Topographical dictionary of Scotland > Volume 2

M O R T
MO R V
hoggle nearly all his lands, as well as the lands of Mor-
ton-Mains from the other family, and, being lord of the
regality of Hawick, procured authority in 1610 to
translate that regality to Thornhill, to which he gave
the name of New Dalgarnoch. In 1810 the Scotts,
dukes of Buccleuch, succeeded to this and other pro-
perty of the dukes of Queensberry.
The parish is six miles in length from north to
south, and its mean breadth is about two miles ; it con-
tains 76SO acres. It is bounded on the north and
north-west by the parish of Crawford, in Lanarkshire ;
on the west by the parish of Durisdeer, from which it
is separated by the Sheilhouse rivulet and the river Car-
ron ; on the south-west by the Nith, with the exception
of about 19.0 acres called Morton holm, lying on the
south-west bank of that river; and on the south-east
and east by the parish of Closeburn and Dalgarno, from
which it is divided by the Cample. The surface through-
out is diversified by hill and valley, except along the
banks of the rivers, where it is flat. The rising grounds
consist partly of three considerable ridges north of the
Nith, large tracts of which are uncultivated, and on the
first of which the village of Thornhill is situated. The
surface afterwards is gradually depressed until the
declivity of the third ridge terminates in a valley ; and
then appear other hills and mountains, one of which
rises 2500 feet above the level of the sea, though there
is generally a considerable tract of rich arable and mea-
dow land near the bases of the heights. In the interior
of the parish, are numerous springs, rivulets, and burns ;
and the rivers Carron and Cample run, as already
stated, on its western and eastern boundaries, and the
river Nith on the south-west.
The soil is rich and productive along the banks of
the rivers, and on the first of the three ridges light and
fertile, resting upon a gravelly bottom : on the two other
ridges it is wet and heavy, and lies upon a clayey subsoil.
About 2600 acres are under cultivation ; 580 are under
wood, ninety of which consist chiefly of British oak fifty
years old; and 4500 acres are waste or natural pasture,
1200 of which are considered capable of profitable cul-
tivation. The grain is chiefly oats and barley, and the
green crops produced are of good quality. The sheep
usually reared are the black-faced, which, as being more
hardy, are considered better suited than the Cheviots to
the climate of the parish ; the cattle are mostly the
black Galloways, but the cows preferred for the dairy
are of the Ayrshire breed. The stock of draught horses
has within these few years been much bettered. The
best system of husbandry is now adopted, and great
improvements have been made of late. Large tracts of
uncultivated land have been fully reclaimed ; inclosures
and plantations are increasing with unusual rapidity ;
and farm houses and offices of a very superior kind are
rising in every direction. The Duke of Buccleuch is
sole proprietor of the parish, with the exception of the
farm of Ridings ; and its rateable annual value amounts
to £2817- The rocks which lie under the arable land
consist chiefly of red sandstone ; the mountains rest on
the primitive and whinstone formations. The man-
sion-house of the duke's chamberlain is elegant and
commodious. There are two villages, viz. Carron-
bridge and Thornhill, the latter of which has received
great attention from the proprietor, and exhibits many
important improvements. It has excellent shops, two
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good inns, and a tannery employing about thirty hands ;
and is a clean, healthy, and populous village, through
which the high roads from Dumfries, and from Galloway
by Minnyhive and Penpont, pass to Edinburgh and
Glasgow. There are fairs in this village in February,
May, August, and November, on the second Tuesday in
the month, Old Style ; many persons meet here to hire
servants, and there is a considerable traffic in coarse
woollen and linen cloth, and io yarn made in the neigh-
bourhood.
The ecclesiastical affairs are directed by the pres-
bytery of Penpont and synod of Dumfries ; patron, the
Duke of Buccleuch. The stipend of the minister is
£237 ; and there is a small but comfortable manse, with
a glebe of about twenty acres, worth £25 a year. The
church, an elegant edifice in the early Norman style, was
built in 1S40; it stands on an elevated spot near the
village of Thornhill, chosen by the duke, by whom, it
is understood, the plan of the building was designed ;
and from its picturesque appearance is a great ornament
to the surrounding country. There is also a dissenting
meeting-house, formerly belonging to the Antiburgher
persuasion, but now held by the United Associate Synod.
A parochial school is maintained, the master of which
has a salary of £34, about £30 fees, and a free house
and garden, with upwards of two acres of land. Other
schools are supported by fees ; and there is a flourish-
ing subscription library in the village of Thornhill, insti-
tuted in 1814; besides three or four friendly societies
in the parish. Among the antiquities is a Roman fort
or castellum with intrenchments, called the Deer Camp;
it is situated about two miles north of Tibbers, the great
station in the parish of Penpont. The castle of Morton,
however, is the most considerable relic of antiquity,
though not above half of it now remains ; it stands on
the margin of a deep glen, and the ruin is about 100 feet
in length, and nearly thirty in breadth. The wall of the
south front, still entire, is about forty feet high, and has
at each corner a round tower twelve feet in diameter :
the foundation walls are generally eight, but in some
places ten, feet thick. About the beginning of the last
century a boat, cut from one solid piece of wood, and
resembling an Indian canoe, was dug out of the bottom
of a tract of moss not far from the castle, a circumstance
which has led to the conclusion that the ground on
which it stands was formerly encircled by a loch. In
the vicinity other relics have been discovered, indicating
the occurrence of hostile engagements. There are several
chalybeate springs in the parish ; and near the castle is
a spring issuing from a peat-moss, impregnated with a
small quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen, and the water
of which has proved of singular advantage in cutaneous
complaints.
MORVERN, a parish, in the district of Mull, county
of Argyll, 18 miles (W. S. W.) from Strontian ; con-
taining 1774 inhabitants. This place, which anciently
formed part of the territory of the celebrated Somerled,
Thane of Argyll, takes its name from the Gaelic term
Mlwr Earrain, signifying " the great division, mainland,
or continent." The parish is in the northern part of
"the county, and measures in extreme length from east
to west twenty miles, and fifteen miles at its greatest
breadth ; comprising S5,369 acres, of which 4054 are
arable, 78/246 pasture, and the remainder wood. It
forms a peninsula, being bounded on all sides by water