Lyne and Megget - a peculiar parish
Anyone who spends a bit of time researching Scottish history will become familiar with historic Counties and Parishes. These subdivisions of Scotland were used both in a religious manner as we are familiar with parishes today, but also to aid with census and record keeping. What is now The Scottish Borders was once divided into four historic counties and (give or take…) 90 parishes. I’m on record as saying I far prefer the old county system but centralisation is here to stay, so ‘Scottish Borders’ we remain. Of those 90 parishes, 14 were in Peeblesshire and one has always struck me as very odd. Lyne and Megget. The Parish was geographically divided into two with the river Tweed and a number of other parishes separating them, including the entirety of Manor - a distance of 8 miles as the crow flies, and at best 14 miles of rough track over Talla and the fearsome Linnfoots. The records show however that the Minister preferred the even longer 26 mile trek via Innerleithen, Traquair and Cappercleuch (most likely a muddy trudge - if you think the present B709 over Paddy Slacks pass is bad, think again). So why were this seemingly random pair of isolated communities brought together, a very unique set up which forced the poor Minister into a that painful cart journey south from Lyne to preach to the handful of residents of lonely Megget? The answer seems to be the age old beauties of money and power. Both bits of land were owned by the influential John Hay, Lord of Yester, and he appears to have used his sway to bring these communities together - maybe it was a sort of 17th century Non-Dom tax dodge?? The reasoning is unclear, other than his mutual ownership. This arrangement was forced through in 1621 stayed in place for 270 years, despite the uniqueness of the physical separation. In 1891 the Union was dissolved, Lyne became its own parish in the county of Peebles and Megget became a part of Yarrow’s sprawling influence. Thus did this odd association end and the ‘herds of Megget found their more natural home in the County of Selkirk. There you have it, a historical oddity unpicked. The map below shows a zoom into each of the pieces of the Parish, and if you look closely at the bottom you’ll see an explanation of the route taken by the poor Minister!
