and to ensure their protection from inappropriate development. The designated area covers 12,770 ha (49 square miles) of countryside surrounding the upper reaches of the River Tweed between Broughton and Peebles. National scenic areas are designated primarily to recognise the scenic qualities of an area, but sometimes also e.g. its culture, history, archaeology, geology or wildlife. Areas with such qualities may be protected via other national and international designations that overlap with the NSA designation. There are two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) within the designated area of the Upper Tweeddale NSA. Although the national scenic area designation provides a degree of additional protection via the planning process, there are no bodies equivalent to a national park authority, and whilst local authorities (in this case Scottish Borders Council) can produce a management strategy for each one, only the three national scenic areas within Dumfries and Galloway currently have management strategies.

Stobo Castle is located at Stobo in the Scottish Borders, in the former county of Peeblesshire. The Manor of Stobo was originally owned by the Balfour family. It became the family seat of the Graham-Montgomery Baronets from 1767. The building of the present castle began in 1805 and was completed in 1811 under the supervision of architects Archibald and James Elliot. It is currently operated as a health spa. The house is protected as a category A listed building, while the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant parks and gardens.

Kirkurd is a parish in Peeblesshire in the Scottish Borders situated 3 miles south-east of Dolphinton and 6 miles north-east of Broughton. Tarth Water, a tributary of Lyne Water (itself a tributary of the River Tweed) forms the northern boundary, with the parishes of Linton and Newlands on the north bank. The parish of Stobo lies to the east and south, the parish of Broughton, Glenholm and Kilbucho to the south, Skirling and Dolphinton (Lanarkshire) to the east. The parish lies in the Southern Uplands. It is lowest, at 680 ft, where Tarth Water leaves the parish in the east and the land rises to the south reaching 1,872 ft at the Broughton Heights at the southern boundary. Much of the land is around 700 ft above sea level. The name signifies the Kirk of a place called Urd or Orde, but the origin of this place name is uncertain. The name "Urd" also appears in the place names Netherurd, Lochurd and Ladyurd within the parish and may mean quarter. Netherurd lies in the west of the parish, Lochurd south of Netherurd, Kirkurd near the centre and Ladyurd in the east.The parish also contains the settlements of Kirkdean and West Mains, near the present site of Kirkurd church.It is recorded that a church in "Kercayrd" belonged to the bishopric of Glasgow in 1116. It was later given to the hospital at Soutra and in 1462 transferred to Trinity church in Edinburgh. The original church was located in the grounds of the Castle Craig estate, but when the present church building was built in 1766, it was located further west. Kirkurd Church was closed for public worship in 1985 when the ecclesiastical parish was joined to Newlands and used its church.The principal mansions in the parish are Castle Craig (formerly Kirkurd house) and Netherurd. Castle Craig became a hospital during and after the Second World War, which it still is. The mansion of Netherurd was let to the Girl Guides in the 1950s and is now an outdoor activities centre.The civil parish of Kirkurd is in the Lamancha, Newlands and Kirkurd Community Council area.The civil parish has a population of 218 (in 2011) and its area is 5,704 acres.