RUTHWELL, a parish, in the county of Dumfries;
containing, with the village of Clarencefield, 1039 inhabitants,
of whom 16'2 are in the village of Ruthweli, 7^
miles (W. by N.) from Annan. This parish, in the fourteenth
century, in a charter granted by Thomas Randolph,
Earl of Murray, to his nephew, Sir William
Murray, is called Ryval; and the appellation is continued
in all the charters to Sir William's descendants.
Ruthweli, most probably corrupted from Ruthwald, or
Rithwald, is the more modern name. It appears to be
derived from the Anglo-Saxon Rith, " a rivulet ", and
Weald or ll'ald, " a woody place "; terms descriptive of
the locality, through which a rivulet passes contiguous
to the church and village, and in which there are extensive
natural woods. No events of historical importance
are recorded; but the parish was formerly remarkable
as containing the castle of Comlongan, for many generations
the residence of the Murrays of Cockpool, a family
of great eminence in Annandale. Some of the Murrays
were wardens of the western border; and Cuthbert
Murray of Cockpool was one of the commanders of the
army which defeated the Duke of Albany and the Earl
of Douglas, when they invaded Scotland in 1483. John
Murray, a younger son of the family, having acquired a
large estate, as well in Scotland as in England and Ireland,
was created Earl of Annandale by James VL, and afterwards
resided in the castle of Comlongan; but the family
and title becoming extinct upon the death of his
son without issue, in 1658, Lord Stormont succeeded to
a considerable part of the property. His descendant,
Viscount Stormont, in 1799 became second Earl of
Mansfield; and from him the ])resent earl, who is the
principal landowner in Ruthweli, descended in a right
line. At a place called Kirkstyle was in ancient times a
commandery belonging to the Knights of St. John of
Jerusalem, where they had a place of worship and a
burying-grouud. The order possessed large property in
the neighbourhood, which, when the society was abolished,
came into the hands of the Murrays. There are
still some tombs in the churchyard, ou which the insignia
and arms of the knights are cut.
The parish is about five and a half miles long and
two and a half broad, containing 8490 acres. It is
bounded on the north by the parish of Dalton; on the
south by the Solway Firth and the river Lochar, the latter
of which divides it from Caerlaverock; on the east by
Cummertrees; on the west by Caerlaverock; and on
the north-west by Mouswald. In general the surface is
flat and uninteresting, the highest land not rising more
than eighty or ninety feet above the level of the sea.
The waves have receded from the shore in late times;
so that at low water the tide is almost out of sight, and
at high water falls short of a large space which it once
covered, and which now consists of extensive tracts of
green merse. The beach is low, and formed of clayey
sand which runs for several miles into the Firth, and is
known in the locality as " sleetch ". At the coni3uence
of the Lochar with the sea, some salmon are taken with
stake-nets; and cod, skate, and herrings, with very fine
flounders, are caught off the coast.
The SOIL varies considerably in different places, some
of it consisting of a shallow sandy mould which requires
good manuring and cultivation to render it fertile, and a
large proportion of the parish being a strong gravelly
earth. On the low ground near the sea, and on the
banks of the Lochar, the soil partakes of clay mixed with
sand, and is the same kind of soil as that upon which the
extensive Lochar moss, to the north, rests. Shell-marl is
found in the parish; but the expense of working it has
rendered it hitherto unavailable to agricultural purposes.
About 6000 acres are either cultivated or occasionally in
tillage; 1400 acres are in moss, and 590 under wood.
All kinds of grain and green crops are grown, and the
most improved system of husbandry is followed; the
farm buildings and inclosures, however, are in a very indifferent
state. The cattle are Galloways; the sheep are
of the black-faced breed, with some Cheviots. Considerable
tracts of moss have been reclaimed on some of
the farms; and large portions of marshy ground, by
good draining and judicious cultivation, have been also
brought into tillage. Some land, too, has been recovered
along the shore of the Firth; but the quantity is inconsiderable
in comparison with the extent capable of being
added to the productive soil of the parish. The principal
rock is coarse limestone, which was once extensively
worked; but its use is now superseded by the superior
lime obtained from Kelhead, onlyabout four miles distant.
The annual value of real property is £36.36.
There are two small villages, Ruthvvell and Clarencefield:
the former was erected into a burgh of barony by
charter of James VI. to Sir John Murray, of Cockpool,
in 1.509, with the privilege, now neglected, of holding
fairs and markets. Large quantities of salt were formerly
made upon the coast by filtration, the parish enjoying
exemption from the duty under a grant by James
VI.; but this manufacture was discontinued when the
salt-duty was abolished. Strangers used to visit Ruthwell
for the benefit of the sea air, bathing, and mineral
waters; but there are now few visiters. Great facility
of intercourse is afforded by the Glasgow, Dumfries, and
Carlisle railway, which has a station here: the turnpikeroad
from Dumfries to Annan and Carlisle also runs
through the parish; and at the junction of the Lochar
with the Firth is a creek into which small vessels enter
with coal from the opposite coast of Cumberland. Ecclesiastically
this place is within the bounds of the presbytery
of Annan and synod of Dumfries; patron, the
Earl of Mansfield. The stipend of the minister is £"263,
with a manse, about 100 years old, but which has received
within the present century some enlargement and
repairs: the glebe consists of thirty-six acres, worth
thirty or thirty-five shillings per acre. Ruthwell church,
an ancient edifice, was formerly a very indiEFerent building
thatched with heath, but has been greatly altered
and improved, and is now in good condition; it contains
420 sittings. Two parochial schools are held, in
one of which the classics, mathematics, and French are
taught, with the usual branches of education; the master
has a salary of £34. 4., a house, and about £45 fees.
In the other school, only a plain education is given;
the master has between £8 and £9 salary, £4 fees, and
Candlemas gifts. There are also a good parochial library,
two friendly societies, and a savings' bank.
The antiquities are very interesting. There are yet to
be seen the remains of an old castle at Cockpool, a seat
of the Murrays; but their chief residence was the castle
of Comlongan, already noticed, a place of great strength
before the union of the crowns. It is sixty feet square
and ninety feet high, with battlements, and the walls are
of sufficient thickness to admit of small apartments
within them. The most celebrated relic of antiquity,
however, is an obelisk in the churchyard, which appears
to have been eighteen feet high, bearing numerous ornaments
of a scriptural character, and Runic and Roman
inscriptions. The traditional account of it is, that it
was set up at a place called Priestside, near the sea, in
very early times, in order to assist the common people,
by sensible images, to receive religious instruction; and
that it was subsetpiently removed to the church. Here
it remained, and was held in great veneration, till the
Relormation, after which it was thrown down as a rcUc
of idolatry. Some time since, in digging a deep grave,
an upper portion of the monument was discovered, on
which is represented part of the image of the Deity,
•with an Agnus Dei in his bosoni; and on the reverse
are two human figures in the act of embracing. The
only large fragment of the pillar that seems to be irretrievably
lost, is that which contained the transverse
arms of the crpss, and which may probably have been
much shattered by the fall when the whole was thrown
down, or may have been entirely destroyed by the zeal
of the agents of the General Assembly. There is a
chalybeate spring at Brow, not far from the junction of
the Lochar with the Firth; near which is a stone table,
where it is said that Lord Stormont, father of the celebrated
Earl of Mansfield, sat with bis son, and drank to
his health, when the latter was about to quit his native
land for the English bar.