![The Devils Beef Tub](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/The_Devils_Beef_Tub.jpg)
The Devil's Beef Tub (Marquis of Annandale's Beef-Tub, Beef-Stand, MacCleran's Loup) is a deep, dramatic hollow in the hills north of the Scottish town of
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.
...
. The hollow is formed by four hills, Great Hill, Peat Knowe,
Annanhead Hill
Annanhead Hill is a summit in the Moffat Hills of Scotland. It lies on the boundary between the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway, north of Moffat, in the Southern Uplands.
Annanhead is one of four hills encircling the Devil's Beef ...
and Ericstane Hill. It is one of the two main sources of the
River Annan
The River Annan (''Abhainn Anann'' in Gaelic) is a river in south-west Scotland. It rises on Annanhead Hill and flows through the Devil's Beef Tub, Moffat and Lockerbie, reaching the sea at Annan, Dumfries and Galloway after about 40 miles.
...
.
Etymology
The unusual name derives from its use to hide stolen cattle by the
Border Reiver
Border reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scottish and English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their v ...
s of the Johnstone clan who were referred to by their enemies as "devils"; it is also called ''Marquis of Annandale's Beef-Tub'' (or ''Beef-Stand'') after the
Lord of Annandale
The Lordship of Annandale was a sub-comital lordship in southern Scotland (Annandale, Dumfries and Galloway, Annandale) established by David I of Scotland by 1124 for his follower Robert de Brus. The following were holders of the office:
*Robert ...
, chief of the raiding "loons" (here meaning "lads", rather than "
lunatic
Lunatic is an antiquated term referring to a person who is seen as mentally ill, dangerous, foolish, or crazy—conditions once attributed to "lunacy". The word derives from ''lunaticus'' meaning "of the moon" or "moonstruck".
History
The ter ...
s"); the name may also refer to the resemblance the valley bears to a tub used for preserving meat.
[The terms meat tub and beef tub are similar, and discussed at ] The Scots Dialect Dictionary, first published 1911 by Chambers and compiled by the lexicographer Alexander Warrack, gives the following; “deil’s beef-tub n. a roaring linn”. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century the local town of Moffat was famed for its sulphur baths. The sulphurous water emanated out of the ground at the Moffat Well adjacent to the Devil’s Beef Tub. This was then transported to the town bath house where its efficacious properties were enjoyed by the public. It would appear that beef-tub is a corruption of bathtub.
History
![Monument at Devil's Beef Tub](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Monument_at_Devil%27s_Beef_Tub.jpg)
On 12 August 1685 fleeing
covenanter
Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covenan ...
John Hunter attempted to escape pursuing
dragoon
Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat w ...
s by running up the steep side of the Beef Tub. He failed, was shot dead on the spot, and is buried in Tweedsmuir kirkyard (churchyard). A monument to Hunter stands on the southwest rim of the Beef Tub.
Literature
In his novel ''
Redgauntlet
''Redgauntlet'' (1824) is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, one of the Waverley novels, set primarily in Dumfriesshire, southwest Scotland, in 1765, and described by Magnus Magnusson (a point first made by Andrew Lang) as "in a sense, the ...
'', novelist
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
said, "It looks as if four hills were laying their heads together, to shut out daylight from the dark hollow space between them. A damned deep, black, blackguard-looking abyss of a hole it is". Scott also describes the flight of a highlander fleeing the aftermath of the failure of the
Jacobite rising of 1745
The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45 ( gd, Bliadhna Theàrlaich, , ), was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the Monarchy of Great Britain, British throne for his father, James Franci ...
; the soldier rolls down the hill amid a hail of enemy gunfire, and escapes. The Beef Tub is also known as ''MacCleran's Loup'' after the tumbling highlander.
References
Other sources
''Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland'' page on the Beef TubDevil's Beeftub surrounding roads and area*
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...
's e-text o
''Redgauntlet''
External links
Photograph of the Devil's Beef Tub, August 2009 Photograph of the Devil's Beef Tub, August 2007 Panorama of the Devil's Beef Tub, August 2009
{{coord, 55.40016, N, 3.48111, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(NT063128), display=title
Annandale and Eskdale