Carlops ( gd, Leum na Caillich) is a small village in the

Pentland Hills The Pentland Hills are a range of hills southwest of Edinburgh, Scotland. The range is around in length, and runs southwest from Edinburgh towards Biggar and the upper Clydesdale. Etymology The name is first recorded for the farm of Pentla ...

, within 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 Lot ...

area of

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 ...

, close to the boundary with

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east- central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinbu ...

. It lies between West Linton and

Penicuik Penicuik ( ; sco, Penicuik; gd, Peighinn na Cuthaig) is a town and former Police burgh, burgh in Midlothian, Scotland, lying on the west bank of the River Esk, Lothian, River North Esk. It lies on the A701 road, A701 midway between Edinburgh a ...

. The village was founded in 1784 and developed

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

coalmining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...

and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

mining. The name derives from the Scots "Carlins Lowp" (English: "Witches' Leap"), since near the south of the village there are two exposed rock faces about high facing each other, with a similar distance between them. Folklore maintained that witches would leap from one face to the other, over the chasm, for entertainment of an evening.

Notable residents

C. T. R. Wilson Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, (14 February 1869 – 15 November 1959) was a Scottish physicist and meteorologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of the cloud chamber. Education and early life Wilson was born in the parish ...

(1869-1959), winner of the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

for Physics in 1927, retired to Carlops and died there in 1959. * Dr Archibald "Archie" Lamont FRSE FGS (21 October 1907 – 16 March 1985), Scottish geologist,

palaeontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of foss ...

Scottish Nationalist Scottish nationalism promotes the idea that the Scottish people form a cohesive nation and national identity. Scottish nationalism began to shape from 1853 with the National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights, progressing into th ...

, writer, poet and politician, retired to Carlops and lived in Jess Cottage.

External links

RCAHMS record for Carlops, SpittalRCAHMS record for Carlops HillSCRAN image: Allan Ramsay Hotel, Main Street, CarlopsGeological Conservation Review / JNCC: Subglacial meltwater
{{authority control Villages in the Scottish Borders

Notable residents

See also

External links