In 1882-4, Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland described Heck like this:
Heck, a village in Lochmaben parish, Dumfriesshire, 23/8 miles SSE of Lochmaben town, and 3½ WSW of Lockerbie. One of the villages called the Four Towns, it stands on a rising-ground, the Hill of Heck; and sometimes, during a freshet of the river Annan, is completely begirt with water, so as to look like an island in a lake, and to be approachable only by means of a boat. ...
It got its name, signifying ' a rack for feeding cattle,' from its being made, in times of freshets, a retreat of cattle driven from their ordinary pasture on the haugh to be fed from racks on its rising-ground.—Ord. Sur., sh. 10, 1864.
Heck through time
Heck is now part of Dumfries and Galloway district. Click here for graphs and data of how Dumfries and Galloway has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Heck itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Heck, in Dumfries and Galloway and Dumfries Shire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/22149
Date accessed: 23rd April 2024
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