MUNGO-ST, a parish, in the county of Dumfries,
4 miles (W. by N.) from Ecclesfechan; containing 618
inhabitants. The name was originally Aber-milk, the
old British term .'iter, signifying " a confluence of
waters", being descriptive of the situation of the parish,
part of which is a kind of peninsula formed by the
junction of the rivers Milk and Annan. In the twelfth
century, however, the Bruces having built a castle on
the Water of Milk, the name of the place was changed
to Castlemilk. The lands in ancient times belonged to
the see of Glasgow, and the parish is mentioned in the
year 1170, in a papal document, under the new name:
in 1290 William de Gossford, parson of Castlemilk, swore
fealty at Berwick to King Edward I. The church was
early dedicated to God under the invocation of St.
Mungo, founder of the see of Glasgow; and by the
name of this favourite patron the parish is now invariably
called. Robert de Bruce, second lord of Annandale,
granted the church as a mensal church, to the see
of Glasgow, about the year 1250; at which period, also,
he gave the churches of Motfat, Kirkpatrick, Drumsdale,
and Hoddam, " cnm consensu Roberti de Bruce, Jilii sui."
The parish was at this time (as already stated) called
Castlemilk; and the estate of the same name, from
which the parish was so designated, was the ancient
residence of the lords of Annandale, who had a strong
castle upon the lands. This castle passed from the
Bruces to the Stuarts by the marriage of Walter, highsteward
of Scotland, with the daughter of King Robert
Bruce; and it thus descended to Robert, their son, also
high-steward, the first of the Stuarts who came to the
crown of Scotland. It afterwards passed to the Maxwells
and the Douglases. In the sixteenth century it
was besieged by the Duke of Somerset, protector in the
minority of Edward VI.; the station of the siege is still
in existence, and in 1771 there were some balls found
while planting the spot, since which it has been called
" the Cannon Holes". The castle was again involved
in the miseries of war under Oliver Cromwell, against
whose strong works, yet visible, it held out for a considerable
time. In I707 it was superseded by a dwelling-
house, which has since become one of the most beautiful
and picturesque mansions in the county.
The PARISH is about four miles in length from north
to south, and two miles and a half in breadth, containing
,'5000 acres. It lies in the Upper ward of the ancient
stewartry of Annandale, and is bounded on the north
by the parish of Tundergarth, on the south by the parish
of Dalton, on the east by that of Hoddam, and on the
west by that of Dryfesdale. The surface consists of
gradually-rising grounds, which, commencing at the
extremities of the parish, attain the highest elevation in
its centre, where there are two ridges called the Nut-Holm
hill, on which are vestiges of a Roman and a British
camp. The high-wooded grounds of Kirkwood, situated
in Dalton parish, and those of Nut- Holm, form a beautiful
vale about a mile in length, through which the river
Annan flows in a serpentine course, and in the middle
of which stands the manse, shrouded in wood. The
Water of Milk divides the parish nearly in the centre;
its banks are in many places beautifully clothed with
natural wood, and the neighbouring hills with flourishing
plantations. The river forms a confluence with the
more considerable stream of the Annan at the southeastern
extremity of the parish. Both of them contain
very fine salmon, sea-trout, and herlings, and were
much resorted to by anglers when the fish were more abundant.
The SOIL composing the vales of the Annan and the
Milk, to the extent of 286 acres, is alluvial; the holm
land of the Annan is light and sandy, and that of the
Milk a deep rich loam constituting the most valuable
land in the parish. The alluvial soils run a foot and a
half deep, and are free from stones. About 4300 acres are
under tillage; 400 are waste, half of which are capable
of cultivation; and 300 acres are occupied by wood. All
kinds of grain and green crops are produced, and the total
annual worth of the produce averages above £9000. The
most improved system of husbandry is followed, and
considerable attention has been paid to the buildings, to
draining the lands, subdividing the farms, and raising
fences. The markets resorted to are those of Annan and
Lockerbie; the fat-cattle and sheep are sent via Annan
by steamers to Liverpool. In this parish the rocks
mainly consist of greywacke, greywacke-slate, white and
red sandstone, limestone, and quartz; rolled masses of
sienite are also found, and sometimes common jasper;
the covering rock of the parish is porphyritie amygdaloid.
The marl-pits, formerly so prolific, are nearly exhausted;
as also are the peat-mosses. The annual value of real
property in the parish is £3952.
The chief seat is the mansion of Castlemilk, built in
the year 1796, on the site of the ancient castle: it
occupies a beautifully-sloping hill, in the midst of the
rich valley watered by the meandering and picturesque
stream of the Milk. There are two other mansions.
Milk Bank and Kirk Bank, the latter situated in the
vale of the Annan, in a spot of remarkable beauty; they
are also modern buildings. The Glasgow and Carlisle
road runs for three miles through the parish; and the
old branch of that road, three miles and a half long,
divides it nearly into two equal parts: on these lines of
road are good bridges over the Water of Milk. The
Caledonian railway also intersects the parish, crossing
the Milk by a viaduct of six arches. Ecclesiastically
St. Mungo is within the bounds of the presbytery of
Lochmaben and synod of Dumfries; patron, the Crown ^
the stipend is £174. 16., and there is a good manse, with
a glebe worth £50 a year. The church, recently erected,
and situated in the centre of the parish, though presenting
a plain exterior, is internally a neat and well-finished
structure: the former church, built in the reign of Alexander
III., was taken down owing to its dangerous state, in
the year 1S4I. There is a parochial school, established in
1704, in which Greek, Latin, and French are taught,
with all the usual branches of education; the master
has the maximum salary, with a house and garden, and
about £40 a year in fees. One or two Sunday schools
are held, and there is a school library consisting of '200
volumes. Among the antiquities are several camps.
On opening a tumulus in the parish, there was found
much animal charcoal, the remains of burnt bodies;
the sarcophagus contained only a bone and some burnt
ashes.