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. It lies between West Linton and Penicuik.

Carlops Scottish Gaelic: Leum na Caillich
The Carlins Lowp
Carlops Location within the Scottish Borders
OS grid reference	NT162561
Council area	Scottish Borders
Lieutenancy area	Tweeddale
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	PENICUIK
Postcode district	EH26
Dialling code	01968
Police	Scotland
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
UK Parliament	Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
Scottish Parliament	Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale.
List of places UK Scotland 55.79°N 3.34°W / 55.79; -3.34

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.

Notable residents

• C. T. R. Wilson (1869-1959), winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1927, retired to Carlops and died there in 1959.
• Dr Archibald "Archie" Lamont FRSE FGS (21 October 1907 – 16 March 1985), Scottish geologist, palaeontologist, Scottish Nationalist, writer, poet and politician, retired to Carlops and lived in Jess Cottage.

See also

• List of places in the Scottish Borders
• List of places in Scotland

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carlops.

• RCAHMS record for Carlops, Spittal
• RCAHMS record for Carlops Hill
• SCRAN image: Allan Ramsay Hotel, Main Street, Carlops
• Geological Conservation Review / JNCC: Subglacial meltwater