825 



DUMFRIES. 



DUMFRIESSHIRE. 



823 



to St. Mackessog, a bishop and confessor, who is said to have suffered 

 martyrdom A.D. 520, and whose tomb is still pointed out. 



Cumberuauld House, Killennont, Garscube, and Gleuarbuck, in the 

 detached part of the county ; Tillichewan Castle, Balloch Castle, and 

 Strath-Leven House, on the Leven ; and Batturich Castle, Ross Priory, 

 and Rossdhu, on the shores of Loch Lomond, are the more noticeable 

 residences of landed proprietors in the county. The Gareloch is 

 studded from Helensburgh to the head of the lake with numerous 

 large and handsome villas, and on the promontory opposite is Rose- 

 neath Castle, a residence of the Duke of Argyll. 



Indiatry. The most important branches of industry in Dumbar- 

 tonshire are those pursued on the banks of the Leven, and described 

 under BOXHILL and DUMBARTON. On Loch Long and the Gareloch a 

 small portion of the population is employed in fishing, though their 

 income is chiefly derived from letting out a part of their cottages 

 during the season of sea-bathing. In 1851 there was one savings bank 

 in the county at Dumbarton. The amount owing to depositors oil 

 November 20th 1851 was 1883J. 16*. 7rf. 



DUMFRIES, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, the chief town of the county, 

 a royal burgh and market-town, in the parish of Dumfries, is beauti- 

 fully situated upon a rising ground on the left bank of the river Nith, 

 4' N. lat., 3" 36' W. long., 73 miles S. by W. from Edinburgh. 

 The burgh is governed by a provost, 3 bailies, a dean of guild and 

 treasurer, 12 councillors, and 7 deacons of trades. It unites with 

 Annan. Sanquhar, Lochmaben, and Kirkcudbright, in returning one 

 member to the Imperial Parliament. The population in 1851 was 

 11,107 ; that of the parliamentary burgh wag 13,166. 



Dumfries is a clean and well-built town. The principal street is 

 about three-quarters of a mile long, and about 60 feet broad. The 

 streets and chops are well lighted with gas. There are two parish 

 churches, a chapel of ease, and chapels for Free Church and United 

 Presbyterians, Independents, Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, and 

 other bodies. St. Michael's churchyard has been called the ' West- 

 minster of Scotland,' from the character of its monuments. It is 

 here that the remains of the poet Burns lie interred under a handsome 

 mausoleum erected by subscription. In the middle of the High-street 

 is Mid Steeple, erected by Inigo Jones, where the meetings of fhe 

 town-council are held ; opposite to it is the Trades Hall. The other 

 public buildings are a county jail, a bridewell, an academy, several 

 endowed schools, a theatre, assembly-rooms, an infirmary, an hospital 

 for aged persons and orphans, and a dispensary. The Crichton 

 Lunatic Asylum is a large and handsome building surrounded by 

 shrubberies and gardens. It is capable of accommodating 100 patients. 

 A second building is intended chiefly, if not exclusively, for pauper 

 patients. There are two libraries, a mechanics institution, several 

 public reading-rooms, and a savings bank. 



Dumfries is celebrated for its weekly markets, which are held on 

 Wednesday on the ' Sands,' an open space on the bank of the river. 

 Besides the quarter-sessions and the usual sheriff's courts, the circuit 

 courts for the southern districts of Scotland are held here twice a year. 

 Maxwell Town, on the opposite side of the river, a small burgh of 

 barony chiefly inhabited by an Irish population, is a suburb of 

 Dumfries. The Nith is crossed at Dumfries by two bridges one a 

 very ancient structure supposed to have been begun by Devorgilla 

 Douglas, mother of John Baliol, king of Scotland ; the other was built 

 in 1, 



The river is navigable up to the town, and the harbour can receive 

 vessels of upwards of 120 tons burden. The registered vessels 

 belonging to the port on the 31st of December 1852 were 127, of 

 10,221 aggregate tonnage. During 1852 there-entered the port in the 

 coasting trade 870 sailing-vessels of 26,086 tons, and 125 steam-vessels 

 of 32,408 tons; and there cleared 399 sailing-vessels of 13,277 tons, 

 and 116 steam-vessels of 29,747 tons. In the colonial and foreign 

 trade the entries were 13 vessels of 2603 tons, and the clearances 

 were 1 1 vessels of 2423 tons. A steam-vessel plies weekly between 

 this port and Liverpool. The principal exports are wool, freestone, 

 grain, potatoes, and live stock, particularly sheep. The imports are 

 wood, wine, elate, lime, coals, and iron. Pork forms an extensive 

 article of trade. 



The prosperity of Dumfries depends in a great measure on the 

 country trade. Hosiery and tanning have long been carried on. A 

 large spinning and weaving woollen-mill gives employment to \ipwards 

 of 100 people. Dumfries is a principal station on the Scottish South- 

 western railway. 



Dumfries as a burgh dates from the reign of David I. Its possession 

 was always eagerly sought by the respective mouarchs in the wars 

 betwixt the Scottish and English kings : it was in the chapel of the 

 Minorite convent at Dumfries that Bruce slew his rival Comyu ; and 

 it was at Dumfries that Bruce's brother-in-law Seton was hanged by 

 order of Edward I. The town was frequently plundered and burned. 

 Dumfries participated in the religious disasters of the reigns of 

 Charles I. and II ; in 1715 it was threatened with siege ; and in 1745 

 its adherence to the government involved it in the penalties of 

 highland occupation and plunder. 



(New StatMical ACC<JV,>< f .' '-i.i'and; M'Diarmid, Picture of Dum- 

 friet; Tytln-, lli.s'uri/ af Scotland ; Communication from Dumfries.) 



DUMFRIESSHIRE,* southern county of Scotland lying between 

 65* 2' and 55 31' N. lat, 2 39' and 3 63' W. long., is bounded 



S. by the Solway Frith and Cumberland, N. by the counties of 

 Lanark, Peebles, Selkirk, and Roxburgh, E. by Roxburghshire, and W. 

 by the counties of Kirkcudbright and Ayr. Its form is an irregular 

 ellipse : the greater diameter being about 50 miles ; the leaser about 

 30 miles. The area is 1129 square miles, or 722,813 acres. Of the 

 whole county little more than a fourth is under tillage. The popu- 

 lation in 1851 was 78,123. The county returns one member to the 

 Imperial Parliament. 



Surface, Hydrography, and Communications. Tho surface of the 

 county is very irregular. About half of it is mountainous, a small 

 part is flat sea-coast, and one-third midland, consisting of low hills, 

 ridges, and vales. It has a general slope to the Solway Frith, arid 

 the mountain ranges are principally in the north aud east. These 

 serve to shelter the county from cold, while its comparatively inland 

 situation protects it from the Atlantic rains, Ayrshire and Kirk- 

 cudbright intervening between it aud the western coast. The 

 extensive ranges of mountains in the northern part of the district 

 produce also the almost innumerable streams, great and small, by 

 which the county is watered. All these streams find their way either 

 directly or by confluence with the rivers Nith, Annan, or Esk, to 

 the Solway Frith. Hartfell, the highest mountain in the county, in 

 Moffat parish, is 3304 feet above the level of the sea ; Lowther Hill, 

 near the village of Leadhills in Lanarkshire is 3130 feet ; Black Larg, 

 on the borders of Ayrshire, is 2890 feet; Ettrick Pen, in Eskdale 

 Moor, 2220 feet; and Caimkinna, not far from Drumlanrig, is 2180 

 feet above the level of the sea : these heights however must be taken 

 as of uncertain authority. 



Dumfriesshire was, until a comparatively recent period, almost 

 destitute of timber. Year after year the slopes of mountains aud 

 other naked tracts are being gradually planted, alike for the purposes 

 of shelter and ornament. Much good has been effected iu almost 

 every parish by draining the land. 



From the Sark to the Nith, this county extends about 21 miles 

 along the Solway Frith. The shore is generally sandy and gravelly, 

 the sand being occasionally mixed with clay, and sometimes covered 

 for a space with large stones called ' cobbles.' On many parts of the 

 coast considerable portions of land have been reclaimed from the 

 sea. The principal harbours on the coast are those of DUMFRIES 

 and ANNAN. There is a small quay at Glencaple, a village at the 

 mouth of the Nith, where vessels for Dumfries occasionally unload. 

 There is also a creek at the mouth of the Lochar farther east, to 

 which small vessels find access, these being generally traders bringing 

 coal from the opposite coast of Cumberland. At Queeusberry liay 

 in Cummertrees parish, still farther eastward, vessels of small burden 

 find ready shelter from north and north-west winds ; and at various 

 spots along the coast of Doruock and Gretna parishes (the most 

 eastern part of the shore of the county), vessels of 100 tons burden 

 discharge coals aud slate : grain and potatoes beiug exported in return, 

 to a large amount, to Liverpool and other places on the English 

 coast. 



The Solway Frith is narrowed by two promontories, Tordoff point 

 on the south coast of Dumfriesshire, and Bowuess on the opposite 

 shore of Cumberland, to a breadth of two miles. Passing these 

 points the channel inland expands rapidly, and is ultimately divided 

 into the smaller channels of the rivers Esk and Eden ; the extensive 

 Rockcliff sands being outspread between the Scottish and English 

 rivers. The tide of the Solway flows directly east with great rapidity, 

 over an immense expanse of sand, and the navigation of the Frith 

 is consequently at once difficult and dangerous. " During spring 

 tides, and particularly when impelled by a strong south-wester, tho 

 Solway rises .with prodigious rapidity. A loud boomiug noise 

 indicates its approach, and is distinguishable at the distance of several 

 miles. . . . The tide-head, as it is called, is often from 4 to 6 feet 

 high, chafed into spray, with a mighty trough of bluer water behind, 

 swelling in some places into little hills, and in others scooped into 

 tiny valleys, which, when sun-lit, form a brilliant picture of them- 

 selves." (M'Diarmid's ' Picture of Dumfriesshire.') 



The priucipal rivers in the couuty are the Nith, Annan, and Esk. 

 The Nith enters the county from Ayrshire, aud runs in a south-east 

 direction in a very winding course above 40 miles, passing Sauquhar, 

 Thornhill, and Dumfries. About 9 miles below Dumfries it falls 

 into the Solway Frith. The surrounding mountains and ridges 

 approach near each other above Drumlanrig castle, in the south of 

 Durisdeer parish, and also near Blackwood, not far above Dumfries, 

 and divide the vale of the river iuto three portions, which have 

 been named the Vale of Sauquhar, the Vale of Closeburn, and the 

 Vale of Dumfries. The tributary streams which join the Nith are 

 the Cluden, Scaur, Shiunel, Cample, Carron, Meuock, Euchan, Crawick, 

 aud Killoe. Its banks are almost everywhere adorned with gentle- 

 men's seats and pleasure-grounds. The Annan rises near the sources 

 of the Clyde and Tweed, among the mountains near Moffat surrounding 

 Erickstaue and the singular deep and caverned glen called ' the, 

 Devil's Beef Tub,' and runs a course nearly south of about 30 miles. 

 It enters the Solway a little below the burgh of Annan. Tho 

 tributary streams that flow iuto the Annan are the Mein, Wamplirnv, 

 Evan, Milk, Dryfe, Kinuel, Ae, and Molt'at. A beautiful ridgo 

 crosses the vale of this river from Kirkwood by Murraythwaitu t<> 

 Mount Annan, In the bed of the Kiuiiel is a rock called Wallace's, 



