Scott's notes describe Carterhaugh as a plain at the junction of the Ettrick and Yarrow, about a mile above Selkirk and two miles below Newark Castle. The peasants, he says, pointed out on the plain those rings which they supposed to be traces of fairy revels. Here, they said, were placed the stands of milk and water in which Tamlane was dipped to disenchant him, and on those spots the grass would never grow. Miles Cross, where Janet waited for the fairy procession, is said to have stood near Bowhill, about half a mile from Carterhaugh.
Scott adds that in no part of Scotland has belief in fairies held out as long as in Selkirkshire. Tamlane's Well is a roadside well named for the tale outside Carterhaugh Farm. Scholars debate how directly the real place relates to the ballad, and much of the local colour may have been added after the ballad became famous. The ballad's supernatural story of a knight held by the Queen of the Fairies, a maid who pulls him from his horse at Halloween and holds him through his changes of shape, is well known.
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