Ettrick Shepherd's home up for sale

Published on Monday 27 August 2007 01:42

LITERARY fans are being given the chance to purchase a piece of history - the home of one of Scotland's most famous poets.

Blackhouse Cottage in the Yarrow Valley, Selkirkshire, where James Hogg penned his most famous works, is now for sale.

Hogg, more famously known as the Ettrick Shepherd, lived in the rustic 18th-century stone house for ten years.

Now the cottage, which remains unconnected to mains electricity, is on the market for offers over 165,000.

Hogg, who was a friend of Sir Walter Scott, is known across the world for his poetry, prose and ballads.

A shepherd at Blackhouse Farm from 1790 to 1800, Hogg published his first collection of poetry shortly after leaving the cottage to pursue a career as a writer.

He is best known for the his novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824).

Harry Lukas, selling agent for Buccleuch John Sale, said the historic three-bedroom property was a "rare find".

He said: "This is a fine traditional home which has maintained its original character and would benefit from upgrading.

"The house is unique and features in one of Hogg's most interesting stories, Storms, from The Shepherd's Calendar.

"The gripping tale tells of how Hogg and another shepherd went out in a terrible snowstorm to rescue the sheep and their dramatic battle with the elements.

"There are not many properties out there that can lay claim to having inspired a famous poet and not just inspired him, but housed him too."

Blackhouse Cottage is situated 15 miles from Selkirk in the beautiful Douglas Glen, close to the Southern Upland Way. Set in half an acre of woodland gardens, the cottage is powered by a generator housed in an outbuilding which is being sold separately.

James Hogg was born in 1770 at Ettrick Hall, at the top of the Ettrick Valley in the Borders. The second of four sons of an impoverished farmer, he left school after six months' formal education.

Aged seven, he began to work on the lowest rung of the farming ladder - as a cowherd.

At the start of the 19th century, Hogg was working as a shepherd at the Blackhouse Farm in Yarrow for the Laidlaw family, who opened their hearts and also their library to the young shepherd-poet.

His talent for writing was discovered by Sir Walter Scott, who was then the sheriff of Selkirk. Sir Walter was in pursuit of the disappearing ballads of the Borders and through the Laidlaw family he met Hogg - known then as "Jamie the poeter" - and also his mother, who had a rich store of songs.

The two men began a life-long friendship and it is believed that Hogg provided Scott with material for his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.

In 1815, Charles, Duke of Buccleuch, gave him free tenancy of the farm at Altrive Lake and in 1820 he married Margaret Phillips.

After that he leased the farm of Mount Benger for 2,000 over nine years, and lost every penny. The couple had to return to Altrive, where Hogg lived until his death in 1835.

A memorial to him stands at St Mary's Loch, Ettrick.