Tweeddale, John Hay, 2d earl and 1st marquess of, 1626-97, Scottish statesman. In the English civil war he left the party of Charles I and fought for Parliament at Marston Moor (1644), but when Charles promised to support Presbyterianism, he fought for the king at Preston (1648). At the Restoration (1660), he was made a privy councilor for Scotland and advanced to president of the council in 1663. He was dismissed (1674) from office because he favored leniency toward the Covenanters, but he later served Charles II and James II as commissioner of the treasury and privy councilor. Supporting the accession (1688) of William III, he was again made privy councilor and a lord of the treasury (1689), high chancellor of Scotland (1692), and marquess (1694). In 1695 he conducted the inquiry into the massacre at Glencoe. The next year he was dismissed from the chancellorship for approving in the king's name the Darién Scheme.

Tweeddale is a committee area and lieutenancy area in the Scottish Borders. With a population of 17,394 at the latest census in 2001 it is the second smallest of the 5 committee areas in the Borders. It is the traditional name for the area drained by the upper reaches of the River Tweed, this area was considered to end before the Yarrow Water flowed into the Tweed, so the area to the south and east, was bounded by the Yarrow/Tweed watershed, and to the north and east by the Gala/Tweed watershed.

Tweeddale was also a historic district of Scotland, bordering Teviotdale and the Marches to the east, Liddesdale and Annandale to the south, Clydesdale to the west and Lothian to the north. The district which covered the Sheriffdoms of Peebles and Selkirk later became of the County of Peebles in the north and County of Selkirk or the "Ettrick Forest" in the south, two of the counties of Scotland. The main reorganisation took place during the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, this Act established a uniform system of county councils and town councils in Scotland and officially restructured many of Scotland’s counties. (See: History of local government in the United Kingdom)

Tweeddale District

In the Scottish local government reorganisation of 1975, Tweeddale became a district in the Borders region. This district was almost identical to the former county of Peeblesshire.

Tweeddale area 1975-date

References

External links

• Historic map showing "Tweddale, alias, The Shire of Peebles"
• Historic map showing Tweeddale in Scotland
• Historic map showing Tweeddale in Scotland
• Historic map showing Tweeddale in Scotland