Eddleston

EDDLESTONE, a parish, containing a post-office village of its own name, in the north of Peebles-shire.  It is bounded by Edinburghshire, and by the parishes of Innerleithen, Peebles, Lyne, and Newlands.  It is of an oblong form, stretching from north to south; but has a considerable projection on the south-west.  Its extreme measurement from the confluence of Harehope burn and Meldon burn on the south, to Fernyhole on the north, is 10 miles; and from the confluence of two brooks at the base of Courhope hill on the west, to Burnhead on the east, is 5¼ miles.  Eddlestone water intersects it from north to south, and divides it into nearly equal parts.  This stream rises in the extreme north of the parish, pursues a course due south, receives on its way 8 or 10 tributary rills from the adjacent heights; and after leaving the parish flows direct toward the core of Peebles-shire, and there, at the burgh, the capital of the county, falls into the Tweed.  At Cowey's linn, it has a fall of 35 feet.  Its entire course, which is remarkably straight, does not exceed between 11 and 12 miles.  In the eastern division of the parish, about a mile from the boundary, is Loch Eddlestone, nearly of a circular form, 2 miles in circumference, and abounding in pike, eels, and perch.  Issuing from this lake is the South Esk, which pursues a course directly the reverse of that of Eddlestone water, flowing 3 miles due northward through the parish, and leaving it within about a mile of the Eddlestone's primary sources.  The entire surface of the parish may be described as an agglomeration of smooth hills, verdant to their summits, tame in their general appearance, but at intervals surprising the tourist by sudden disclosures of picturesque varieties, and romantic cleughs and dells.  Along the eastern boundary, the summits are towering and alpine, one of them rising to the height of 2,100 feet above the level of the sea.