The Moorfoot Hills are a range of

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct Summit (topography), summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally con ...

s south of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in east central

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 ...

, one of the ranges which collectively form 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 ...

Etymology

The name ''Moorfoot'' was recorded as ''Morthwait'' in 1142. The second element is

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

''þveit'' meaning "clearing, meadow, paddock". The first element may be Norse ''mór'' or

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''mōr'', both meaning "moor, heath".

Geology

The range is formed from three similar successions of wackes and

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...

s known as the Portpatrick Formation, the Shinnel Formation and 'Gala Unit 2', the first two are sub-units of the Scaur Group, the last a sub-unit of the Gala Group. The Portpatrick Formation originated during the Caradoc age of the

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start ...

period whilst the Shinnel Formation spanned the Caradoc and the succeeding Ashgill age. The Gala Group strata are of

Rhuddanian In the geologic timescale, the Rhuddanian is the first age of the Silurian Period and of the Llandovery Epoch. The Silurian is in the Paleozoic Era of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Rhuddanian Age began 443.8 ± 1.5 Ma and ended 440.8 ± 1.2 Ma (millio ...

age, i.e. earliest

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

. It is the Portpatrick Formation which forms the main northwest facing scarp. There are also small fault-related intercalations of the Moffat Shales in places, particularly within the Shinnel Formation. A disused quarry which formerly exploited an isolated

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

intrusion In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

sits to the west of the B7007 road at Broad Law. The scarp lies immediately to the southeast of the Lammermuir Fault, a Caledonoid fault with a downthrow to the northwest. To its southeast and parallel with it are three further NE-SW aligned reverse faults which are associated with the final stages of the closure of the

Iapetus Ocean The Iapetus Ocean (; ) was an ocean that existed in the late Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic eras of the geologic timescale (between 600 and 400 million years ago). The Iapetus Ocean was situated in the southern hemisphere, between the paleoco ...

during the

Caledonian orogeny The Caledonian orogeny was a mountain-building era recorded in the northern parts of the British Isles, the Scandinavian Mountains, Svalbard, eastern Greenland and parts of north-central Europe. The Caledonian orogeny encompasses events that occ ...

, as are the sedimentary rocks which they affect. The southernmost is known as the

Orlock Bridge Fault Orlock Bridge Fault is a major geological fault which extends through County Armagh, Northern Ireland and across the North Channel into Galloway in southern Scotland.Sheets 1 & 3 with pts of 7 and 4W (Scotland series) ''The Rhins of Galloway'' 1: ...

, a structure which can be traced southwest into

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and the northernmost of the three is the Fardingmullach Fault. Two strike slip faults are mapped affecting the rock sequence an disrupting the faults already noted; both can be tied with landscape features. The more westerly coincides with the north–south alignment of the upper course of the

River South Esk :''Note: the southern headwater of the River Esk in Lothian is also known as the South Esk.'' The South Esk ( gd, Easg Dheas) is a river in Angus, Scotland. It rises in the Grampian Mountains at Loch Esk in Glen Doll and flows through Glen Clov ...

and continues south through the range. Further east, a similar fault defines the course of the Dewar Burn and continues north through Peat Hill to Whitelaw Cleugh near the northeaster end of the main scarp. Since the last ice age,

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

deposits have accumulated particularly around the plateau surfaces surrounding Blackhope Scar and Jeffries Corse.

Hills

The range runs from

Peebles Peebles ( gd, Na Pùballan) is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in June 2018 wa ...

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 ...

, in a north easterly direction to Tynehead near the

A7 road A7, A.7, A 7, A07 or A-7 may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * A7, the A dominant seventh chord used in many rock songs, see dominant seventh chord * A (musical note) * ''A7'' (mixtape), by SCH, 2015 * Avenged Sevenfold, a hard rock/met ...

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 Edinburgh, ...

. The highest point of the Moorfoot Hills is

Windlestraw Law Windlestraw Law is a hill in the Moorfoot Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is the highest peak of the range, and lies north of the town of Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders. A large and boggy peak, it is usually clim ...

, at 659 metres. Parts of the Moorfoot Hills are designated a

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

. The hills in the range over 2000 ft are: The Hills are also home to Bowbeat Wind Farm which is owned by E.on. The site consists of 24

Nordex Nordex SE is a European company that designs, sells and manufactures wind turbines. The company's headquarters is located in the German city of Rostock while management is situated in Hamburg. Production takes place in Rostock as well as in China ...

N60 turbines which lie between Bowbeat Hill, Blackhope Scar and Dundreich Hill. The

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

was completed in September 2002 and at the time was Scotland's largest wind farm.

References

External links

Joint Nature Conservation Committee - Moorfoot Hills as Special Area of Conservation
{{coord, 55, 44, N, 3, 05, W, display=title, region:GB_type:mountain_source:GNS-enwiki Mountains and hills of Midlothian Mountains and hills of the Scottish Borders Mountain ranges of Scotland

Etymology

Geology

Hills

See also

References

External links