Set of Lowland bagpipes with drones mounted in a common stock

Set of Lowland bagpipes which belonged to a Peeblesshire family. The pipes are mounted with horn and bone and are bellows-blown. The drones, two tenors and a bass, are mounted in a common stock and are turned as in the Highland bagpipes.

The Lowland pipes, or Border bagpipe, was a distinctive instrument by the 18th century. It has a chanter and three drones - two tenors and a bass - and sounded and tuned as the Great Highland bagpipe but would generally not have produced such a strident and carrying sound.

A distinguishing characteristic was the mounting of the three drones in a common stock, and the use of bellows strapped under the arm to provide a supply of air. Such a bagpipe would sometimes be described as a 'cauld wind pipe', in contrast to the mouth-blown bagpipe in which the player's breath was hot and lurid. The lowland pipes were the instrument favoured by the Town or Burgh Piper of Lowland Scotland.

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