PEEBLESSHIRE or TWEEDDALE, southern inland county, Scotland, bounded north and north-east by Edinburghshire, east and south-east by Selkirkshire, south by Dumfriesshire, and west by Lanarkshire. Its area is 222,240 ac. (excluding water). The surface consists of a succession of hills, which are highest in the south, and belong to the Silurian uplands of southern Scotland, succeeded by an Ordovician belt. The vale of the Tweed and the glens formed by its numerous tributaries intersect the up lands. South of the Tweed the highest points are Broad Law and Cramalt Craig on the confines of Selkirkshire (each 2,723 ft.), while north of the river the greatest heights reach about 1,800 ft. In the north-west a part of the Pentland hills is included, showing upper Silurian and lower Old Red Sandstone rocks. Much glacial boulder clay, in the gravel and sand, rests upon the higher ground, while morainic deposits are found in the valleys. From the fact that for the first 36 m. of its course of 97 m., the river Tweed flows through the south of the shire, the county derives its alternative name of Tweeddale.
The character of the soil varies considerably, peat, gravel and clay being all represented. The low-lying lands consist generally of rich loam, composed of sand and clay. The farming is pastoral rather than arable. About half the holdings are under 1 oo acres. Under one quarter of the total area is under cultivation.
The L.N.E. railway crosses the county in the north from Lead burn to Dolphinton, and runs down the Eddlestone valley from Leadburn to Peebles and Thornielee, while in the south the L.M.S. railway connects the county town with Biggar in Lanarkshire.
In 1931 the population numbered 15,050. The chief towns are Peebles (pop. 5,853) and Innerleithen (2,359). The shire corn bines with Midlothian to return two members to parliament, and forms a sheriffdom with the Lothians and Selkirkshire.
The country was early occupied by the Gadeni, a British tribe, of whom there are many remains in the shape of camps and sepulchral mounds. The standing stones near the confluence of the Lyne and Tweed are supposed to commemorate a Cymric chief. The natives were reduced by the Romans, who have left traces of their military rule in the fine camp at Lyne, locally known as Randal's Walls. On the retreat of the Romans the Gadeni came into their own again, and held the district until the consolidation of the kingdom after Malcolm II.'s victory at Carham in 1018, before which the land, constantly harried by Danes, was nominally included in the territory of Northumbria. This tract of Scotland is closely associated with the legend of Merlin. At Happrew, in the valley of the Lyne, the English defeated Wallace in 1304.