East and West Buccleuch ( ) are two homesteads in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

, in the Ettrick parish of historic

Selkirkshire Selkirkshire or the County of Selkirk ( gd, Siorrachd Shalcraig) is a historic county and registration county of Scotland. It borders Peeblesshire to the west, Midlothian to the north, Roxburghshire to the east, and Dumfriesshire to the south. ...

. They are located off the B711, at the confluence of the Rankle Burn and the Clear Burn, in the midst of thickly forested hills. The Buck Cleugh itself (i.e. the gorge of the buck), through which the Clear Burn flows, lies just east. At its foot once stood Buccleuch Castle, the stronghold of the Scott family (now titled

dukes of Buccleuch Duke of Buccleuch (pronounced ), formerly also spelt Duke of Buccleugh, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created twice on 20 April 1663, first for James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and second suo jure for his wife Anne Scott, 4th Cou ...

). Nothing but its foundations remained when the farmhouse of East Buccleuch was built on the site in the early 19th century. The cleugh itself supposedly acquired its name after an ancestor of the Scott family slew a buck there.Buccleuch: a historical perspective.
The Gazetteer for Scotland. Note that the author mistakenly describes Buck Cleugh as lying between Dunside Rig and Kirk Hill; this is the valley of the Rankle Burn. Buck Cleugh lies between Home Law and Little Bleak Law. There is the remains of a watermill at the head of Buck Cleugh, and further up the valley of the Rankle Burn are the remains of Buccleuch Church and Phenzhopehaugh Motte, another fortification of the Scotts.

References

Villages in the Scottish Borders {{Borders-geo-stub