LOCHMABEN, a parish and burgh (royal) and seat of a presbytery,
in the county of Dumfries, 8^ miles l^v (E. N. E.) from Dumfries, and S^^'
68 (S. by W. ) from Edinburgh; ^L i the parish containing, with s\f"
the hamlets of Greenhill, Heck, and Smallhoim, and
the villages of Hightae and Templand, 2809 inhabitants,
of whom 1289 are in the burgh, which contains also
forty-one persons in the adjoining parishes of Tinwald
and Torthorwald. This place is supposed to have derived
its name from the numerous lakes in the parish.
It is of very remote antiquity, and at an early period
formed part of the possessions of the ancient lords of
Annandale, whose baronial castle stood on an eminence
close to the town, called Castle hill, and surrounded by
a deep moat and fosse. The castle thus situated continued
to be the residence of the Bruces, lords of Annandale,
till the end of the thirteenth century, and was the
birthplace of Robert Bruce, subsecjuently King of Scotland,
who, after his accession to the throne, erected a
much larger fortress on a peninsula south-east of Castle
Loch, and in the completion of which the stones of the
former castle were used. This second castle was by far
the largest and the strongest of the border fortresses.
Including the outworks, it occupied an area of sixteen
acres. It consisted of three courts, inclosed with massive
walls twelve feet thick, and was surrounded by a
triple fosse, in which was a spacious basin defended by
walls of hewn stone, affording to the boats belonging to
the garrison and the town secure shelter, either from the
weather, or the attacks of any enemy.
The town, which had arisen near the site of the castle,
is supposed to have been first erected into a royal burgh
by Robert Bruce, soon after his elevation to the throne;
but from the inroads of the English, by svhom the town
was often plundered and burnt duriug the border warfare,
all its ancient records were either lost or destroyed.
In 1463, an army led by the Earl of Warwick plundered
and burnt the town; and in 1479, the'Duke of Albany,
lord of Annandale, being accused of treason, was publicly
cited at the castle of Lochmabcii, and at the marketcross
of the burgh, to appear and answer to the charge.
In 1592, a sanguinary feud took place at Dryfe-sands, in
an adjoining parish, between the Maxwells of Nithsdalc
and the Johnstones of Annandale, the former of whom
were defeated with great slaughter: a number of the
Maxwells, in their fliglit from the field of battle, sought
refuge in the church of Lochmaben, which the Johnstones
on that occasion burnt to the ground. The castle,
which had been annexed to the crown in 1487, was
maintained as one of the strongest frontier garrisons,
under the superintendence of the lords of Annandale,
till the iniion of the English and Scottish crowns in the
reign of James VI., after which time it was suffered to
fall into decay. The only remains are the shapeless
walls, from the surface of which the hewn stone has
heen taken for building materials, leaving merely the
internal rubble, which is firmly cemented into a solid
mass. Lochniaben Castle is still ranked among the
royal palaces, and Mr. Hope Johnstone of Annandale is
hereditary keeper. In 1612, James VI. granted to the
inhabitants a charter embodying all the privileges they
had previously enjoyed under the charters that had been
destroyed; and in the same year, that monarch bestowed
the barony of the Four Towns of Lochmaben, with the
tithes and advowson of the church, upon John Murray,
whom in 1625 he created Earl of Annandale and Lord
of Lochmaben, and whose descendant, the Earl of Mansfield,
is the present proprietor of the barony.
The TOWN is situated between the Castle loch on the
south and the Kirk loch on the south-west. It consists
chiefly of one spacious street, in which are the church,
the town-house, and the market-cross; of a street extending
nearly at right angles with this, on the road to
Dumfries; and of two narrow streets leading from the
principal street. A public library is supported by subscription,
and forms a valuable and well-assorted collection
of literary and historical volumes. Neither any
manufacture nor trade is carried on, with the exception
of a few stocking-looms; there are three good inns, and
some shops for the supply of the neighbourhood, but
so little traffic takes place that the town has all the appearance
of a large rural village. The government is
vested in a provost, three bailies, a dean of guild, a
treasurer, and nine councillors: there are several incorporated
guilds, into which the fees of admission are, for
strangers £1. 10., and for sons of burgesses iOs. 6d.;
but they are very little regarded. The jurisdiction of
the magistrates is the same as in other royal burghs,
and the provost is ex officio a justice of the peace for the
county. Lochmaben is associated with Dumfries, Annan,
Kirkcudbright, and Sanquhar, in returning a member to
the imperial parliament; the number of qualified voters
being forty. The town-hall, erected in 1/4,5, is a good
building with a tower and spire; and underneath it is
the place formerly used as a gaol, consisting of two
rooms. In front of the town-hall is an arched weighhouse
and a market-cross. A market is held every alternate
week during winter for the sale of pork; it is very
well attended, and the quantity disposed of during a
season is about 27,000 stones, which would sell for
about £6000: all other produce is sent to the markets
of Annan or Dumfries. There is neither river nor canal
navigation. A road from Dumfries to Lockerbie passes
through the town, and there are excellent roads to Annan,
Moffat, Ecclesfechan, and Langholm: the Caledonian
railway, and the roads from Carlisle to Glasgow, and
from Dumfries to Edinburgh, pass within a few miles of
the town, and good roads lead from Lochmaben to these
great thoroughfares. The post-office in the town has a
tolerable delivery.
The PARISH is bounded on the east by the river Annan,
and on the north and north-west by the water of Ae. It
is about ten miles in length and three in breadth, comprising
an area of 10,750 acres, of which 5500 are
arable, ninety woodland and plantations, and the remainder,
with the exception of 400 acres of waste, good
meadow and pasture. The surface is generally level,
with a considerable ascent towards the west, and is diversified
by numerous lakes, of which the largest are the
Castle loch, 200 acres in extent; the Broomhill loch,
eighty acres; the Mill loch, seventy; the Kirk loch,
sixty; and the llightae loch, fifty-two acres in extent.
Their average depth is about fifty feet; tiie water is
peculiarly soft, and they all abound with various kinds
of fish, among which are pike, perch, two species of
trout, one weighing from two to five pounds each, and
the other from twelve to fourteen pounds, roach, chub,
eels, loach, and minnow. In the Castle loch are found
also bream and greenback; and in the Castle loch. Mill
loch, and Broomhill loch, a fish called the vendace, resembling
a small herring, but of more delicate flavour,
and which is not found in any other water in Scotland,
is very abundant. The vendace is remarkable for a thin
membrane on the top of the head, in the form of a heart,
of a brownish hue, and perfectly transparent, under
which the brain is distinctly visible; it is from four to
six inches in length, of a bright silvery colour, inclining
to blue along the back, and dies immediately on its being
taken out of the water. This delicate fish has hitherto
defied all attempts at transportation from its native
waters: several of the landed proprietors in the neighbourhood
have with great care had some of them transferred
into their pleasure-ponds, but they very soon died.
The fish are caught solely by the net, scarcely ever
having been known to take bait or fly. A club called
the Vendace Club, composed of the gentlemen of the
county, meets annually at Lochmaben in July or August,
for the purpose of enjoying a day's recreation in taking
these fish from the Castle loch, and dining in the evening:
at dinner the vendace forms the principal dish. The
loch is peculiarly adapted for a regatta, being free from
those currents which occur in rivers or estuaries: a
regatta club was formed in 1843, and has been attended
with considerable success, the novelty of such races in
the interior, and the beautiful wood and water scenery
around the town, attracting strangers from all parts of
the county. The chief rivers are, the Annan; the water
of Ae, which, after bounding the north-western part of
the parish, unites with the Kinnel, and flows into the
Annan; and the Dryfe, which separates a portion of
the parish from that of Dryfesdale, and runs into the
Annan at Halleaths.
Along the banks of the rivers the soil is a rich alluvial
loam, producing luxuriant crops of every kind, and in
many parts nine feet in depth; to the west, or in the
upland portion, it is light, gravelly, and cold. The only
uncviltivated portions are some tracts of peat-moss,
which afford fuel for the inhabitants. Of late years the
system of agriculture has been gradually advancing, and
all the more recent improvements in husbandry have
been adopted; the lands have been drained aud inclosed;
bone-dust has been introduced for manure, and the
farm-buildings and offices are now generally substantial.
The dairies here are well managed, and great attention
is paid to the rearing of live-stock. Except on the dairylands,
where the cows are chiefly the Ayrshire, the cattle
are of the Galloway breed; they are usually sold to
dealers when two years old, and fattened in the English
pastures for the London market, where they obtain a
ready sale. A considerable number of horses are reared
in the parish; they are of good size, and by many judges
are preferred to the Clydesdale breed. Great numbers
of swine are fed on the different farms, and almost every
cottager feeds a couple of pigs. Few sheep are bred j
such as are reared are fed chiefly on turnips. The plantations,
which are mostly on the demesnes of the resident
landed proprietors, consist of oak, ash, plane, and horsechesnut.
of which there are many stately specimens. In
this parish the substrata are principally red sandstone,
and whinstone; the sandstone occurs in thin layers
easily separated, and is quarried for the roofing of farmbuildings.
The annual value of real property in the parish is £7708.
The residences are, Elshieshields, a handsome castellated
mansion; Hatleaths; and Newmabis. Besides the
burgh, there are several villages in the parish, of which
the principal are Hightcie, containing 436, Greenhill
eighty-nine, Smallholm eighty-two, and Heck fifty-seven,
inhabitants. These villages, and the lands attached to
them, form the barony of the Four Towns of Lochmaben,
of which the Earl of Mansfield and his predecessors have
been superiors and proprietors since 1612. The lands
were portioned out by Robert Bruce to his retainers, and
are held by Udal tenure, under the proprietors, against
whose encroachments on their peculiar privileges the
" tenants" have at times appealed to the sovereign, and
obtained redress. They are transferable by any of the
possessors, by enrolment in the rental-book of the proprietor
of the barony; and neither charter nor seisin is
necessary to vest the owners in their right to perpetual
possession of their lands. A large tract of common in
which the tenants of the barony had an interest, with
the inhabitants of the burgh, was by mutual agreement
divided many years since; and several portions have
been purchased by different proprietors, and greatly improved:
the largest portion was purchased by Mr. Bell
of Rammerscales. There is a handsome bridge across
the Annan, along which the Dumfries and Lockerbie
road passes.
For ECCLESIASTICAL purposes the parish is within the
bounds of the presbytery of Lochmaben, synod of Dumfries.
The minister's stipend is £264. 19. 2., with a
manse, and a glebe valued at £10 per annum; patron,
the Earl of Mansfield. Lochmaben church, which is at
the south extremity of the burgh, is a handsome and
substantial structure; it was erected in 1819, at a cost
of £3000, and contains 1200 sittings. There are places
of worship for members of the Free Church, Burghers,
and Cameronians. The parochial school, situated in the
burgh, is well attended: the master has a salary of
£34. 4. 4., with a house and garden, and the fees, averaging
about £25; also the interest of a bequest of £200
by Mr. Richardson, of Hightae, for teaching ten poor
children gratuitously. There is likewise a school at
Hightae, the master of which has a salary of £17. 2. 2.,
with a house and garden, and fees averaging £21; he also
receives the interest of £1.50 bequeathed by Mr. Richardson.
Other schools in the parish are supported exclusively
by the fees. There are some remains of Roman
encampments, and part of the Roman road to Bodotria
may be traced. Rochall Mount, situated on the side of
a ridge of hills which overhangs the castle, is supposed
to have been anciently a station for administering justice,
and also a beacon for signals in times of danger; it is
perfectly circular at the base, and terminates in a sharp
point. On the north of tiie parish are the remains of
Spedlin's Tower, once the residence of the Jardines of
Applegarth; a massive tjuadrangular structure with
circular turrets at the angles. Its walls are of immense
thickness; the entrance is on the north side; and over
the circular gateway, near the summit of the tower, is
the date 1605, thought to be the time when it was last
repaired. In the Castle loch, ancient relics have been
found at various times, spear heads, pieces of armour,
and a gold ring without inscription; and in a tract of
moss near the town, several silver groats of Alexander I.
of Scotland and Edward I. of England, and other coins,
have been discovered.