Enterkin Pass

The Enterkin Pass by Lowther Hill

The Enterkin Pass is an old route through northern Dumfriesshire, crossing the Lowther Hills up to Leadhills, whence the route can be taken to the Clyde Valley.

The route runs south from Leadhills, the old mining village high in the hills, and on the east side of Stake Hill. From here the course of the Enterkin Burn down to Nithsdale makes a natural mountain pass which the old track follows.. The path runs east of Ingliston and runs through Muiryhill, finally reaching the Nith Valley after passing through Holstion and crossing the Carron Water near Moreton Mill. The latter part of the path in the south has been superseded and apparently obscured by the A702 and the railway line up to Sanquhar.

History

When the path was first established is unknown. It is frequently attributed to the Middle Ages, whiles others reckon that it was newly created in the early sixteenth century as a path for carrying lead from the mines in the hills down to Dumfries. The route was well established in past ages though and it appears to have been the main route between Douglas and Dumfries by 1646.

Daniel Defoe in "A Tour Thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain" (1726) described the pass:

“

Enterkin, the frightfullest pass, and most dangerous that I met with, between that and Penmenmuir in North Wales.

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The Enterkin Pass is marked on Roy's Military Survey (1747-55), labelled both as 'Entriken Path' and as 'Road over Entrican to Edinburgh'.

The 1850s Ordnance Survey six-inch map shows the pass by name. Initially the map shows and unnamed track across Stake Moss from Wanlockhead; this part has become part of the Southern Upland Way. From here though the route from the Leadhills is labelled 'Enterkin Path'. A section further south is marked as a 'Drove Road'.