Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Biddes or Bidhouse Burn

Biddes or Bidhouse Burn, a rivulet of Crawford parish, S Lanarkshire, rising on the SE slope of Tomont Hill (1652 feet), and running 1¾ mile north-eastward, till it falls into Evan Water, 7½ miles NW of Moffat. Its banks were the scene in 1592, of a sanguinary onslaught upon the Crichtons by the Johnstones of Wamphray, led by William Johnstone of Kirkhill. An old ballad says:

Then out spoke Willie of the Kirkhin,
Of fighting lads, ye'se hae your fiii;
And from his horse willie he lap,
And a burnished brand in his hand he gat.
Out through the Crichtons willie he ran.
And dang them down. baith horse and man,
O but the Johnstones were wondrous rude,
When the Biddes Burn ran three days blude.'


(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a rivulet"   (ADL Feature Type: "streams")
Administrative units: Crawford ScoP       Lanarkshire ScoCnty
Place names: BIDDES     |     BIDDES OR BIDHOUSE BURN     |     BIDHOUSE BURN

Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.