Minchmoor

NT33SE 13 from 3999 3277 to 3500 3365. LIN 12.

Formerly LIN 527.

Branch Road: from 3999 3277 to 3874 3304.

An old road runs, or has run, from Ettrick Water at Ettrickbank (NT 4527 2893, see also NT42NE 346) to Tranquair (NT 3306 3458 see also NT33SW 50). Between Wallace's Trench (NT 3869 3265, see NT33SE 1) and the summit of Hare Law (NT 375 328) it is joined by a disused highway; this comes up from the Yarrow Water at Yarrow Ford (NT 4079 2994) and is known as the Minchmoor Road. A road along one of these lines must have been in use for centuries, as a document of 1305 records that the manor of Westerhope Kailzie was bound to fund a man "for 8 days during Roxburgh fair, to keep the road through Minch Moor from robbers", and the inference is that the route was a main one, used by long-distance travelers. It is not quite clear whether this 14th century road followed the ridgeway all the way to Ettrickbank or went right down into the Yarrow valley by a predecessor of the existing Minchmoor Road.

As it rises to Lucken Head (NT 396 329) the road splits, one set of tracks, marked "Drove Road" on the OS map, going straight up Brown Knowe (NT 3883 3260) close to the fence, while three others, marked "Catrail, remains of", swing round the N side of the hill at a gentler gradient. None of these tracks is particularly distinct on the ground, and those that swing N of the hill disappear in wet, broken ground at the head of the South Grain. Near the summit of Brown Knowe there are some small rectangular enclosures near the road, such as are often seen by drove-roads. At Wallace's Trench (NT33SE 1) the track overrides the earthworks.

Half a mile W of Wallace's Trench (NT 379 327) the other component of the joint route comes in, after rising from the bank in the Yarrow at Yarrow Ford (NT 408 300 see also NT43SW 22) by way of Hangingshaw Rig (NT 394 309). It is a well-made road up to 12ft in width, but its lowermost section, just above the haugh, includes some very steep pitches. It follows the spine of the Rig up to the moorland, but between spot-level 1193 and BM 1286.8 an earlier track 6ft to 7ft wide can be seen on the face of the knoll between the bench-mark and the field wall. This is no doubt the road marked by Roy (1747-55) on his map, which antedated the construction of the road proper by some thirty years. This earlier track crosses the knoll northwards and is then lost but its course must have run fairly close to the field wall until, about 30yds above the 1500ft contour, it swings sharply north-westwards and appears as a shelf 6ft to 7ft wide running for some 170yds along the hillside and heading straight for the gap in Wallace's Trench. Before actually reaching the gap, however, it has been removed by erosion as is plainly visible. The very hard ground in and beyond the gap has preserved no further traces.

Westwards from the junction of the 2 routes (NT 3792 3275) the 18th century road is quite plain all along the line marked "Minchmoor Road", except on the steep descent past Piper's Knowe to Drumbetha Knowe where it scarcely shows (NT 353 336 - NT 343 337; see also NT33SW 50). The older road can also be identified in places-e.g. on the neck between Hare Law and Little Minch Moor (NT 368 333) and on the N flank of Minch Moor (NT 336 356), where there is a terraced track up to 18ft wide;

Information from OS (SW) 21 July 1961.

RCAHMS 1957.

NT 3999 3277 to NT 3900 3266 The course of the road is visible as a faint cropmark

Branch road: from NT 3999 3277 to NT 3874 3304

NT 3999 3277 to NT 3874 3304 Only slight traces of the road are evident.

Branch road: from NT 3999 3053 to NT 3991 3274

NT 3999 3053 to NT 3984 3064 CT forms course.

NT 3984 3064 to NT 3926 3117 A terraced way c.4m wide.

NT 3926 3117 to NT 3918 3130 There are multiple tracks.

NT 3918 3130 to NT 3913 3447 A terraced way c.4m wide.

NT 3913 3447 to NT 3900 3169 CT only.

NT 3912 3154 to NT 3900 3171 Tracks of an earlier road can be seen.

Visited by OS January 1966.

In 1480, the ranger of Yarrow got 2000 'vangorum et tribulorum' i.e. spades and forks. These may have been used for making ditches and banks to form the bounds of the steeds in Ettrick Forest, bounds which still seem to be shown on the OS map. That they were used for planting is doubtful.

Information from OS.

M L Anderson 1967.