STOBO, a parish, on the river Tweed, in the county
of Peebles, 6 miles (W. S. W.) from Peebles; containing
465 inhabitants. This parish, which was considerably
increased by the addition of part of the parish of
Dawick, on its suppression in 1742, is about seven miles
in length, and five miles and three-quarters in extreme
breadth. It is bounded on the east and west by the
Lyne and Biggar waters, respectively; and comprises
12,583 acres. Of this area, 1255 acres are arable, 587
v;oodland and plantations, and 10,741 hill pasture, moorland,
and waste, of which about 800 acres might at a
moderate expense be brought into profitable cultivation.
The surface is divided, by three ranges of hills from
north to south, into valleys watered by streams tributary
to the Tweed, which bounds and intersects the parish.
Of the hills forming these ranges, the most considerable
are the Pyked Stane, which has an elevation of 1884
feet; the Benvalla, which has an elevation of 1850; the
Binliga, of 1692 feet, and the Flint hill, which has an
elevation of 1621 feet, above the level of the sea. The
Tweed bounds and traverses the parish for nearly seven
miles, and in its course receives the waters of the Biggar
and the Lyne; the Stobo burn has its rise near the base
of the Pyked Stane, and, after a course of about five
miles through the parish, falls into the Tweed. Good
trout are found in the Tweed and the Lyne; and in the
former, salmon also.
The soil is various, but chiefly light and gravelly; on
the northern parts of the hills, and generally at the
base, a stiff clay; and in the meadows on the banks of
the Tweed, a rich and fertile loam intermixed with sand.
Crops are raised of oats, barley, wheat, potatoes, and
turnips. The system of agriculture is improved: the
lands are well drained, and inclosed with stone dykes;
the farm houses and offices, substantial and well arranged;
and all the more recent improvements in implements
of husbandry have been adopted. Considerable
attention is paid to the rearing of sheep and cattle,
for which the hills afford good pasturage: the chief
breed of sheep is the Cheviot, with a few of the blackfaced;
and the cattle are mostly of the old breed, in
some instances improved by a cross of the Teeswater
and the Ayrshire. The woods and plantations are well
managed, and in a thriving condition. In this district
the substrata are chiefly whinstone and clay-slate: the
latter has been extensively quarried for many years; the
slate is of good quality, and very similar to that found
in the county of Argyll. The whinstone has been merely
wrought where it occurs near the surface, and only for
materials for making inclosures. Stobo Castle, for many
years the residence of the late Sir James Montgomery,
Bart., is a handsome modern mansion, of whinstone with
ornaments of freestone. The nearest market-town is
Peebles, with which facility of communication is afforded
by roads kept in good repair. The annual value of real
property in the parish is £3367.
It is in the presbytery of Peebles, synod of Lothian
and Tweeddale, and in the patronage of Sir Graham
Montgomery. The minister's stipend is £158. 6. 7.,
with a manse, and a glebe valued at £42 per annum;
he has also ten bolls of meal, the proceeds of one-half
of the glebe of Dawick. The church is an ancient structure
in the pointed style of architecture, adapted for a
congregation of 200 persons. Stobo parochial school
affords a useful course of instruction; the master has a
salary of £32 per annum, with £28 fees, and a house
and garden. The poor receive the interest arising from
a fund of £545, which has accumulated from the balances
of collections. On a moor in the parish, formerly appropriated
to the mustering of the militia of Tweeddale
by the sheriff, and which still retains the name of
Sherilfsmuir, are two upright stones three feet in height,
and about six feet distant from each other, thought to
mark the grave of some chief who fell in an engagement
here. There are also some cairns or heaps of stones,
supposed to have been raised over the tombs of distinguished
persons; and in a circular cavity about 250
feet in circumference, were interred, it is said, the bodies
of men slain in battle; but there are no authentic records
of any conflict having taken place. Lord Chief
Baron Montgomery, of Her Majesty's Exchecjuer in
Scotland, who contributed greatly to the improvement
of the lands and the agriculture of the parish, was interred
in the family burying-ground in the churchyard,
in 1803. His son. Sir James Montgomery, the second
baronet, already alluded to, having been bred to the I)ar,
was appointed lord-advocate of Scotland, which office,
however, he resigned two years after, in 1806; he died
in 1839, and was succeeded by Sir Graham, the present
baronet.