Broad Law is a hill in the

Manor Hills The Manor Hills, also known as the Tweedsmuir Hills, are a range of hills south of Peebles in the Scottish Borders, one of the ranges which collectively form the Southern Uplands. They are separated from the Moffat Hills by the Talla Reservoir, M ...

range, part of the

Southern Uplands The Southern Uplands ( gd, Na Monaidhean a Deas) are the southernmost and least populous of mainland Scotland's three major geographic areas (the other two being the Central Lowlands and the Grampian Mountains and the Highlands, as illustrated ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The second-highest point in the Southern Uplands and the highest point 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 ...

, it has an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of 840 metres, a

prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

of 653 metres (and thus is a "major") and an isolation of 81 kilometres. It is only lower than its parent, Merrick. Like many of its neighbours it is smooth, rounded and grassy, although the surrounding glens have very steep sides — country somewhat akin to the

Cheviots The Cheviot Hills (), or sometimes The Cheviots, are a range of uplands straddling the Anglo-Scottish border between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The English section is within the Northumberland National Park. The range includes Th ...

or the

Howgill Fells The Howgill Fells are uplands in Northern England between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, lying roughly within a triangle formed by the towns of Sedbergh and Kirkby Stephen and the village of Tebay.

. The hill is most easily climbed from the Megget Stane to the south, beginning at an elevation of , but is also frequently climbed from the villages near its base, or as part of a long, trek across the local area between the towns of

Peebles Peebles ( gd, Na Pùballan) is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in June 2018 wa ...

and

Moffat Moffat ( gd, Mofad) is a burgh and parish in Dumfriesshire, now part of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in Scotland. It lies on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the wool trade and a spa town. ...

. On the summit is the highest VOR beacon in the UK, and also a

radio tower Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-made ...

. The summit of Broad Law is also the highest point (county top) of the historic county of

Peeblesshire Peeblesshire ( gd, Siorrachd nam Pùballan), the County of Peebles or Tweeddale is a historic county of Scotland. Its county town is Peebles, and it borders Midlothian to the north, Selkirkshire to the east, Dumfriesshire to the south, and Lan ...

. It is also sometimes (erroneously) given as the county top of

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. ...

. This is because in 1891, the area of

Megget Megget is a former chapelry or parish containing the valley of Megget Water, now forming the westernmost part of the parish of Yarrow, Selkirkshire in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. The centre of the valley is 19 miles west of Selkirk. ...

(a detached part of Lyne parish in Peeblesshire) was transferred to

Yarrow ''Achillea millefolium'', commonly known as yarrow () or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Other common names include old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, and thousand seal. The ...

parish in Selkirkshire. The administrative "county" boundary of Peeblesshire and Selkirkshire thus temporarily crossed Broad Law summit between 1891 and 1974. However, the historic county boundary remained several kilometres to the east, where

Dun Rig Dun Rig is a hill in the Manor Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is the highest hill in the northernmost cluster of the Manor Hills, south of the town of Peebles in the Scottish Borders. A sprawling summit, it is usually ...

is the county top of Selkirkshire.Historic county boundary map, https://wikishire.co.uk/map

References

{{British hills Marilyns of Scotland Donald mountains Corbetts Mountains and hills of the Scottish Borders Highest points of historic Scottish counties