The Maiden Paps are twin hills near
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 of ...
, 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 ...
of the south east 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 ...
, so named because they
have the shape of human
breast
The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues.
In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and secret ...
s. They are located south of Hawick; the higher pap is and the lower high.
Maiden Paps
at themountainguide.co.uk; retrieved 25 October 2023
Although there are some well-defined hills like the Maiden Paps, the Roxburgh Hills are gently rolling
Rolling is a type of motion that combines rotation (commonly, of an axially symmetric object) and translation of that object with respect to a surface (either one or the other moves), such that, if ideal conditions exist, the two are in contact ...
for the most part, like much 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 ...
. Due to the surrounding landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
, hills such as the Maiden Paps tend to look more prominent than they actually are.
The Maiden Paps are relatively close to Shankend ( to the NE) and to the Hermitage Castle
Hermitage Castle is a semi-ruined castle in the border region of Scotland. It is under the care of Historic Scotland. The castle has a reputation, both from its history and its appearance, as one of the most sinister and atmospheric castles in ...
( to the south); these are two places with a sinister reputation.
See also
* Paps of Anu
The Paps of Anu ( ga, Dá Chích Anann, "the breasts of Anu") are a pair of breast-shaped mountains near Killarney in County Kerry, Ireland. The eastern summit, The Paps East, is high and the western top, The Paps West is high.
The mountains ...
* Pap of Glencoe
, photo = Pap_of_glencoe.jpg
, photo_caption = The Pap, seen from across Loch Leven
, elevation_m = 742
, elevation_ref =
, prominence_m = 156
, prominence_ref =
, listing = Graham, Marilyn, Breast-shaped hills
, translation = Rocky pe ...
* Paps of Jura
The Paps of Jura ( gd, Sgurr na Cìche) are three mountains on the western side of the island of Jura, Scotland, Jura, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Their highest point is .
They are steep-sided quartzite hills with distinctive conical sh ...
* Breast-shaped hill
References
External links
Scottish Borders Walking Festival
{{coord, 55, 18, 46.31, N, 2, 47, 18.68, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(NN125594), display=title
Mountains and hills of the Scottish Borders