Hartwoodmyres

About Hartwoodmyres

Looking at the landscape around you provides a good insight into land use in the Borders. In early times this was part of the Ettrick Forest and was kept for hunting by landowners and the Royal court. The name of the farm below, Hartwoodmyres, is very descriptive. Heart is another name for deer, wood describes the forest and a myre or mire is an area of marshland. In medieval times the land was turned over to sheep rearing – largely for wool, hence the growth of the Woollen industry in the Borders. In more recent times, much of the land has been planted for commercial forestry. Sheep farming has continued to decline and, on some of the farms in the valley, the sheep have been removed to enable field sports like grouse and pheasant shooting to expand.
The Ogilvie family acquitted the Hartwoodmyres Estate in 1695 and retained it until 1882. At that time all the land around would have been given over to sheep farming. A key member was the man and his dog who looked after the sheep, The Shepherd