A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
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A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Philiphaugh, a mansion in Selkirk parish, Selkirkshire, near the left bank of Yarrow Water, a little above its influx to the Ettrick, 3 miles WSW of Selkirk town. In 1528 Patrick Murray of Falahill, the grandson of the 'Outlaw Murray,' obtained a charter of the lands of Philiphaugh; and his descendant, Sir John Forbes Pringle Murray, seventh Bart. since 1704 (b. 1842; suc. 1882), holds 2799 acres, valued at £2335 per annum. The flat diluvial plain between the house and the town is celebrated as the scene of Montrose's defeat by Leslie, on the morning of 13 Sept. 1645. Ettrick Water, just after the Yarrow's confluence, makes a gentle curve to the right, and, stealing along the base of a lofty bank on whose summit, at one point, stands the town of Selkirk, leaves on its left bank a beautiful haugh, 400 to 500 feet above sea-level, which extends north-eastward from a copse-clad eminence called Harehead Hill (1046 feet), to some high ground on the margin of the stream, a little below Selkirk. This plain is Philiphaugh; it is about 1½ mile in length, and ¼ mile in mean breadth; and being defended, on the one side, by the river with its bulwark-fashioned bank, and overhung, on the other, by a stretch of bold uplands, which intervene between the Yarrow and the Tweed, it possesses, naturally, and on a grand scale, many of the securities and conveniences which were desiderated by the Romans in their camps. Montrose, after he had won six splendid victories over the Covenanters, was on his march southward to pour his conquering troops upon England, when Philiphaugh invited him to repose, and wooed him to destruction. Observing the advantageousness of the ground, he strengthened it with some trenches, and posted upon it his infantry, amounting to 1000 men; and, seeing how near it stood to the town of Selkirk, he there quartered his 500 horse, and courted a night's freedom from a soldier's care. General Leslie, with his sturdy and highspirited Covenanters, arrived at Melrose on the evening of Montrose's bivouac; and, favoured next morning by a thick mist, he reached Philiphaugh, and was in position for the onslaught, before being descried by a single scout. Montrose was apprised of danger only by the yell which followed the tiger's leaping upon his prey; he knew nothing of Leslie's vicinity till the rattle of musketry announced his activity in the encampment; and when he reached the scene of conflict, he beheld his army dispersed and fleeing in irretrievable panic and confusion. After making a bold stand, a desperate but unavailing attempt to recover his lost fortunes of the hour, he cut his way through a body of Leslie's troops, fled up Yarrow and over the wild and lofty mountain-path of Minchmoor, and stopped not till he arrived at Traquair, 16 miles from the scene of action. His defeat produced at once conclusive advantages to the Covenanters, and ruin to the hapless cause of Charles I. in Scotland. Upwards of a mile SW of the present farm-stead of Philiphaugh, and overhanging the Yarrow immediately above its confluence with the Ettrick, there are still traces of an entrenchment throw n up by Montrose. Two miles farther up the Yarrow, close to the ruin of Newark Castle, is a field called Slain-man's-lee, in which tradition says the Covenanters, a day or two after the fight, put many of their prisoners to death. In Selkirk the house is still standing which was occupied by Montrose on the night of his ill-judged security. And in the centre of the battlefield is a small obelisk, inscribed, 'To the memory of the Covenanters who fought and fell on the field of Philiphaugh, and won the battle there, 1645.'-Ord. Sur., sh. 25, 1865.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
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| Feature Description: | "a mansion" (ADL Feature Type: "residential sites") |
| Administrative units: | Selkirk ScoP Selkirkshire ScoCnty |
| Place: | Philiphaugh |
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