Topographical dictionary of Scotland > Volume 2

KIRK
KIRK
skeleton of large dimensions, the arm of which had been
nearly separated from the shoulder by a stone axe : the
blade was still remaining in the wound. Cairn-Holy is
traditionally said to have been raised over the remains
of a bishop of Whithorn, who, with many of his brethren,
was slain in a battle with the English on Glenquicken
Moor in 1150, and buried here. Dr. Thomas Brown,
late professor of moral philosophy in the university of
Edinburgh, was born in this parish, of which his father
was minister, in 1778; he died in 1820, and was buried
in the churchyard of Kirkmabreck.
KIRKMAHOE, a parish, in the county of Dum-
fries, 3^ miles (N.) from Dumfries ; containing, with
the villages of Dalswinton, Duncow, and Kirkton, 156S
inhabitants. The appellation of this parish is of doubt-
ful origin; but it is supposed to have been derived
from the position of its ancient church in a valley,
or near the course of the river Nith. The place is
of considerable antiquity. In the fourteenth century,
according to ancient records, the monks of Arbroath
obtained from David II. a grant of " the church of
Kirkmaho, in the diocese of Glasgow," the patronage of
which, however, appears to have been retained by the
Stewarts, who had succeeded the Cumins in the barony
of Dalswinton. In 1429, the rectory was constituted
one of the prebends of the bishopric of Glasgow, with
the consent of Marion Stewart, the heiress of Dalswin-
ton, of Sir John Forrester, her second husband, and of
William Stewart, her son and heir ; and the Stewart
family long continued to be patrons of this prebend.
At the Reformation, the rectory of Kirkmahoe was held
by John Stewart, second son of the patron, Sir Alex-
ander Stewart, of Garlies. In the seventeenth century,
the patronage passed, with the barony of Dalswinton,
from the Stewarts, earls of Galloway, to the Earl of
Queensberry, in whose family it remained until, in the
year 1810, it came to the Duke of Buccleuch and
Queensberry.
The lands were portioned in ancient times into the
four large estates of Dalswinton, Duncow or Duncol,
Milnhead or Millhead, and Cai-nsalloch, with which the
historical memorials of the parish are mostly interwoven.
The estate of Dalswinton, or "the Dale of Swinton,"
was first possessed by the Cumins : in 1250, Sir John
Cumin held this manor as well as that of Duncol, and
gave the monks the liberty of a free passage through
the lands of the two manors to their granges in the
west. On the accession of Bruce, Dalswinton was
granted to Walter Stewart, third son of Sir John
Stewart, of Jedworth ; and it remained in the family
till 1680, when, with some exceptions, the barony was
disposed of to the Earl of Queensberry. The estate
afterwards came to the Maxwells, by whom, at the
latter end of the last century, it was sold to the late
Patrick Miller, Esq. It contains 4100 acres, and com-
prehends about one-third part of the parish. The
barony of Duncow was forfeited by the Cumins, like
that of Dalswinton, on the accession of Bruce, and
given to Robert Boyd. In 1550, Robert, Lord Maxwell,
was returned as owner of it in right of his father, of the
same name and title ; and it continued in the family
until sixty years ago, when it was sold to various per-
sons. It was in this village that James V. spent the night
before he paid the angry visit, recorded by historians,
to Sir John Charteris, of Amisfield : the site of the cot-
11-2
tage where the king slept, near the Chapel hill, was
pointed out by a large stone which remained there till
about forty years ago. The estate of Millhead was pos-
sessed in 1700 by Bertha, wife of Robert Brown, of
Bishopton, and heiress of Homer Maxwell, of Kilbean,
from which family it passed, about 1810, to Frederick
Maxwell, Esq. : it contains 1061 acres. Carnsalloch, in
1550, belonged to Robert, Lord Maxwell, whose family
held it till 1750, when it was sold to P. Johnston, Esq.
The parish is seven and a half miles long, anil its
extreme breadth is five and a half miles. It contains
about 1 1,840 Scotch acres, and is bounded on the north
by Closeburn parish ; on the north-east and east by
Kirkmichael and by Tinwald ; on the south and south-
east by Dumfries ; on the west by Holywood ; and on
the north-west by Dunscore. The northern and eastern
parts are hilly, the land ascending gradually till it ter-
minates in heights some of which are between 600 and
S00 feet above the level of the sea : the hills of Ward-
law and Auchengeith rise to 770 feet, and have a declivity
southward. The loftier grounds are covered with heath
and coarse grass, supplying pasture fit only for sheep.
In the vicinity of Tinwald, also, are some undulations
interspersed with low-lying tracts of morass, and which,
when not kept in tillage, are soon overspread with furze
and broom. Though this is entirely an inland parish,
the hills, especially the Watchman's hill, command a
fine view of the sea ; and in a clear day, the Solway
Frith is seen in the distance. The river Nith runs along
the western boundary of the parish, and intersects it at
one corner. There are also several small streams or
burns, which abound in trout, and are in many parts
distinguished by romantic scenery : the Duncow burn
forms three waterfalls, one of which, in rainy seasons,
has a striking and imposing appearance.
The soil on the high grounds consists in numerous
places of deep moss, beneath which is a gravelly earth,
resting upon a red till or slaty rock. On the sloping
grounds it is gravelly, with a considerable mixture of
sand, and small round stones ; and on the low or holm
land the soil is alluvial, mixed with clay. In every
direction is a profusion of pebbles, of different sizes,
rounded and polished by continued attrition, and many
of them variegated with beautiful lines and colours.
This is altogether an agricultural parish, and the capa-
bilities of the soil are, for the most part, developed.
About S500 acres have been under the plough, but of
these a great portion is now pasture ; 600 are wood, and
the rest of the parish uncultivated. Grain of all kinds
is grown, with the usual green crops. The sheep
are Cheviots, crossed with the Leicester ; numerous
lambs are raised on the hilly grounds, and, with ewes
fattened for sale, are sent to the Liverpool market. A
considerable stock of calves, also, is disposed of to the
Dumfries salesmen, when about six weeks old. The
husbandry in the district is of the most approved kind :
the land is subject to good surface drainage, and is
secured, where necessary, by strong embankments. The
farm-houses, likewise, are comfortable dwellings, and
suited to the character and circumstances of the highly-
respectable tenants who occupy them. Much has been
done in the reclaiming of land ; and plantations, with
neat and elegant villas, are now seen in many places. It
was in this parish that an inestimable addition was first
made, in 17S6-7, to the agricultural products of Britain,