Moorfoot Hills
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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. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not a ...
s south of
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
in east central
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 ...
, 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 illustrate ...
.


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 dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
''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 settlers in the mid-5th c ...
''mōr'', both meaning "moor, heath".


Geology

The range is formed from three similar successions of wackes and siltstones 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, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. T ...
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 (mi ...
age, i.e. earliest Silurian. 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 under ...
intrusion 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 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 ...
, as are the sedimentary rocks which they affect. The southernmost is known as the Orlock Bridge Fault, 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 Clo ...
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 efficient ...
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, in a north easterly direction to Tynehead near the A7 road in Midlothian. The highest point of the Moorfoot Hills is Windlestraw Law, 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 a ...
. 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 to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...
was completed in September 2002 and at the time was Scotland's largest wind farm.


See also

* Peatrig Hill *
List of places in the Scottish Borders ''Map of places in the Scottish Borders compiled from this list'':See the list of places in Scotland for places in other counties. This list of places in the Scottish Borders includes towns, villages, hamlets, castles, golf courses, historic ...
*
List of places in Midlothian ''Map of places in Midlothian compiled from this list'':See the list of places in Scotland for places in other counties. This List of places in Midlothian is a list of links for any town, village, hamlet, castle, golf course, historic house, hill ...
*
List of places in Scotland This list of places in Scotland is a complete collection of lists of places in Scotland. * List of burghs in Scotland * List of census localities in Scotland *List of islands of Scotland ** List of Shetland islands ** List of Orkney islands ** L ...


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