Carlops

Carlops (Scottish Gaelic: Leum na Caillich) is a small village in the Pentland Hills, within the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, close to the boundary with Midlothian.

The village was founded in 1784 and developed cotton weaving, coalmining and limestone mining.

The name derives from the Scots "Carlins Lowp" (English: "Witches' Leap"), since near the south of the village there are two exposed rock faces about 20 m (66 ft) high facing each other, with a similar distance between them.

Folklore maintained that witches would leap from one face to the other, over the chasm, for entertainment of an evening.

The current village was planned and laid out in 1784 by Robert Brown, advocate, laird of Newhall, as two rows of single-storey cottages facing each other across the Biggar to Edinburgh road.

Allan Ramsay Hotel, Carlops
Main road, Carlops