Tweedsmuir Local History
Introduction
This does not pretend to be a complete history of Tweedsmuir - it is a collection of snippets that have interested me enough to look further.
The hills around Tweedsmuir are dotted with bronze and iron age sites indicating that around 2000BC there were more folks living in the Upper Tweed valley than there is now! The Romans when they marched north into Scotland around 200AD took one look at the Upper Tweed Valley and continued their march north via the Clyde Valley! The ancient families associated with Tweedsmuir are firstly the Frasers of Oliver and Fruid - the most notable probably being Simon Fraser a distant kinsman of William Wallace. He fought with Wallace and suffered the same death as Wallace in London at the hands of Edward 1 in 1306. The Frasers were followed by the Hays and Flemings. Other notable families are the Tweedies/Tweedie-Stodart of Oliver, Porteous of Hawkshaw. Other surnames that appear frequently in the records are Murray, Hunter, Welsh, Anderson, Loch and Chisholm. Although the Scottish Covenanting Movement of the seventeenth century was mainly centred in the south-west of Scotland it did spill over into the Upper-Tweed valley which became a hot-bed of activity.
Click on a subject below.
1. Historical and Architectural significant Buildings Listed by Historic Scotland
1.a The Crook Inn.
1.b Victoria Lodge.
1.c Tweedsmuir Parish Kirk. Tweedsmuir Kirkyard. Carlow's Bridge and The Bield.
2. Prehistory
3. Standing Stones and other Bronze/Iron Age Sites.
4. The Romans.
5. The Frasers.
6. Hawkshaw- Porteous.
9. Covenanters in Upper Tweed.
10. The Lost Farms and Names of Tweedsmuir Parish.