Poet's Historic Home Up For Sale
The house where renowned Scottish poet James Hogg penned his most famous works is up for sale.
Blackhouse Cottage in the Yarrow Valley, Selkirkshire, was home to Hogg, more famously known as The Ettrick Shepherd, for ten years.
And the rustic stone house, which remains unconnected to mains electricity as it was in Hogg’s time, is on the market for offers over £165,000.
Hogg, a friend of Sir Walter Scott, is famous across the world for his poetry, prose and ballads.
A shepherd at Blackhouse farm from 1790-1800, Hogg published his first collection of poetry shortly after leaving the cottage to pursue a career as a writer.
He is best known for his innovative novel, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824).
Selling agent Harry Lukas from 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 near by 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. 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 turn of the eighteenth century, Hogg was working as a shepherd on the farm on Blackhouse in Yarrow for the Laidlaw family, who opened their hearts and library to the young shepherd poet.
His talent for writing was discovered by Sir Walter Scott, who was then the sheriff of Selkirk. It is said that James Hogg and his mother supplied Sir Walter Scott with material for Scott's "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border"
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