The Culter Hills, Coulter Fells or variations thereof, are a range of hills, part of the Southern Uplands 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 the ...

. They are neighboured to the east by the Manor Hills and are split roughly in half by the border between

South Lanarkshire gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms_slanarkshire.jpg , image_blank_emblem = Slanarks.jpg , blank_emblem_type = Council logo , image_map ...

and 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 ...

The Hills

The hills form a roughly southwest–northeast rectangular shape and cover a considerable area, however the ridges within the range do not follow a common direction. The highest summit, Culter Fell, at 748m, is the highest point in

and indeed the whole of

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

. Walks in the area frequently follow a popular round which begins in the Culter Glen, follows an ascent from the north up Culter Fell, down and up to Glenwhappen Rig to Gathersnow Hill followed by a long, flat walk to Hudderstone and back into the glen. This can be shortened to head back at Holm Nick, passing by the Coulter reservoir. Another popular option is to begin from Glenkirk farm to the east, also allowing for a circular route. In a roughly clockwise direction, the hills in the range over 2000 ft are:

Other Information

The area is popular with gamekeepers as well as pastoral farming and it is advised to be observant when walking nearby from spring to late summer and heed the warnings of any landowners.

Etymology

The area has a predominantly Scots influence. 'Coulter' is also a

toponymic surname A toponymic surname or topographic surname is a surname derived from a place name.

, likely derived from the village Coulter to the north. The word may derive from

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

''cùl tir'' (back land) or Scots ''cootyre'' (safe place to store cows).

Coulter (surname) Coulter is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin. Coulter most likely first originated as a toponymic surname in Scotland among people from areas around Coulter in South Lanarkshire or Maryculter and Peterculter in Aberdeenshire. The etymolog ...

References

{{reflist Southern Uplands