Cotly Hill Midlothian

Images are sourced within 2km of 55.741737/-3.1423297 or Grid Reference NT2850. Thanks to Geograph Open Source API. All images are credited.

View down track at Clinty Cleugh, Moorfoot Hills

Colin Park

Gladhouse Cottage

A polite request to fork left onto the track through to the South Esk.

Jim Barton

Brick sheepfold, Hirenden Burn

An unusual brick sheepfold just below the ruins of Hirendean Castle. Perhaps the sheepfold was built as part of the works by the water company when Gladhouse Reservoir was under construction in the late 1870s. There are other similar brick sheds in the South Esk valley nearby. The wall is starting to crumble - compare with NT2951 : Brick sheepfold, Hirendean Burn taken in 2017.

Jim Barton

Hirendean Castle

In view is the highest part of the remaining ruin at the SW corner. The ruins are thought to date back to the 16th century when the castle was built for Mark Kerr, Abbott of Newbattle. It is possible that it replaced an earlier structure on the site. See Link

for more background.

Jim Barton

South Wall, Hirendean Castle

The wall comprises most of the remaining ruin and has a window opening. More on the history of the castle can be found at Link

Jim Barton

Hirenden Burn

The burn drains NW from the Moorfoot Hills.

Jim Barton

Track by the South Esk

A track up the almost level valley of the South Esk - sheep grazing and the Bowbeat wind turbines just in view on the skyline.

Jim Barton

New plantation, Loch Hill

Presumably broadleaved trees in the protective tubes with conifers higher up the slope.

Jim Barton

Heading S on track from Moorfoot Farm towards Gladhouse Cottage

Colin Park

Ruins of Hirendean Castle from bridge below Gladhouse Cottage

Colin Park

Hirendean Castle

The ruins of this castle to the south of Gladhouse reservoir which can be seen in the distance.

Kevin Rae

South Esk

Waterboard marker beside the South Esk, emerging from the Southern Uplands onto the Midlothian Plateau.

Richard Webb

Glen of the South Esk.

A sharp interruption to the smooth Lammermuir-Moorfoot scarpline. Midlothian's main river , only a burn here, escapes runs north from the Moorfoot Hills. The rock here is quite hard, running to small crags, and giving wild scenery. Bowbeat Hill's turbines can be seen on the skyline.

Richard Webb

Headwaters of the Tweeddale Burn

The Moorfoot scarp. Sheepwalk, mostly blackfaces. The burn forms the Peeblesshire- Midlothian boundary, POV in Midlothian.

Richard Webb

Cotly Hill

Moorfoots Scarp. The marks on the hillside are shelters excavated by generations of sheep. The gullies at the head of the Tweeddale Burn are also within the square. Beyond the peaty wastes of Jeffries Course.

Richard Webb

Hog Hill

View over rough grazing to the flatlands of the Midlothian Plateau (Toxside Moss) and Edinburgh, with a very clear Arthur's Seat.

Richard Webb

Peat Law Burn

The boggy hollow of the Peat Law Burn. Sheep walk with ewes and lambs in the foreground. The backdrop is a spectacular section of the Southern Upland Fault, dividing the older rocks of the hills from the limestones and other softer rocks of Midlothian. Not as spectacular or as famous as the northern boundary of the Central Belt, the Highland Boundary Fault, it is still an important and obvious geological feature.

Richard Webb