Lammermuir Hills

The Lammermuir Hills, usually simply called the Lammermuirs (An Lomair Mòr in Gaelic) (occasionally anglicised Lammermoors), in southern Scotland, form a natural boundary between Lothian and the Scottish Borders.

Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor is set in the area, as is Gaetano Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor which is itself based on Scott's novel.

The Lammermuir Hills span the areas of East Lothian Council and the Scottish Borders Council, and they extend from Gala Water to St. Abb's Head, and offer a traditional site for sheep grazing.

The hills are nowhere especially high, the highest points being Meikle Says Law at 535 m (1,755 ft) and the Lammer Law at 528 m (1,732 ft), but steep gradients, exposure to the elements and a lack of natural passes combine to form a formidable barrier to communications between Edinburgh and the Borders.

The hills are crossed by only one major road (the A68), which crosses the shoulder of Soutra Hill between Lauder and Pathhead, and is frequently closed by snow in winter. The main road linking Edinburgh to England (the A1) avoids the hills by following a circuitous route around the coast

The name Lammermuir literally means "lambs' moor" or "moorland of the lambs" from the Old English genitive plural lambra "of lambs" and the noun mor "moorland", "swamp", "waste ground". Early forms include Lombormore, Lambremore, Lambermora and Lambirmor. Another place-name with the element lambra is Lamberton.

White Castle was an Iron Age hill fort, settled by the ancestors of the Votadini tribe.

Two ranges of hills in New Zealand, the Lammermoor Range and Lammerlaw Range are named after the Scottish hills and their second highest point respectively.