The Ettrick Hills are a range of hills, 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 illustrate ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. They are neighboured to the northwest by the Moffat Hills and are located mainly within the Scottish Borders, however the Dumfries and Galloway border covers the south and southwesterly flanks.

The Hills

Not strictly defined, the hills form a lightly curving southwest–northeast shape and cover a considerable area. The Ettrick valley to the east separates them from the

Craik Forest Craik Forest is a forest near Hawick in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, and managed by the Forestry Commission. It is adjoined to the south-west by Eskdalemuir Forest. See also * Craik, Scottish Borders *Ettrick Forest * Wauchope Forest ...

and the western border follows the A708 road. The large area west of

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one ...

, southwest of Selkirk and south of

Yarrow Water ''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 ...

could also be said to be part of the range as well as part of the historic

Ettrick Forest 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. ...

. The hills are relatively low-lying for the counties in which they lie, with the highest summit, Ettrick Pen, being 692m, however, unlike other nearby ranges, could be said to follow a definitive direction. The highest hills are on the western extremity of the area. In a roughly southwest–northeast direction, the hills in the range over 2000 ft are:

Other Information

The area is renowned for its history, being part of the enormous Ettrick Forest, being the birthplace and frequent literary subject of the 'Ettrick Shepherd',

James Hogg James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a friend of many ...

as well as the birthplace and workplace of

Tibbie Shiel Tibbie Shiel (1783–1878) was a Scottish figure who ran Tibbie Shiel's Inn on St Mary's Loch in the Scottish Borders and was known to many authors and poets, and the subject of numerous literary works. Life She was born Isabella Shiel in ...

, among other things.

Etymology

The area has a predominantly early Scots influence. 'Ettrick' is thought by W. F. H. Nicolaisen to be

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...

, in reference to the Ettrick Water from where the hills and settlements take their name. Ettrick Pen was known to have different names at the same time, known as ''The Penn of Ettrick'' and ''Hill of Penn of Esdaile Moore'' from Tweedsdale and Eskdale respectively.

References

{{reflist Geography of Scotland