DORNOCK, a parish, in the county of Dumfries,
including the village of Lowthertown, and containing
84/ inhabitants, of whom 203 are in the village of Dornock,
2 miles (E. by S.) from Annan. The name of this
place is usually derived from the Celtic words tor or dor,
signifying an oak or wood, and nock, a knowe or hill, and
is said to have been applied in consequence of forests of
oak once growing here. According to a prevailing tradition,
a battle was fought upon a moor in the neighbourhood,
betsveen a party of English under Sir Marmaduke
Langdale and Lord Crosby, and a body of Scots
under Sir William Brown of Coalston, in which the
English were defeated, and both their commanders slain.
The supposed graves of the two leaders are still shown
in the churchyard, and a spring near the spot where the
battle was fought bears the name of the Sword Well. At
Stapleton is a strong square tower with battlements on
the top, built by a person of the name of Irvine, it is
supposed as a place of safety against the depredations of
the English borderers.
The PARISH reaches from east to west about two miles
and a half, and from the Solway Firth on the south to
the river Kirtle on the north measures five miles, comprising
an area of about 5000 acres. It contains some
beautiful scenery, and is much frequented for its sea air
and bathing. The small river Kirtle and the expanse of
the Solway comprehend the chief of its waters; in the
former eels and pike are found, and salmon-fishings are
carried on in the Solway to a considerable extent by
means of stake-nets. The greater part of the land is
under tillage, and large tracts in the parish are appropriated
to grazing; the mosses, which alone are uncultivated,
amount to about 300 acres, and 150 acres are
plantation. Oats and barley are the only grain sown,
while potatoes and turnips, with large quantities of hay,
are the chief green crops; the soil is of a loamy nature,
with a hard tilly bottom, and is in general productive.
The cattle are of the Galloway breed, and about 200
cows are kept for the dairy; a considerable number of
swine are fattened, and the hams sent to England. The
best system of husbandry is adopted; the manure used
is farm-yard dung, and lime; draining has been carried
on to a good extent, and improvements are still in progress.
The annual value of real property in the parish
is £3503. Robgill Tower, an old border fortress, modernised,
and now the residence of the Smail family, is
beautifully seated on the banks of the Kirtle. The village
of Dornock is pleasantly situated upon a gentle
eminence about a mile from the coast, and commands
a fine view of the Firth; a third of the inhabitants are
engaged in hand-loom weaving and the manufacture of
checks and ginghams. The Glasgow, Dumfries, and
Carlisle railway, and the turnpike-road from Carlisle to
Portpatrick, run through the centre of the parish from
east to west, the former passing by the village, and the
latter through it: the railway has a station here.
Ecclesiastically the parish is in the presbytery of
Annan and synod of Dumfries; patron, the Duke of
Buccleuch. The stipend is £208, and there is a manse,
built in 1845, with a glebe valued at £'25 per annum.
Dornock church, built in 1*97, is a plain unadorned
structure, containing 300 sittings: in the churchyard
are some ancient and rather curious tombstones. There
is a parochial school, in which all the usual branches of
education, and sometimes Greek and Latin, and also
mathematics, are taught; the master has a salary of
£34, about £20 fees, and the allowance of a house and
garden, with an acre of land. The remains of a Druidical
temple are still to be seen in the eastern part of the
parish, on the farm of Eastriggs: at the distance of 200
yards west of it, is a large cairn; and at the same distance
eastward is another, of smaller dimensions. Old
British coins and pieces of armour have been found.