ESKDALEMUIR, a parish, in the county of Dumfries,
13 miles (N. W.) from Langholm; containing 646
inhabitants. This parish, as its name partly imports,
consists of the lands lying at the head of Eskdale, which
were originally possessed by the clan of Beattieson, but
which passed into other hands under the following circumstances.
Cardinal Beaton and Robert Lord Maxwell,
according to tradition, were sent by James V. as
ambassadors to France, in the year 1537, to conclude a
marriage between that sovereign and Mary of Guise,
when Lord Maxwell, by commission, as proxy for the
king, married the princess, and, having with the cardinal
conducted her to Scotland, received as a reward from
the crown the lands comprehended under the name of
the Five Kirks of Eskdale. Lord Maxwell at once
offered the occupiers a title to their several possessions
on certain specified conditions; but, indignant at the
royal grant, they resolutely objected, and matters ran
into such severe altercation that he was obliged to flee
to save his life, and shortly afterwards he sold the estate
to Scott of Branxholm, ancestor of the ducal family of
Buccleuch, leaving him to obtain possession as well as
he could. Upon this, Scott, who was warden of the
middle marches between Scotland and England, having
raised numerous friends, proceeded to Eskdalemuir, and
expelled all the clan of Beattieson, except Roland Beattie
of Watcarrick, who had saved Lord Maxwell's life by
lending him a horse on which to escape from the malcontents,
and to whom that nobleman had confirmed a
tenant-right in his property. Having thus cleared the
domain, Scott gave feu rights of the greater part of it to
his relations and dependents.
Eskdalemuir was originally a portion of the parish of
Westerkirk, but was erected in 1/03 into a separate
parish. It is the largest in the county, being about
twelve miles long from north to south, and eight miles
broad, and containing 42,250 acres. The surface is
strongly marked in the north by part of a chain of mountains
extending from the sources of the Clyde and the
Annan on the west to the source of the Tyne, in Northumberland,
in the east: the highest hills are Lochfell,
and Eskdale or Ettrick Pen. The White and the Black
Esk, so named from the sandy and mossy soils over
which they run, take their rise in this parish, and uniting
at its southern extremity, form that beautiful river which,
after receiving many tributary streams, loses itself in the
Solway at Longtown, in Cumberland. There are three
celebrated cascades called Goat-linn, Wellsburn Spout,
and the Garvald Linns. The soil is deep in many parts,
but is not fertile, on account of the elevated site of the
district]: the hills towards the south are green, but the
more retired parts are moss, covered with coarse grass
and different kinds of water-plants. The number of
acres cultivated, or occasionally in tillage, is 482, the
rest remaining constantly in pasture: there is very little
wood to be seen in any direction. This is chiefly a
grazing parish; the sheep, with a few exceptions, are all
Cheviots, and the cattle are of the Galloway breed, with
some of the Ayrshire and the Dutch: both sheep and
cattle are usually taken to the Langholm and Lockerbie
markets. Many improvements have been effected by
the embankment of the rivers; by mole-catching to a
surprising extent; and by surface-draining, there being
now more than 400,000 roods of drains in the parish.
The ring fences around the inclosed lands of farms are
commonly of stone, the subdivisions of thorn, and
the march dykes between farms always of stone. In
this parish the strata consist of greywacke and other
transition rocks: the common fuel is peat, of which
there is an abundant supply. The parish roads extend
about twenty miles in total length: there is an old
bridge over each of the rivers, with a third built about
thirty-five years ago across the Black Esk, on the line of
the road to Lockerbie, Lochmaben, Dumfries, and Moffat;
there are two new bridges over the White Esk, and one
over the Black Esk. The annual value of real property
in Eskdalemuir is £6766.
For ECCLESIASTICAL purposcs the parish is within
the bounds of the presbytery of Langholm, synod of
Dumfries; patron, the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry.
The stipend is £221, with a good manse, and a
glebe of considerable extent, valued at £20 per annum.
Eskdalemuir church stands nearly in the centre of the
parish, on the bank of the White Esk: it was built in
1826, and is a commodious and elegant structure, containing
sittings for 393 persons. The Reformed Presbyterians
have a place of worship. There is a parochial
school, in which Latin, Greek, and French are taught,
with the usual branches of education; the master has a
salary of £34, with about £10 fees, and a house and
garden. A library consisting of about 500 volumes has
been lately instituted, and is in a prosperous state. The
chief relic of antiquity is the camp of Castle-0'er, or
Overbie, which is situated on the farm of Yetbyre, and
though of an oval form, has been generally considered as
of Roman origin, and to have communicated with the
camps of Middlebie and Netherbie: there is scarcely a
hill within sight of it on which some vestige does not
exist of an outer encampment. Another camp, however,
has more recently been discovered on the farm of Raebnrnfoot,
and it is supposed that the former is a Saxon
work, and the latter the true Roman camp of Overbie.
It exhibits all the lineaments, as far as they are visible,
of a most complete military station, with the praetorium
and every other mark of a Roman work. Were the lines
on the west side of the entrances extended as far as those
on the eastern side, so as to make it a square, it would
cover seven acres. There are two Druidical circles on
the farm of Coatt, measuring in circumference ninety
feet and 340 feet, respectively. The parish and adjoining
district confer the title of Baron Scott and Eskdale
on the Duke of Buccleuch.