Mossfennan is a small settlement in southern Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 near Drumelzier

Drumelzier

Drumelzier , is a village on the B712 in the Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders.The area of the village is extensive and includes the settlements of Wrae, Stanhope, Mossfennan and Kingledoors. To the north is Broughton and to the south the road passes Crook Inn to Tweedsmuir.The Drumelzier or...

 in the Scottish Borders

Scottish Borders

The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...

, in the valley of the River Tweed

River Tweed

The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is long and flows primarily through the Borders region of Great Britain. It rises on Tweedsmuir at Tweed's Well near where the Clyde, draining northwest, and the Annan draining south also rise. "Annan, Tweed and Clyde rise oot the ae hillside" as the Border saying...

.

Mossfennan is a wooded area part of the parish of Glenholm. There was once a peel tower

Peel tower

Peel towers are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, intended as watch towers where signal fires could be lit by the garrison to warn of approaching danger...

 at Mossfennan. Also near Mossfennan are the remains of a Bronze age burial cairn. When the Talla Railway

Talla Railway

The Talla Railway was a reservoir construction railway in Scotland active from 1897 to 1910. Located in the Scottish Borders, its most substantial engineering feature was the Tweed Viaduct, a 100 foot girder bridge built to carry the railway and water pipeline across the River Tweed at...

 was built there was a spectacular overhead sheep crossing at Mossfennan which cosisted of six concrete piers and a long ramps at right angles to the railway track.

Mossfennan appears in literature being referenced in an old Scottish ballad..

'The King rode round the Merecleuch Head,

Wi' spotted hounds and spaniels three,

Then lichted doun at Mossfennan Yett,

A little below the Logan Lee.'

John Veitch also describes the locality in The Hart of Mossfennan