HUTTON-AND-CORRIE, a parish, in the county of
Dumfries, 7 miles (N. N. E.) from Lockerbie; containing
809 inhabitants. The name ot Hutton appears to be
derived from the term Holt, signifying an elevated piece
of ground or a mound of earth: some mounds of artificial
construction in the district were used in ancient
times as seats of deliberation, and for the administration
of justice. Corrie, which was joined to Hutton soon
after the Reformation, derives its appellation from a
rivulet which runs through it, and the name of which,
in the Gaelic language, signifies "a narrow glen": the
stream issues from a glen. On the farm of Closs, in the
parish, are some remains of a place called Maskersa,
where the Grahams of Gillesbie tormerly had their residence,
but from which they removed, more than 300 years
ago, to a tower on the brink of the Dryfe, which was a
fortress of great strength, surrounded by a fosse. Of
this family the descendants still retain property in the
neighbourhood. It was in the Tower of Gillesbie that
the first president of the court of session was for a time
confined, when taken away to prevent his giving a decision
in a suit in which one of the parties thought he had
too much influence.
The PARISH extends twelve miles in length from northwest
to south-east, and the average breadth is about
three miles; comprising an area of nearly 23,000 acres.
It is bounded on the north-east by the ridge of hills
which divides Annandale from Eskdale; on the southeast
by the Water of Milk, which separates Corrie from
the parish of Tundergarth; and on the north and west
by the parishes of W'amphray, Applegarth, and Dryfesdale.
The general aspect of the country is diversified
with an agreeable variety of scenery. Towards the north
the hills are covered with verdure, and the banks of the
Dryfe with wood, the effect of which is considerably
heightened by the course of the stream, which runs over
a gravelly, and frequently a rocky, bottom. In the direction
of the Milk, the view is somewhat similar; but
the features of the landscape are less marked and prominent.
On the heights between these two waters, the
scene is reversed, and becomes bleak and rugged. The
soil in some places in the parish is mixed with a fine
gravel, and in others with good clay; in the high lands
it is mossy or moorish. About 3000 acres of land are
occasionally cultivated. None of the remaining 20,000
have been ploughed within the last fifty years: much of
this ground was formerly in tillage; but the consolidation
of the small farms has led to the conversion of a
considerable quantity of ploughed land into pasture. All
kinds of white and green crops are raised, with the exception
of wheat; and the system of husbandry in this
as in other parishes is greatly improved. About twothirds
of the lands are employed as sheep pasture in
nine or ten regular breeding-farms, keeping about 10,000
sheep, which are wholly Cheviots except 600 or 700 of
the black-faced. The cattle, which are also of a superior
description, and much attended to, are of the black Galloway
breed. The annual value of real property in the
parish is £5300. The communication of the people is
chiefly with Dumfries, seventeen miles distant. Formerly
the roads were in bad condition; but they have been
entirely re-constructed within the last thirty or forty
years: among them are two hues, one of which leads
from Dumfries towards Hawick, and the other from Moffat
towards Langholm and Carlisle. There are bridges
over the Dryfe, the Corrie, and the Milk, which, as well
as the roads, are kept in good repair.
For ECCLESIASTICAL purposcs the parish is within the
limits of the presbytery of Lochmaben, synod of Dumfries;
patrons, the Johnstone family of Annandale. The
stipend of the minister is about £'240, with a manse,
built in 1803, and since enlarged and improved, and a
glebe of about thirty-six acres, worth £25 per annum.
The church is situated near the Dryfe, equidistant from
the north-eastern and southern extremities of the parish;
it is in good repair, and accommodates 312 persons with
sittings. There is a parochial school in the Hutton
division of the parish, where the classics, mathematics,
and French, with the usual branches of education, are
taught. The master has a salary of £27, a house
and garden, and about £20 fees; he receives also twothirds
of the interest of £260 bequeathed in 1802 by Mr.
James Graham, a native of the parish, for teaching poor
children reading, writing, and arithmetic. There is another
parochial school at Corrie, which has been for a
considerable time endowed with a bequest by Mr. Edward
Moffatt, of Exeter, consisting of the interest of
£280, for teaching the children of this division of the
parish reading and writing. In 1820, Col. James Wilson,
grand-nephew of the founder, added £20 per annum
to the salary, on condition of the master teaching the
children arithmetic, and that the school should be considered
as endowed, he and his heirs appointing the
master. The heritors of Corrie pay the master £16 a
year; and besides a house and garden, he has five acres
of good pasture ground; together with fees paid for
teaching other branches than reading, writing, and arithmetic,
these three being taught free. The same branches
of instruction are taught here as in the school at Hutton.
The relics of antiquity consist of the remains of several
old intrenchments of a circular form, called British forts,
and of a rectangular intrenchment at Carter-town, which
was a Roman camp, and is supposed to have been a post
of communication between Annandale and Eskdale,
where the Romans had several stations.