743 



DUMBLANE DUMFRIESSHIRE. 



land would otherwise be of little use, yield a return 

 nearly equal to the arable land. The banks and 

 islands of Loch Lomond are distinguished by a 

 number of yew trees, some of them of great size. 

 Most of the low lands are well enclosed, either with 

 hedges or walls : and several good mansions are 

 spread over the county, belonging to the principal 

 landed proprietors ; among which is Roseneath, a 

 still unfinished seat of the duke of Argyle. The 

 Roman wall marked out by Agricola, and completed 

 in the reign of Antoninus Pius, forming the northern 

 boundary of the Empire, extended from Dunglass on 

 tin- Clyde to Abercorn on the Forth. It maybe 

 traced in many places, and is minutely described by 

 general Roy, in his Military Ant. of Scotland ; in its 

 line at Duntocher, near Kilpatrick, are the remains 

 of a very picturesque Roman bridge. The wall is 

 more generally known by the name of Graham's 

 Dyke. 



Coal, ironstone, limestone, freestone, and slate are 

 fomid in the county. Three or four thousand tons 

 of ironstone are annually sent to the Carron foundery. 

 Limestone abounds in many parts, but in some it is 

 of an inferior quality, and in others the want of coal 

 prevents it from being used. The principal place 

 where it is worked is in the neighbourhood where 

 the coal is found, and where, indeed, they are quarried 

 together. Botli white and red freestone are found 

 in several districts ; but the finest quarry is at 

 Garscube, near the Forth and Clyde canal, by the 

 neighbourhood of which conveyance the value of the 

 quarry is much increased. The only slate quarry 

 wliich is now worked with success is Camstradam, 

 near Luss, whence there is a ready conveyance to 

 Glasgow by the rivers Leven and Clyde. 



Dumbartonshire may be considered rather as a 

 manufacturing tlian an agricultural county ; as vari- 

 ous establishments are there carried on upon an ex- 

 tensive scale. Calico-printing and bleaching occupy 

 a great number of people. There are also several 

 extensive cotton and paper mills, an iron-work for 

 all sorts of edged tools and wrought iron ; and large 

 glass-works and tanneries at Dumbarton. Popula- 

 tion in 1831, 33,211. 



DUMBLANE, or DUNBLANE; a post-town 

 and parish in Perthshire ; the former, anciently the 

 seat of a bishop, is pleasantly seated on the eastern 

 bank of the river Allan, wliich is here crossed by a 

 substantial bridge, and gives the name of Strathallan 

 to a large tract through which it flows. Like most 

 of the old Scottish towns, it consists of one principal 

 street, intersected by narrow lanes. Here are a jail 

 and a tolbooth, in wliich the sheriffs and justices re- 

 spectively hold their courts. The see ot Dunblane 

 was founded about 1142, by David II.; who also 

 built the cathedral, the choir of which is in good pre- 

 servation, and used as the parish church. It was 

 endowed with certain lands in England, and near it 

 may still be seen the ruins of the episcopal palace. 

 Bishop Leighton, translated hence to Glasgow in 

 1669, bequeathed to the clergy of the diocese of Dun- 

 blane his valuable library, which is still preserved 

 here, with many choice additions. A convent of 

 Culdees, at the head of which was St Blaan, from 

 whom the see derived its name, was established here 

 by David I. A mineral spring, recently discovered 

 in the neighbourhood, is in great repute. The parish 

 extends nine miles in length by six in breadth. The 

 battle-ground of Sheriff-muir is within the east side 

 of the parish. Population in 18ol, 3228. 



DUMFRIES, the capital of the county of Dum- 

 fries, and indeed of the south of Scotland, is a royal 

 burgh of great antiquity, although the period of its 

 incorporation is not exactly known. During the 

 border wars, it was frequently stormed, and the pub- 



lic records were destroyed. It is beautifully situated 

 on the eastern bank of the Nith, about nine miles 

 above its conflux with the Solway Frith, the river 

 being navigable for small vessels up to the town, and 

 there crossed by two bridges, the most ancient of 

 which consists of nine arches, and both communicate 

 with Maxwell Town, a large village in the stewartry 

 of Kirkcudbright, situated on the opposite bank. 

 Dumfries is distant from Edinburgh 71 miles, and 

 from Glasgow 79. The jurisdiction of the port ex- 

 tends from Southwick, in the parish of Colvend, up 

 the Frith as far as Sark water, but no vessel takes in 

 or discharges her cargo along the whole coast of that 

 tract, except at Annan and in the river Nith, the 

 navigation of which has been recently improved. 



Dumfries is a large well built town, consisting of 

 several spacious streets of elegant houses running 

 parallel with the rivers, and intersected by numerous 

 lanes, rising gradually from its banks ; a site so con- 

 venient, cleanly, and salubrious as to render it the 

 resort of many genteel families from the adjoining 

 counties for the greater part of the year, to partake 

 of the various amusements it affords. The principal 

 public buildings are two handsome churches sur- 

 mounted with lofty spires, episcopal and Roman 

 catholic chapels, places of worship belonging to the 

 Burghers, Antiburghers, Methodists, and the Mis- 

 sionary Society, a town-house, a jail and court-house, 

 an hospital for aged persons and orphans, an infirmary, 

 an asylum for lunatics, a theatre, a suite of assembly 

 rooms, and in a square in the centre of the town a 

 fine column of the Doric order, erected to the memory 

 of the late duke of Queensberry, its liberal bene- 

 factor. In Friar's Vennell Street are the remains of 

 the Franciscan convent, founded by Devorgilla, the 

 mother of Jolm Baliol, king of Scotland, in which 

 Jolui Duns Scotus, surnamed the Subtle Doctor, took 

 the habit of St Francis ; he died at Cologne in 130$. 

 And at the north-east end of the town are the founda- 

 tions of St Christopher's chapel, built by king 

 Robert Bruce, for the purpose of having masses said 

 for the soul of Sir Cliristopher Seaton, his father-in- 

 law, who was executed on the spot by order of 

 Edward I. Before the high altar of the ancient col- 

 legiate church of St Michael, Bruce and his asso- 

 ciates, in 1305, slew Red Jolm Cuming, lord of 

 Badenoch, for revealing to Edward I. the patriotic 

 designs they had formed for the emancipation of their 

 country ; the edifice thus defiled with blood was 

 shortly after demolished. Within the burying ground 

 of this church, lie entombed the mortal remains of 

 Robert Burns, over which is erected a handsome 

 mausoleum. Many other monuments, some of con- 

 siderable antiquity, adorn the church-yard. 



Hosiery, leather, hats, wooden-shoes, and baskets, 

 are the chief manufactures of Dumfries. The freight 

 of vessels belonging to the port is upwards of 4000 

 tons. The circuit courts for the southern district of 

 Scotland, are held here twice a-year. The parish of 

 Dumfries comprises a fine valley about seven miles 

 in length by three in breadth. Population of burgh 

 and parish in 1831, 11,606. 



DUMFRIESSHIRE, a county in the south of 

 Scotland, bordered on the south-east by the Solway 

 Frith and Cumberland, and on other points by the 

 counties of Lanark, Peebles, Selkirk, Roxburgh, 

 Kirkcudbright, and Ayr. The greatest length, from 

 north-west to south-west, is about sixty miles, while 

 from the shores of the Solway Frith to the borders of 

 Peebles is little more than thirty miles. Its surface 

 includes about 1006 square miles. Dumfries'shire 

 was anciently divided into three districts, each under 

 a separate jurisdiction. These derived their appel- 

 lations from the principal rivers, and were Annan- 

 dale, in the middle, (containing twenty parishes,) 



