Gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

"200
DRYBURGH.
part of Peebles-shire, lying on the east bank
of the Tweed, here a small stream, and bound-
ed on the east by Manor. Though lying in
the centre of the South Highlands, this is on
the whole a flat parish, the chief part of the
land being a level on the south bank of the
Tweed. It extends twelve miles in length,
and is beautifully variegated with plantations,
verdant fields, and arable land. Drummelzier
Castle, formerly a seat of the once powerful
family of Tweedie, stands on the banks of the
Tweed, surrounded by some beautiful grounds.
It is the last of the chain of fortresses placed
on the banks of the river Tweed, the ruins of
which are seen every two or three miles in
travelling with the stream. The present pa-
rish is composed of the old district of Lower-
Drummelzier, and the southern half of the old
parish of Dawick. The parish church stands
on the Powsail rivulet, a little way above its
junction with the Tweed. Upon a spot near
the confluence of these waters, there is a tu-
mulus, said to be the grave of Merlin, the cele-
brated Caledonian seer. Whatever may be
thought of such an averment, it cannot be dis-
puted that the tradition has at least probabi-
lity. Connected with it is a rhyme,
When Tweed and Powsail meet at Merlin's grave,
Scotland and England that day ae king shall have.
This old prophecy is said to have been fulfill-
ed on the day of King James's coronation as
monarch of Great Britain, when there was
such a flood in both Tweed and Powsail that
their waters did actually meet at Merlin's
grave, a junction which is believed to have
never taken place either before or since. At
a place called Kingledoors in the upper part of
the parish, there was of old a chapel dedicated
to St. Cuthbert, the early evangelist of Tweed-
dale.— Population in 1821, 293.
DRUMMOCHY, a small village on the
coast of Fife, near Largo, noted for its flax-
spinning mill and its salt-works.
DRUMMOND, a modern village in the
eastern part of Ross-shire, parish of Kiltearn,
on the road proceeding north from Dingwall.
DRUM OAK, a parish on the north side
of the Dee, lying wholly in Aberdeenshire,
except a small portion, which pertains to a
limb of Kincardineshire here extended across
the Dee. It extends four miles in length by
two in breadth, and is generally pastoral and
hilly— Population in 1821, 756.
DRUMS TURD Y MUIR, a small vil-
lage in the southern part of Forfarshire, on
the old road from Dundee to Arbroath, at the
northern base of the conspicuous hill of Laws.
DRUNKIE, (LOCH) a small lake to the
south of Loch Venacher, Perthshire, into
which its waters flow.
DRYBURGH, a place in the south-west-
ern part of Berwickshire, in the parish of
Merton. This locality is distinguished by
beautifid woods and pleasure-grounds, in the
midst of which, on the north bank of the
Tweed, stand the remains of the Abbey of Dry-
burgh. This is an impressive ruin, of the
Saxon order of architecture, though more re-
mains of the domestic buildings than of the
church. Hugh Morville, constable of Scot-
land in the reign of David L, w r as its founder.
It is generally supposed, that it was built on
the site of a druidical temple. The area of
the abbey is partly occupied by burying-aisles,
one of which is the family sepulchre of Sir
Walter Scott, Baronet. The late venerable
and somewhat eccentric Earl of Buchan
resided chiefly in Dryburgh House, near the
abbey, and manifested his taste and public
spirit by a variety of classic objects about the
grounds, particularly a colossal statue of Sir
William Wallace, and a Grecian temple to the
memory of the poet Thomson, besides a wire
bridge across the Tweed, by which he render-
ed the place accessible to travellers from the
south side of the stream. His Lordship lies
entombed in an adjacent vault, beneath a stone
sculptured previously by his own direction.
The place is now the property of Sir David
Erskine, Knight. The beauty of the sylvan
shades of Dryburgh, placed so delightfully on
the brink of the Tweed, is greatly and de-
servedly famed.
DRYFE, a river of Annandale, Dumfries-
shire, a tributary of the Annan, into the east
bank of which it is poured, near Lockerby,
after a course of eleven miles. It is subject
to impetuous floods from the mountainous na-
ture of its vicinity, and often does considerabla
damage. The vale through which it flows in
a straggling manner is designated
DRYFE SD ALE, (popularly Drysdale.)
This subsidiary district of Annandale consti-
tutes a parish, which extends seven miles in
length by from one to six in breadth. The
western and southern parts are generally flat