Moffat

clarkie · Post by **clarkie** » Fri May 01, 2009 8:08 pm

I am researching Moorland House, Annan Water, Nr Moffat.
Before I get too far, would anyone have anything on it's history?

Regards
Clarkie

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Sat May 02, 2009 12:13 pm

Hello Clarkie,

There are references to it on the web but I can’t see anything old.

Did the name “Moorland House” appear on an old document such as a 19th Century certificate or census. If not, what is the earliest time, to your knowledge, that the building was described by this name?

Is this an old building that has been renamed “Moorland House” or is it Thomas Carlyle’s original “moorland house”?

The moorland house, tho' rude it be,
May stand the brunt, when prouder falls

Alan

clarkie · Post by **clarkie** » Sat May 02, 2009 3:09 pm

Alan,
Thanks for your mail. All I can get from the present owner is that the house is very old. I checked the web but nothing seemed likely.
I noticed the Carlyle possibility but would need to study that.
Many Thanks

Clarkie

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Sat May 02, 2009 4:30 pm

Another angle to take is check maps - old and new - and see when it first appears.

Use Multimap www.multimap.com DG10 9LS and the Ordinance Survey maps site http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/ to pinpoint the exact building you are looking at [it should be easy as it's still a very rural looking area].

Then compare with maps on:
Old Maps http://www.old-maps.co.uk use the postcode
National Library of Scotland http://www.nls.uk/maps/counties/index.html search by county/district

One map late 1890's on NLS shows Moreland, just above Kyla/Keyla and Gardenholm so look out for alternative spellings.

clarkie · Post by **clarkie** » Sat May 02, 2009 6:33 pm

Thanks Wonka2
OS map which I already had, shows the house between Keyla Park/Kyla earlier and Gardenholm which is correct. Earlier maps as you suggested cover 1861/1899/ 1900, both of the above are shown and although not clear it is unlikely that the house was there.
Good idea though I may return to that when I've pinpointed the exact position.
Or maybe not as old as thought and maybe the original owners were the "Morelands"?

Clarkie

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Sun May 03, 2009 3:45 am

Hello Clarkie,

It looks like Moreland, two and a half miles above Moffat, was a house of long standing in 1879 but I’m still not finding any other old info about it.

There’s a book called “Fairfoul's guide to Moffat, Moffa district and the Yarrow lochs” By Thomas M. Fairfoul Published 1879. I get only a snippet view but other areas may get more. The most I can work out of page 27 is what’s below.
http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en& ... a=N&tab=gp

P27
The next two farms are Gardenholm and Holehouse. The steadings are on the low ground near the Annan, and the grounds only run to the top of the ridge where they march with Blacklaw. With Chapel, they seem to have been known as Kirkbriderigg, or the lands over which the chaplainry of St. Cuthbert extended. They belonged to Grierson of Lagg three hundred years ago, when they were acquired by the Annandale family, who are still the proprietors.
The other farms west of the Annan, and belonging to the same family, are Meikleholmside and Ericstane, the latter being succeeded by COKEHEAD, (Butler-Johnstone) at the head of the vale. The valley of Annan Water is broad and open compared with Evan Water, but it is much shorter, extending not quite six miles above …..
GAP
The traces of natural wood are now somewhat scanty, but there has been a large amount of planting, much of it of old standing.
The other houses of old standing in the dale, besides those mentioned, are Beddings, Moreland, and Granton, respectively one, two and a half, and three miles above Moffat.
The dale closes to the north on a range of hills remarkable for their boldness of outline. Within these hills occurs the extraordinary cavity called the Deil's Beef Tub, which will receive a special notice. The range between Annan and Moffat Waters is higher and much
NEW PAGE?

Hope that’s useful,
Alan

theKiwi · Post by **theKiwi** » Sun May 03, 2009 5:09 am

Here's the map of the district that is in the Fairfoul book....

http://ClanMoffat.org/MiscImages/Moffat ... irfoul.gif

Moreland is above the word Moffat on the map, about halfway up, left of center.

Note that right now the Borders Forest Trust is engaged in a fund raising effort to raise £600,000 to be able to purchase the Corehead farm which is further up the valley yet, and includes the famed Devil's Beef Tub in order to preserve the land, and include it in parts of the Ettrick Forest. See

http://www.bordersforesttrust.org/fx.de ... ehead.aspx

and if you live in the US and might want to contribute and get a tax deduction you could do so through the Moffat Foundation which is a charity under the IRS Rules...

http://clanmoffat.org/HelpBuyTheBeefTub/

Cheers

Roger

clarkie · Post by **clarkie** » Sun May 03, 2009 10:17 am

From the latest posts it would appear that the house first appeared in the late 1870s as Moreland, which is how it is listed on the earlest map I can find in 1883, unless the map sent by Roger is older?
Thanks to one and all.
Clarkie

theKiwi · Post by **theKiwi** » Sun May 03, 2009 1:09 pm

That map is from the second edition of the Fairfoul book, which states in the start that it was published January 1879.

The foreword from the author states that the original was published in 1876, and that the second edition was pretty much a reprint of the earlier edition, so I think it's safe to assume that map is at least as old as 1876, and possibly earlier.

Roger

clarkie · Post by **clarkie** » Sun May 03, 2009 6:11 pm

Thanks Roger, that seems to link with the info from Alan.