[Gazetteer of Scotland Contents]
BOROUGH-MOOR, a tract of ground, formerly an open common, in the shire of Edinburgh, and parish of St. Cuthbert; adjacent to the city of Edinburgh on the south. In the west end of the Borough-moor, there stood a large chapel dedicated to St. Roque, and round it there was a cemetery where those who died of the plague were interred. The town-council, in 1532, granted four acres of ground in the Borough-moor to Sir John Young, the chaplain, for which he was bound to keep the roof and windows of the chapel in repair; but at the Reformation the church and churchyard were converted into private property. A part of the walls of this chapel are still standing; Grose has preserved a view of it. This moor appears, in 1513, to have abounded with large oak-trees; and here James IV. reviewed his army before he marched to the fatal battle of Flodden-field. See Notes to ‘The Lay of the Last Minstrel.’