koVALTV OF THE BuKGH OF DuMFRIES. 343 



Port, and along' English Street towards its junction with what 

 is now known as Shakespeare Street, where was placed the 

 Lochmabengate Port, led of necessity to a large extension of 

 the perimeter enclosing tenements held exclusively on burgage 

 tenure. This extended area, bounded by the Nith, by a line 

 joining the Townhead Port to the Lochmabengate Port, by 

 the course of the Loreburn from the point where it crossed 

 English Street to its junction with the Millburn, and by a line 

 from that junction to the Kirkgate, represents the limits of the 

 town proper as it was known till comparatively recent times. 

 Outside of this area was the remainder of the royalty, which 

 embraced a large tract of territory, extending from Moatbrae 

 up the left-hand bank of the river as far as the Poindfield Burn 

 at Crindau, from which point it marched with that part of 

 Nunholm now called Nunfield and with Parkfoot (also origin- 

 ally a part of Nunholm) as far as the boundary with Carn- 

 salloch (then including, as parts of Dalscone, Marchfield, 

 Summerfield, and Clumpton), the march with which it fol- 

 lowed till it reached in succession the marches with Dargavel, 

 the Barony of Craigs, the Xetherwood property at Reid's Dub 

 (now part of Ellangowan), and the royal demesne of Castle- 

 dykes, with which it marched as far as Dockfoot, and thence 

 up the river to the vicinity of the Kirk Port. 



According to the strict view of feudal custom, each and 

 every part of the royalty when it passed into the possession 

 of individual proprietors ought to have been held burgage, and 

 the investiture of the owner ought to have been carried throug^h 

 by Instrument of Sasine, expede by the Town Clerk, and 

 recorded for publication in the Burgh Register. This should 

 have been the recognised rule not only in the case of tenements 

 within the perimeter of the town proper, but also in the case of 

 every separate part of the burgh roods, as the original Charter 

 of Erection made the Burgh itself in its corporate capacity the 

 King's vassal In the whole territory. 



One finds, however, that this rule was departed from at a 

 \ ery early period in the Burgh's history as regards a compact 

 area of 260 Scots acres, known subsequently as the ;^'5 Land 

 of Moat in the territory of the Burgh of Dumfries. This area 

 embraced that part of the royalty lying between the river from 



