Things you didn't know about... Peeblesshire

What's in a name?

Peeblesshire changed its name with the Scottish local government reorganisation of 1975, becoming Tweeddale in the process.

What connects the River Tweed with cloth?

Tweeddale (formerly Peeblesshire) is the traditional name for the area drained by the River Tweed. The original Scots name for the traditional Scottish herringbone-pattern fabric cloth was "twill", but a chance misreading changed all that, and linked river and cloth ever after.

Around 1830, the story goes, a London merchant received a letter from a fabric manufacturer in the Scottish Borders about a consignment of "tweels" (the plural of "twill"). The merchant mistook "tweel" for "tweed" and assumed the manufacturer used the name of the river as a trade name. The rest, as they say, is history.

Peeblesshire is a UK high-flier

Peeblesshire's average height above sea level is greater than that of any other county in Britain.

Peeblesshire: a wizard place to stay

Legend has it that the wizard Merlin was imprisoned by Morgana la Fay in a tree in the Peeblesshire village of Drumelzier.

Peeblesshire—home of the gutterbluids

According to local tradition a person born in Peebles is called a gutterbluid.

Peebles is "best town" in Scotland

A 2005 study by economic think tank the New Economics Foundation ranked Peebles as the best town in Scotland and the second best in the UK after Hebden Bridge.

Peeblesshire's historical festival

Peebles holds an annual festival called the Beltane, a Gaelic festival that celebrates the coming of summer. Nowadays, the Beltane also incorporates the Common Riding, during which horsemen take to the saddle and ride the boundaries of the burgh of Peebles, a tradition that harks back to the days when the town had to be ever-vigilant against the English.

Peeblesshire has Scotland's oldest inhabited house

Peeblesshire claims to have the oldest inhabited house in Scotland. Tranquair House in Innerleithen dates back to the 12th century.

Scotland's literary heroes holidayed in Peeblesshire

Both Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns "took the waters" at the Peeblesshire village of Innerleithen. The village's mineral springs were reputed to cure a variety of minor ailments.

Peeblesshire: home of Scotland's oldest athletics meeting

The town of Innerleithen holds the oldest organised athletic meeting in Scotland in the form of St. Ronan's Border Games. Apart from wartime interruptions, the games have been held every year since 1827.